Couple's Elegant Tiny House Integrates Some Ingenious Space-Saving Ideas

As interest in reducing one's personal carbon footprint has grown in recent years, so too has the popularity of tiny homes and other forms of affordable and eco-friendly micro-housing. Nowadays, one can go down the do-it-yourself path and build a tiny home of one's own, or hire one of the many, many tiny house builders that have cropped up in response to the growing demand. Oftentimes, these companies offer a range of pre-designed models that can be slightly customized to the client, while other tiny house builders will work closely with clients to create a completely unique project that is tailored to the client's individual needs.

Based out of Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada, Fritz Tiny Homes is one tiny house company that fits in the latter category. Founded by Heather and Kevin Fritz back in 2020, the company focuses on high-quality custom builds, constructed to withstand harsh northern winters, and leverages Kevin's extensive experience working in the industry of building high-end homes. A recent piece in Dwell showcases their first completed project, a gorgeous 268-square-foot (25-square-meter) tiny home that features a number of innovative space-saving and energy-saving ideas. Here's Kevin giving a video tour of this impressive build:

Measuring 24 feet (7.3 meters) long, the exterior of this winter-proofed house is clad with standing-seam metal and Longboard wood-textured aluminum siding, which the couple chose for its look, as well as for its durability and low-maintenance requirements. Underneath the cladding, offset 2-by-4 framing and a layer of rigid insulation over the sheathing has been used to eliminate thermal bridging.

Stepping inside, we come into the living room, which features a compact but comfortable sofa, installed on top of a row of sliding drawers for extra storage. Behind the sofa is some built-in LED backlighting, which provides nice ambient illumination, and a WarmlyYours mirror, one of two in the house that function as the main source of heat, providing ample radiant heating with minimal energy use.

The kitchen features a compact, four-burner gas stove, sink, refrigerator, and a space-saving combination of hood range and microwave. As Kevin points out:

"That low profile on the wall keeps things spacious up above. We did not include a lot of cabinetry overhead because we found that we were able to get [efficient storage] in the lower spaces, [whereas] up top, that's where it's going to feel big."

There's also a breakfast counter topped with white oak, and across from that, a clever closet that slides out to hold coats and shoes. There's storage drawers and cabinets in every single inch of residual space, whether it's in the kickplates or in the narrow broom closet right beside the refrigerator.

Then there's this ingenious pantry area, which also holds the all-in-one washer-dryer combo. It's hidden by a sliding door that leads to the bathroom, but if one doesn't feel like sliding the partition just to get food, there's an integrated hinged door as well.

Coming into the bathroom, it's a sizeable one that includes a compact, freestanding bathtub, a rainfall showerhead, a composting toilet, and a sink that has another one of those infrared heating mirrors. Incredibly, there is a poured concrete backsplash, a bit of an oddity in something that's intended to be as mobile as a tiny house. But, once again, there's an interesting reason why, as Kevin explains:

"Glass beads were added to the concrete before it was poured. This lightens the weight of the concrete by 37 percent and adds R-value."

Under the sink is an energy recovery ventilator (ERV), which draws fresh air through a ceramic core that can heated or cooled as needed, and is 93 percent effective in preventing heat loss.

Back into the main space, one can climb up the space-saving alternating tread stair that leads up to the sleeping loft. Once again, there's some great ideas here: the bed has been inset into the floor, in order to gain several extra inches of head space, and there's a bank of storage cabinets and long, operable windows on either side of the space.

In total, the couple estimates that the build cost approximately USD $126,300 (CDN $160,000) – which is definitely on the high end of what a tiny home can cost. Nevertheless, this beautiful custom-built project proves that one can go all out, and still benefit from consciously downsizing and living a more energy-efficient lifestyle. As Heather says:

"Living tiny taught us about living simply and intentionally and how incredibly freeing and life-giving it is. The tiny home movement is full of people who are out-of-the-box thinkers — people who are value-driven and seem to see life a touch differently — and that perspective really resonates with us."

To see more, visit Fritz Tiny Homes and Instagram.