Converting a Shed to Tiny House (well small house)

HELP!  We need design ideas for how to layout our 16x50 Derksen Shed.



We are going to be on our land...so no house on wheels.  And we have 4 kids!!  

Can't wait to hear your amazing ideas.  

Welcome to Permies! I'm sure you will get a lot of good ideas, after you give us some information about your land, climate and desires. A blank slate is hard to focus on

One thing that is a given is that it would be good to orient your house with the long walls facing directly north and south if you can do that on your site. A decent overhang on the south wall will keep the sun out all summer while letting it in in the winter (if you have real winter) minimizing cooling and maximizing free heat.

It sounds like you are planning standard stick construction and materials. Would there be anything you would build yourselves, either now or later? (Four teenagers are likely to want more space than you have ) What kind of lifestyle are you looking at? Animals, gardens, ??

This is excellent!  Thank you Glenn!

Sorry for my lack of info...I should know better.  Truly apologize about that.

Location:  Central Texas
Land:  7.5 acres
ETA:  December 2017 full time homesteading
Plan:  Homestead with large garden, rabbits, chickens, pigs.  
House:  Planning on prefab Derksen portable building for this first structure.  It'll be 16x50 = 800sqft.  Then we will also have two lofts for kiddos.  We only plan on being in this building for 2 years.  Like you mentioned, our kids will be much bigger by then!!  We will have a 9 year old at that time.   Then we plan on have a 360* wrap around covered porch for outdoor cooking and homeschooling.

#1-- We goal is to be debt and MORTGAGE FREE!!!  We have complete passive income that we can work from anywhere.  So we want to start with this prefab and document us finishing it out.  Then on the second building taking on more framing, plumbing, etc.

Thoughts??

Are you thinking of a second building to supplement the first one, or replace it? Assuming you intend to supplement, an obvious first step in interior layout is to plan for how you will expand. It sounds like your climate lets you be outdoors most of the year? If so, you may be able to have neighboring structures joined by a porch. You would want a plan that lets you either have your ultimate master bedroom now and expand for kids' rooms, or let kids expand into current MBR and you build new MBR in the addition. How will living spaces interface with the various bedroom spaces, now and later? Lots more to think about...

For bathrooms, your video discussed master bath versus guest (kids') bath; would you ultimately want three bathrooms, or would you want the addition to easily access the current bath? Three bathrooms doesn't even sound like small house to me, never mind tiny

Designing a bathroom so that, either now or later with small modifications, it has separate compartments for sink(s), toilet and shower can let multiple people use it at the same time, making sharing much easier. If the bath is at the edge where the addition will join, part of the addition could be a relocated fixture that then allows the separate compartments to be built. It could also be directly accessible from the addition instead of having to go back through the house to reach it.

I don't know if this is exactly a layout kind of answer, but my family does 80% of it's day to day living in one room. We have a lot of small mobile pieces of furniture that easily rearrange to make separate zones for different activities. Probably the most versatile pieces are folding tables and chair sets that are technically lawn furniture, but function very well as gaming tables, sewing stations, tv trays ect when we need more flat surfaces. When we aren't using them, they can be folded and stored or simply moved back outside till next time. In nice weather almost all those activities can be moved outdoors on these same tables, including much entertaining. Ours is similar to this set https://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Corvus-Rio-Green-Steel-3-piece-Patio-Folding-Bistro-Set/12033701/product.html Square tables fit together when you need a larger surface.

Glenn Herbert wrote:Are you thinking of a second building to supplement the first one, or replace it? Assuming you intend to supplement, an obvious first step in interior layout is to plan for how you will expand. It sounds like your climate lets you be outdoors most of the year? If so, you may be able to have neighboring structures joined by a porch. You would want a plan that lets you either have your ultimate master bedroom now and expand for kids' rooms, or let kids expand into current MBR and you build new MBR in the addition.

Oooo!  That could be a cool thought, turning our MBR into the kids room down the line.  Neat idea!!

--When you say, "It sounds like your climate lets you be outdoors most of the year?"  We are in Texas.  So June-August is brutal here.  Hot.  Humid.  Terrible.  So finding a way to place the structure is top on our list to get as much passive cooling as possible.

PORCH-- YEP!  This is our plan to attach the buildings with a covered porch.  

Glenn Herbert wrote:For bathrooms, your video discussed master bath versus guest (kids') bath; would you ultimately want three bathrooms, or would you want the addition to easily access the current bath? Three bathrooms doesn't even sound like small house to me, never mind tiny

ha ha ha ha!!  You are correct...3 bathrooms doesn't sound like small.  But hey!!  I will have 4 KIDDOS!!  lol  My wife just keeps wanting more kids.  

So the long term plan would be 1st structure (16x50 and two lofts) to house all 6 of us.  MORTGAGE FREE!!  Then a year later build a 12x14ish guest cottage.  If we need this to house our big kids then that'll be great.  But I honestly think we will plan something different if we have another kid or once our bigs are teenagers.

LIKE A TRUE TINY HOUSE ON WHEELS!!!  

We plan on our property to be an Air BNB of sorts.  

We built a tiny house in a smaller version than you are planning.

First, I would plan the loft.  Do you plan to have a bath in the loft? In the middle by the stairs? Then decide where you want to put the stairs.

A friend of our made child size stairs as in the width of the steps.  When the kids got older the stairs had to be rebuilt to accommodate adult size feet.

Next I would design the bath/baths. You will want to keep all your plumbing in a central area to save on costs. Then the rest of the house can be designed.

Graph paper available at office supplies will help you to get your scale right.