BEST USE OF SPACE

Custom windows, quality finishes, nifty storage and a breakfast bar-with-a-view make the kitchen in this tiny home a hard-working space that is also beautiful

Owners of tiny homes are canny enough to know that small abodes mean fewer square metres to tidy, less space for clutter, and far less debt. When we chatted to Jasmine Burt and Erin Allison-Maxwell in 2017, they told us that building a tiny house has left them with a manageable financial burden and more freedom to continue travelling the world.

The couple’s gorgeous cottage, which measures 7.2 metres by 2.4 metres and sits on a bush-clad section in West Auckland, was devised while they were living overseas. Like many Kiwis on their OE, Erin and Jasmine had started thinking about their future back home and checking out houses for sale online to see what they could afford. It didn’t make for pretty viewing. The pair had heard of the ‘tiny house’ movement and, after doing some research, found its philosophy spoke to them. Erin had always dreamed of one day building his own home and “something of this scale made it achievable”.

THE KITCHEN

One of the fundamental philosophies of the

‘tiny house’ movement is that a tiny house must be beautiful – “otherwise they can look like a Portacom,” says Jasmine. The couple chose a modern cottage aesthetic with generous windows for plenty of natural light. They knew the size of the windows would make a major impact on the final look, and the added cost of custom wooden frames was a sacrifice they were willing to make.

The striking kitchen benchtop was another quality-over-cost decision. It’s made from black maire, a little-known native which produces extremely hard, beautiful wood with swirls and knots throughout. The couple sourced the timber from Brian at St Lukes Timber, who supplied the same wood for the flooring in Michael Parekowhai’s artwork ‘The Lighthouse’ on Auckland’s Queens Wharf. A chopping board covers the sink to create extra bench space. The matte black hexagonal kitchen tiles were a lucky (and cheap) find on Trade Me. The flooring is Lawson cypress, a sustainable, locally grown timber that looks good, smells good and is soft underfoot.

“WE HAVE A NEW-FOUND FREEDOM FROM KNOWING WE DON’T NEED A LOT OF STUFF”

Things have to earn their place in this tiny abode by doing double duty. The coffee table pulls apart into two stools, the outdoor table comes inside when Jasmine and Erin have guests for dinner, and the stairs hide clever storage space.