Spot the Retractable Stair in This Brilliant Tiny House (Video)

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Updated February 8, 2021

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Sleeping loft and storage wall with hidden staircase in a tiny home — Build Tiny

We once famously complained that tiny houses were too cutesy and derivative. But since then, we've seen a real evolution of this particular type of small home on wheels, and examples of every style you can imagine, from ultra-modern to quirky and experimental.

New Zealand's Build Tiny created this lovely modern gem, not-so-subtly called the Millennial Tiny House (they have another model called the Boomer). From the outside, it looks like your typical shed-style roof kind of tiny house, but inside, it's chock full of clever storage, seating and stair ideas. Check this impressive powerhouse of a tiny out:

Front of a tiny home with a small porch — Build Tiny

Stair

We love this retractable, welded aluminium stair that interleaves itself into a bank of storage drawers, seen on both the 'great room' and the bathroom side. It's an idea we've seen before, but this appears to be the first time we've seen it in a tiny house. This clever stair also eliminates the need for a ladder going up to the sleeping loft (making it great for less-agile boomers too).

Hidden staircase pulled out with blurred image of someone walking up it — Build Tiny

Main Room

The main 'great room' also has smart under-floor storage cabinets, and has a very Zen-like feel to it. Two sets of double patio doors face each other, permitting natural cross-ventilation and a strong connection between indoors and outdoors.

Woman sitting in the hanging chair with patio doors open to a small porch — Build Tiny

Kitchen

The kitchen also has plenty of places to store food and utensils, and part of the counter forms the step up to the ladder leading up to the workspace and guest sleeping loft.

Woman climbing ladder rungs attached to the wall to access the workspace above the kitchen — Build Tiny

Check out how the seating ledge for the workspace overlaps with the kitchen below: genius.

Woman sitting a desk in the work space loft — Build Tiny

Woman sitting in chair at work space, feet visible on top of the kitchen cabinets — Build Tiny

Bathroom

The bathroom is also well-designed, with enough space integrated for a washer-dryer combination machine, place to store linens, a shower and a composting toilet on castors, allowing it to be wheeled out of the way when not in use.

Shower, toilet, and sink in the bathroom — Build Tiny

This is definitely one of our favourite tiny houses; lots of clever space-saving solutions and offered in a modern package that feels open and bright. Pricing for just the shell begins at NZD $59,750 (USD $43,378), and a full build rings in at NZD $120,500 (USD $87,483).