Figuring Out My Tiny House Floor Plan

I didn’t go into this with a ready-to-go layout — just a few strong needs, and a handful of wants that were important enough they were starting to feel like needs too. After all, if you’re going to have your house custom designed, you might as well make it exactly how you want it, right?

What I didn't have going into this process was a locked-in idea of layout. Johanna from Perch and Nest (who are building my shell!) was incredibly helpful and gracious during this process, taking my rough sketches and turning them into floor plans that would work, and sending me different ideas as well.

For reference for this article, my tiny house will be a legal RV (RVIA certified) tiny house on wheels. That means it has a max height of 13.5' and a max width of 8.5'. (You can increase width beyond 8.5', but that gets into a whole other territory legally as that's considered a wide load and transportation gets more complicated!)

What I Needed in My Tiny House

Per everything I'd ever heard from people in the tiny house community, it was important for me to focus in on just a few of the most important parts of my daily life that the house needed to specifically be built for. This just involved taking stock of what my normal days look like, and what my values are.

Space to Cook, Bake, and Preserve

I not only enjoy cooking and baking, but it's a specific part of my "exit and build" plan. Creating a large portion of the food I eat, using simple, local ingredients, and preserving what I can provides me with a certain level of independence from stores and the supply chain. Not only that, but I really enjoy learning how to make nutritious, delicious food. It doesn't have to be complex or difficult to be delicious.

So having a kitchen that would enable that was important. I don't need tons of space, but a bare minimum kitchen space wouldn't cut if for me.

Ability to Host

I have a big family and a group of friends that are like family. I've spent plenty of time over the years staying with them for long periods of time, and it was important to me that I be able to return the favor. So I knew that being able to sleep at least two adults comfortably would be important.

Space to Work

I'm a web developer and work remotely, so it was essential to have some space of the house available for that purpose. All I really need is a laptop though, so this need was a much easier thing to plan for than some of the other needs.

A Bathtub

As funny as it sounds, this really has been a priority! I love taking epsom salt baths for their relaxing and therapeutic effects. That is truly a big part of my lifestyle, so I wanted to be sure I could accommodate that in the house in some way.

What I Wanted in my Tiny House

After those core needs, I had a few wants:

Full Separation Between Kitchen and Bathroom

I've always felt like it's not the most ideal to put the kitchen and bathroom right next to each other. That energy flow feels off to me. I loved the idea of putting one on each end of the house.

A Prioritized Kitchen

It's so common to see kitchens under lofts in tiny houses, with living spaces being given the most ceiling height and overall space. However, this was backwards from my own priorities. To me, the kitchen is the heart of the house. In my own family, pretty much all of our times together center around food in one form or another! It's a path to communion. So I wanted to be sure that the kitchen would have the majority of light, space, and ceiling height.

That also meant I specifically didn't want a second loft. I didn't want to cut off or close in the kitchen in any way.

A Cozy Living Area

The other side of that is that I specifically wanted a living area that would feel cozy. In reality, I just spend the very end of the day in the couch and/or watching TV. The majority of a regular day for me is spent outside in one form or another, working (also outside whenever possible), and cooking and eating. Once the sun goes down, I wind down too, and it feels right to wind down in a cozy area.

A Real Staircase

I have five siblings, so I spent my childhood (and a good bit beyond lol!) in bunkbeds. So a ladder was not for me! I've put in that time! I wanted to walk up real stairs to my loft. Plus the potential for built-in storage in those stairs was very attractive.

Lots of Light and Views

My ideal is that my living space be an invitation to the outdoors. My long-term goal is to buy land (tons of reasons for that) but one purpose there would be to have beautiful views from everywhere in my house. If I'm going to live somewhere, I want to enjoy what I look at. And that goes for everything. Why not? God himself puts beauty into things that according to us don't seem to "need" it. I love that. That's the instinct I feel inside myself. It doesn't have to be beautiful - but what if it was?

So I really wanted to have lots of beautiful views to the outside, and the ability to invite in tons of light.

Initial Floor Plan Ideas

From the beginning I was thinking of a 24' long house. I knew that might get a little difficult to accomplish while still providing for all my wants and needs.

My initial ideas had some issues. The biggest problem I was running into with them was that it was difficult to figure out a way to provide for a pull-out sofa bed in a way that wouldn't block any doors, and if I found a way to do that, it meant the kitchen and bathroom would be right next to each other.

The Final Floor Plan

Johanna showed me examples of my ideas, some of her alternative ideas, and then after we talked about it some more, she showed me a new idea that involved increasing the length to 28'. I saw that one and fell in love.

It had everything I needed. A full size kitchen with a bar, built in stairs, space for a pull-out sofa bed (which is going to be a custom build!), and enough space for a small bathtub/soaking tub!

I decided to run with it! What I love about this layout is that it doesn't attempt to squeeze everything in really tightly. I could have gone with a different layout and shorter length and still gotten most of what I needed - but what I love about this layout is how purposeful it feels. I love all sorts of tiny houses and how they're built just for their owners. There are all sorts of approaches and layouts and needs. For me, I love when a house has good separation of concerns (carryover of thought from development, I think!) and each portion of the house feels distinct. This layout accomplished that.

And there will even be floor space for siblings to camp out on if a larger portion of my family comes to visit at the same time!

Planning a Layout You Love: My Advice

After going through this process, a few things stand out to me that were really helpful in thinking through what I wanted and what determined the choices I made. So much of a layout comes down to you and what's important to you, and I think it's important to zero in on what that is.

Identify Needs Versus Wants

A need would be a non-negotiable that your house must be designed around. It's something that affects your every day, and has something to do with your overall lifestyle. For me, I knew that the kitchen was my core need. Everything could revolve around that. Finding a few (2-4) core needs is really helpful in determining how space needs to be allocated.

A want would be something that you'd be willing to compromise on or even give up if needed. This is more of a preference.

One of my preferences that I had to give up was having the loft stairs positioned on the side of the house where the ceiling is the highest (I'm going with a shed roof) and doing a bit of a dropped loft above the pull-out sofa bed. The idea behind this was having a setup that would allow me to stand up at full height for part of the walkway into the loft. It wouldn't have worked with our pre-existing requirements (some of them legal) for door placement, and the compromise required to make this possible would have meant compromising on one or more of my needs. So I decided to let that one go. It's enough for me to have stairs - I'm okay accepting that my loft will be for sitting and sleeping only!

I've found that it's helpful to ask "why?" about anything you think might be a need. That "why" should make it pretty clear as to whether what you're thinking about is a true need for you.

Your house and its design should reflect you — not the other way around.

Visualize Space

One thing I did was measure out in my own current room some of the floor plan areas, like the loft, to get a feel for ceiling height and overall size. This was really helpful in visualizing layout ideas. It's all too easy to look at a plan and not quite see it in real life terms.

Embrace Experimentation

Johanna was very kind and open to experimenting with multiple different ideas. This was so helpful to really think through different ideas. I ended up taking a few weeks before and during the design process to really think it through, imagine layouts in my head, and envision what it would look and feel like with myself and others in it. It meant that once I chose my final layout, I was convinced it was the right one.

Don't Copy Others

At the end of the day, you're building a house for you. Taking inspiration from others is amazing, as long as you only take what you want and need from it to create what is truly ideal for you. No one but you (and any housemates!) will be living in that space. Make it what you need it to be.

Design for Lifestyle and Aesthetic

I'll say it again - why not make everything beautiful? I'm going to be living in this house. I want to love it. That was part of why I okayed the longer length and final floor plan. It brought me joy. It resonated with me. Yes, it meant spending a little more, but I was willing to make adjustments in other areas to allow for that. It was worth it to me. I love the flow that this floor plan creates.

Yes, tiny houses are about practicality, minimalism, and smart ways of combining form and function into small spaces. I love that. But that's not all they're about. They're not just raw practicality. They're also about the personality, beauty, and energetic flow.

How To Know When You Have the Right Layout

For me, it felt right. My heart skipped a beat when I saw it, honestly. Practically, it checked all the boxes, and emotionally, it spoke to me. But I didn't just go with it immediately. I kept exploring some other options. Once I actually decided on it, I knew it was the right one because the other ones hadn't quite reached that perfect combo of practicality and resonance.

It felt like my future home.

There's No One-Size-Fits All

Tiny houses are such wonderfully personal, unique creations. What works for one person won't work for another. That's part of what I love about them. That they're designed specifically for the people that live inside them. Not the other way around.

The layout is something that will affect you on a daily basis. This can be an overwhelming fact to face, but it's also a wonderful gift.

You have the opportunity to make every part of your house uniquely yours. Take your time, enjoy the process, and remember that there is no "right" or "wrong" solution. This is about creating something that you love.