I have been in my share of derelict places, and this is by far the most derelict. Which is what makes it so cool.

It’s a Victorian terrace in a quiet street of Newtown that has never been renovated, and has not been kept in the best condition.

It is creepy.

The photos explain it better than words can, but walking through the place you identify a few things – the inside has had years and years of indifferent living piled on it, with wallpaper peeling to show more wallpaper and an old kid’s rug covering the kitchen floor. It’s been bashed about. Then there’s what looks to be squatter’s writing on the wall of the living area. And there’s the odour upstairs, which was mildly scarring.

It’s exciting and scary to walk through, and it’ll be exciting and scary to renovate. It’s got a good location, a facade that will scrub up nicely and some original features worth saving – the fireplace downstairs is bricked up but has a very pretty frame.

It harkens back to old school Newtown grit, which is another plus point. On the other hand, it will soon be a sparkling refashioned respectable home. It’s currently on the market, so someone will assuredly pick it up and have fun with it. The day I saw it I was late (no surprise there), but the inspection had been busy and there was an overflow of investors exploring it with me. It’s also been listed in SMH‘s ‘Smart Buys’ section (billed as a ‘haunted house’), so I’m not the only person paying attention. Nor should I be.

An apartment in Perth – not my usual focus, but maybe that’s what’s good about it. This place had its interior redesigned by Jean Hattingh, with the aim to create a loud statement look for her bachelor client.

I didn’t actually get to see the apartment myself as I’m in the east, but it’s an interesting city to look at since its property prices are so high. West Perth, where this apartment is located, borders the CBD. Below is my Q&A with Jean, who took me through her design choices.

As an aside – back to four posts this month! Look at that work ethic… Admirable.

How important is the use of colour and contrast in the design?
Strong colours were used [throughout] the living area. The starting point for the design was the magnificent painting by Madeleine Casey, [with] colours … drawn from this artwork and also from the hand woven kelims which grace the floors of both areas of the space.  The graphic wallpaper with its black and silver helix was chosen for its boldness and this boldness was carried through to the massive “dear ingo” light in the dining area and also to the bright red perspex cutout panels on the opposite wall.  These panels were positioned to partly disguise a very ordinary laundry door and also to bring colour weight to the wall opposite the wallpaper.

Was the design formulated to fit in with the owner’s living arrangements?
The design was primarily to update the very dated apartment … [A]ll the old wrought iron balustrading on the staircase and between the living zones was replaced with modern glass.  A huge comfortable leather couch allowed for maximum relaxation while watching TV and a blue chair and yellow ottoman added seating for guests.

The dining table and consoles were custom made from marri wood, melamine and stainless steel and the dining chairs are perspex fun items to lighten the solemnity of the heavy dining suite.

The tiny entrance hall was dressed with see-through perspex console tables to give an impression of space and bright art and a bold
sculpture.

Floor to ceiling curtains add an enormous sense of space to the rooms.  The background was all neutral and the colour was added in layers on top.

The kitchen was revamped with new melamine stainless steel look doors and a new stone benchtop and new appliances.

Did you draw on any influences?
Mid-century modernism features heavily in [the living] room with the starburst mirror, blue chair, walnut and melamine coffe table and “dear ingo” light.  A lighthearted touch is added with the dining chairs and plastic dinosaurs marching across the dining console.

My favourite part of the house: its facade. Interestingly, it doesn't have a proper front door.

Vaucluse House is one of The Historic Houses Trust‘s ‘living museums’; you can be toured through it, and have afternoon tea in the teahouse afterwards, if that kind of thing takes your fancy (it does take mine). So that’s exactly what I did. I won’t regale you with the house’s extensive history as the HHT’s website does a pretty nifty job of that, and, besides, I wouldn’t want to ruin the whole point of the tour in case you’re keen to go. But I will show you some photos and mention some details I found interesting. So here we go.

Nursery.

The house was bought and remodelled by William Charles Wentworth in the early nineteenth century, “a gifted but restless lawyer and politician”, according to the HHT. He had a fair number of achievements under his belt. His family was pretty rebellious for the time; his wife had two children before they were married and he was born to an unwed mother. Oh, the scandal. As a result, the family was left a little isolated from colonial society. But they had a pretty opulent drawing room, which might have made things easier to cope with.

I found this small bed in the nursery terrifically amusing.

The house isn’t especially expansive, but its facade is something else – the Gothic look to it is the home’s most confronting feature, and is my favourite part. The inner courtyard is also pretty special; it feels like a walled city when you’re standing inside it, and it serves as the connecting point between the main house and the servants’ areas, including the kitchen.

The dining room, typically a male-dominated space, according to our tourguide, had a portrait of Wentworth’s favourite daughter hanging in it – a fairly controversial move for the time, apparently. The tiles used in the room were handcrafted in Italy. The drawing room boasts wall-to-wall carpet when rugs were typically used, and blue pigment at a time when blue was not synthetically produced, making it a rarity. An interesting point noted by the tourguide was the need for symmetry in keeping with the time’s conventions; one door in the drawing room leads nowhere, its only purpose being to mirror the door on the other side of the room. I’m a little strange myself, so can see how that would be appealing (especially with my OCD), but tend to prefer the design school that favours thoughtful functionality.

The famed dining room. Breaking with convention.

Master bedroom. Mattresses were piled high to stave off infestation by bed bugs.

The house was bought by the NSW government in the early twentieth century and has been on show since then. The layouts have been recreated by curators – some of the pieces are original, others have been sourced. It’s reminiscent of Como House, a Melbourne mansion I blogged about early last year, except Vaucluse House is smaller in scale. They both have their intrigue – Como House’s riches-to-rags background, Vaucluse House’s eccentric owner – and the hallmarks of colonial wealth (including servant bells, one of my favourite oddities).

The all-important chandelier.

Servant's bell. Does what it says on the tin.

Drawing room (the fanciest room – for entertainment).

Walls of the inner courtyard.

Kitchen. Atmospheric.

I don’t often get down to Sutherland, and that fact combined with the photo to the right, which I’m pretty fond of, made me keen to publish a post on this home in Lilli Pilli. Lilli Pilli is a small suburb about 26km south of the CBD, and is one of the higher-end areas in the Shire. The house was reworked by interior designer Greta Unkuri, whose parents own the place. This makes for an interesting dynamic as she got the chance to rearrange the decor of her childhood home.

Another Q&A style post. Pumped?

 
What is the home’s background?
This home has a particularly interesting and sentimental background. It’s actually my family home that my Finnish father built when I was 13. My father has the most amazing eye for detail and his craftsmanship is second to none. I am honestly yet to witness such attention to detail in another
builder, [so] his influence has certainly held me in good stead for what I hope to be a long and successful career in design.

When the home was first built, it was ahead of its time and beautiful in its originality.  It is a home that is true to its surroundings. After 16 years, we decided to tastefully and timelessly give it new life.

What was your design brief?
The brief on this one was delivered a little differently to my usually client/designer ‘initial briefing’. My implementation of the interior was approached exactly the same [way] as I approach all my interiors.  A successful interior should be intuitive, timeless and innovative; it should lead you to its purpose.  The house is situated on the Port Hacking river and has cathedral-like windows to take advantage of the view. Its high ceilings, open plan living and hand-crafted central staircase offer the most beautiful collaboration of organic and inorganic lines. I wanted to detail these accordingly and exactly with the right balance. This house needed to remain true to is beautiful surroundings, be bold and propelled into the modern world. Its foundations were to be completely refreshed but in neutral tones.

How did you decide on the colour scheme?
I decided to keep the house neutral and layer it with texture and tone, that’s were it derives its warmth.  The colour scheme consists of black, white, charcoal and neutral stones.  The white was chosen to complement the home’s aspect. I think that is something people often forget to
consider when choosing a white; you really have to consider the light, where it is coming from and the base in which the white is made with.  In this instance the white I used was Dulux natural white. Its got a hint of black and brown (and I mean a tiny hint). It needs this base because of the green from outside and the blue from the water. With these tones in this aspect it remains white.

The stairs are such a beautiful part of this home. I decided to detail the base structure of the stairs with Dulux Ferrador bridge paint, with the ballustrating detailed in black. It’s bold but deservedly so. Look at the detail (I remember holding parts of these stairs whilst my dad welded
them together back in the day). The flooring is blackout and we resurfaced this in a matte polish to give them a bit of new life.  The stone is the home’s original travertine, but its taken on new life with the new colour scheme.

What is your favourite part of the house?
My favourite part of this house is opening the front door. You can see so much of this house from its entrance. It is architecually profound from the moment you [enter]. I love the intersection of lines and the height of the ceilings.

How does the house fit within the local area?
The house is in such a unique position; it’s down the bottom of a long driveway, situated with bush and a waterfall next to it with the view of Port Hacking at the front. There are many beautiful waterfronts in Lilli Pilli and this property tastefully sits amongst them.

Is there anything you would like to add?
It’s been interesting writing about a home that I guess is so personal.  I think the most important thing to consider when you are approaching an interior – be it yours or someone else’s – is that a successful interior should be timeless. Of course over the years it will need to evolve, this [house] is a perfect example of that.  But if the foundations are right in the first place, its evolution and facelift will be intuitive and organic.

I love terraces. My fascination with them was one of the reasons I started this blog. What makes featuring this house so interesting is that I was able to explore a pretty rare Victorian terrace – one located at Mosman. Mosman isn’t renowned for terrace housing. It has short semis, large (super-large, oh-man-why-can’t-I -afford-a-place-like-this?-large) Federations and modern homes, but to be honest I didn’t even know it had terrace stock (and I love finding out new things about Sydney’s architecture). There are some suburbs in the lower north shore where terraces are bordering on common (Neutral Bay, Waverton, Kirribilli, McMahons Point), but this isn’t one of them.

So this place excites me.

It’s three storey and right near Mosman Bay, one of the suburb’s most coveted spots. Mosman, for the record, is pretty massive (it’s divided up into unofficial precincts), and the sections near Mosman Bay and Avenue Road are very pretty and worth a walk, if you don’t know the area.

The house is mostly unrenovated (one of its bathrooms has been updated), but that’s one of its best features – firstly as I love looking at homes in original/semi-original condition, and secondly as it means the character has been retained (there’s nothing sadder than a terrace that has had all its trimmings ripped out and is just a modern husk). There are multiple ornate fireplaces and lightfittings, plus the original floorboards, high patterned ceilings and sash windows.

It’s an end terrace, which means that it has more light (and space) than your average terrace – makes renovating easier, as the main priority when reconfiguring a terrace is often getting access to more light. The floorplan is closed, and I imagine that the downstairs living/kitchen areas will be opened up, leading onto a timber deck facing the direction of the harbour. There is a second kitchen in an upstairs bedroom that I presume will be pulled out when the house is renovated. The current staircase is narrow and tall. The fact the terrace already has two bathrooms, an internal laundry and parking (…just try to park nearby for any significant amount of time and you’ll see how useful this is) is handy as it means that renovation can be focused primarily on restoration, especially if the new owners don’t choose to dramatically change the floorplan (and I’d argue that the floorplan only really requires substantial alteration on the ground floor).

On the property side of things, I found 15 McLeod Street as it’s on the market. It’s for sale (not auction) for around $1.4m, which, given the fact it’s such a unique find in such a covetable location, makes it well worth scoping out for anyone looking in the area, in my mind.

Disappointingly, I couldn’t find this terrace on the heritage register. I find this a really strange omission given there are houses far less worthy of conservation that have the notation. I’m confident that its new owners will keep it mostly intact, but I hope they keep ahold of all the little bits and pieces that make character homes so … well, characterful. When polished, this house will be seriously amazing, and even moreso if all the intricate details it has now are still there at the end.

Two sets of French doors lead out to the front terrace from one of the bedrooms.

Just one of the many excellent fireplaces still on display.

This week’s blog post is a walk through Killara (a ‘mini-post’, as I’ve come to call them). There are two key reasons for this. The first is that I haven’t had much time and I live in the suburb. The second is that I am most likely moving soon and would like to celebrate the place, since its housing stock is pretty amazing. Unfortunately, some of my favourite houses in the area aren’t here as I only walked along a few streets (which took longer than you’d imagine), but the one above is a place I’m totally in love with. It’s light pink, which suits it well … but I’m into the black and white vibe of the photos today.

If you don’t know much about Killara, it’s an upper north shore (or mid north shore, if you divide the north shore into three segments … I don’t, but see the reasoning) suburb about 14 kilometres from the CBD. I seem to recall mentioning this before on the blog (maybe I didn’t? Who’s to say?), but it’s one of the two upper north shore suburbs without a village (the other being Warrawee). Both of those suburbs, incidentally, command higher prices than their neighbours. From my recollection, a recent edition of Title Deeds in Domain (SMH… I can now only stomach its Saturday paper, as an aside) recorded Killara as having the highest sale price of any upper north shore suburb in 2012 (I believe it was around $5.5m, but I’m not confident).

People like Killara because it’s leafy, has nice, wide streets, has grand heritage housing (and gargantuan modern housing…), is close to good schools and has a train station. It is actually pretty central, from my experience, and it’s been a relaxing break from living in suburbs that are dominated by concrete.

If you’re ever in the mood to ogle some houses, Killara is a good suburb to do it in – head to the side east of the Pacific Highway (or the part near the golf course on the west side) and you’re sure to see some places you’ll be impressed by. You could make a day of it, if you really wanted to – there are a couple of good places to eat at nearby-ish Wahroonga and St Ives (they even have a bar now, with decent drinks, plus there’s Pattison’s – always a win), a gelato bar at Lindfield and the trusty Greengate Hotel … schnitzels and cheap drinks, not bad for a Sunday afternoon.

As you can probably tell, since they demonstrate a level of photographic skill I haven’t quite yet attained (still waiting for someone to shout me a DSLR and a photography lesson…), these photos are not mine. But no matter. The house is pretty, and belongs to Ellie Bradley, who heads up Xavier & Me.

So today’s post takes the form of another Q&A-with-a-professional. Below is my interview with Ellie, who takes us through her design inspirations and provides some tips for anyone hoping to pretty up their own place. It’s a bit unique insofar as the family decided to move into an already-renovated home; a rarity for design professionals.

How much did your work influence the design of your own home?
We moved into our home in October 2012 and it was already renovated. Our decision to move into a home already renovated was motivated by a year long struggle to get a DA through on another home. It was a very stressful year, so we decided to keep our home, put it on the rental market and go in search of something we can move straight into.

Rugs are used in the home to create contrast in streamlined, modern rooms.

The home was renovated back in 2010, and mixes the traditional features of the home with modern features. The home has loads of storage which was a must and we now also have that crucial extra room which I have turned into my studio. In terms of the style of home, it really was a blank canvas which enable me to fill up the home with my treasures – from porcelain tea pots, to aboriginal artworks, to loads of my cushions and rugs.

Who lives in the house?
I live here with my husband, Richard and my little boy Xavier, who is nearly 5.

How did you decide on the home itself? What was its background?
We needed more space and storage. As I work from home, I really needed (and so did my family) a separate room that I could make into my studio. It’s one of the bedrooms at the front of the house and looks out onto the street with some city glimpses through a beautiful Frangipani tree. We are slightly elevated from the street level, so it’s lovely being able to take in the day without feeling like I am in a fish bowl.

Can you take us through your approach to colour and pattern?
My approach to colour and pattern is constantly changing, as I think this is something I’m still discovering myself as I grow as a designer, but on the whole I am a big lover of bright colours and bold patterns. I love using contrasts in my designs between different materials and media or by fusing bold strong colours with complementary muted tones. I love the modernist art movement Bauhaus’ main objective to unify art, craft and technology. Their rational designs are based on simple geometric shapes and primary colours, which you see a lot of in my work.

 It’s lovely being able to take in the day without feeling like I am in a fish bowl.

 
How heavily styled is your home on a day-to-day basis?

Ellie's office.

On a day-to-day basis my home is pared back on the styling, however I do love showing my treasures and tend to mix it up. I don’t have everything out at once as I like to more curate the spaces in my home. I tend to pick up things here and there, and they don’t all work together, so I have tended towards creating a mini gallery where I change things around, move pieces from room to room. I like the fluidity of styling my home.

Do you have any favourite stores to pick up homewares from?
Planet on Commonwealth, in Surry Hills. I am good friends with the owner Ross Longmuir and he has a wonderful curated mix of artists and his own furniture and fabrics. Another favourite shop is actually one of my online retailers, Everything Beings. Amy searches far and wide for the most interesting new artwork and objects, made by independent and emerging artists, designers and makers all over the world, which she brings to us online. A recent addition to the site was a series of artworks by Australian illustrator Letitia Buchan.

Do you have any tips for others trying to improve the appearance of their home?
Here are my top ten tips for breathing new life into your home:

1. De-clutter – Even if your have created a beautiful room, clutter can detract from the overall look. Make sure those usual suspects of kids’ toys, stationery, magazines, pile of different electronic plugs for different devices (I have one of these on my kitchen bench) have their own place so they are easy to find but not scattered or piled up.
2. Lighting – A great way to update your room is to add lighting. Draping some string lights over a bookshelf or updating your boring ceiling light to something a bit more stylish could change the whole look of a room.
3. Rugs – rugs add texture and warmth to a room. It can also add character to a neutral décor, soften a busy scheme or tie together key colours in a room. It’s also a great way to aid in room planning and acoustics if you live with a large open plan space.
4. Cushions – another great way to add colour and pattern, breathing new life into your room. Mix pattern, colour and textures to create a statement.
5. Wallpaper – There are some beautiful wallpapers out there – whether you want something busy, loud, muted or kitsch. Be brave and completely cover the walls of a small room or make a statement in a larger room by papering just one wall.
6. Reupholster – Old dining chairs, headboards and sofas can be reinvented to refresh a room’s look. Find a contemporary patterned fabric and get your old furniture reupholstered for a brand new sense of style and comfort.
7. Colour scheme – You don’t need to go overboard when finding a colour scheme for a room – unless, of course, you really want to make a statement. Pick out the pre-existing key colours of your room or choose a specific object which you wish to use as the colour inspiration and add complementary coloured ornaments or soft furnishings. If your room has a neutral décor, inject a few really bright shades.
8. Make a statement – If you’ve got a bit of cash set aside, consider splashing it on a statement item which will give your room the ‘wow factor’. Depending on budget, room type and your personal taste, this can range from a designer ornament to a framed canvas or flash contemporary fireplace.
9. Flowers – Okay, so it’s not quite going to restyle the room, but displaying flowers is a wonderful way of breathing life into a room, adding colour and making a style statement. Commit to a regular change of bouquets and vases to keep your room alive and create a feast for the eyes.
10. Mirrors – If you don’t have a feature mirror in at least one room of your house – why not? As well as creating the feeling of space and reflecting light, a mirror says you are proud of your home, it is vanity for your interior and a wonderful way to add perspective.

I really like Watsons Bay. That isn’t too controversial a statement, I guess, since it bleeds affluence/aspiration. I know I’ve been a bit crazy about apartments lately, but this one provides a decent feel for the suburb as its view encapsulates the feeling you have when you’re there – like you could be at the end of the earth, and it’s very pleasant and there’s no reason to leave. You’re not at the end of the earth, though; you’re in the eastern suburbs, and it’s a cruisy ferry ride back into the city. Or you can hop into your Merc. Whichever.

This apartment’s focal point is its views. The windows are accordingly large and wide, and since there are windows across three walls the apartment is lighter than many.

Another design feature adds to the lightness of the apartment  - the use of whites, creams and golds, which is very consistent across the living space. This achieves two effects – it keeps your eyes on the water outside while also creating a sumptuous and inviting living room (because white-on-white in interior design is pretty much always awesome). 

The floorplan is fairly tight, with a long hallway and two bedrooms. The kitchen is a separate room, which is a step away from the ubiquity of open plan living. You can decide whether a separate kitchen is up your alley or not. I tend to prefer open plan in this respect, but the kitchen here was attractive enough that I didn’t think about it.

Speaking of which, the kitchen is interesting as it adds a northern beaches vibe to the place – blues and whites with beach signs. As in the living room, the consistent colour palette in the kitchen adds appeal and interest. Interesting point – although stainless steel appliances are de rigueur at this point, the whitegoods here blend in with the colour scheme and just seem right. 

The beachiness extends out onto the balcony, which is another place to soak in the views. The bedrooms are built at the front of the apartment, leaving the entertaining spaces with the best vantage points. The owners have dotted the apartment with  artefacts, so most rooms have a point of interest.

Beachy.

This apartment, like the last one, is on the market (my next one won’t be, need to mix it up). Offers over $1.65m are being sought. It’s hard to measure up the value as there aren’t many statistics on sale prices in the area – but a renovated apartment with fantastic views in this type of suburb is always going to set you back. It’s marketed towards certain types of buyer; they might prefer the view and the exclusive location over a comparatively priced terrace farther in, or want a pretty fancy entry point into the suburb. Maybe they’re a downsizer.

The interiors contrast fairly starkly with the exterior of the building. It seems to be a late mid-century block, but it’s been renovated and has a modern security system and gated entrance. Many of the apartment blocks dotting the shore on both sides of the harbour were built around this time, and executive committees have had to work out an approach for working with these older blocks, which are now seriously expensive real estate. It’s a complex scenario in an apartment complex as there’s always the risk that some owners will oppose change, or will have a different idea about the changes that should be implemented.

There are a few reasons I was keen to look at this studio in Potts Point. It’s a renovated studio, for starters, and I like seeing how a small space can be redesigned to be interesting and liveable. Then, there’s the fact that it’s just plain pretty. Lastly, though, I haven’t looked at a home in Potts Point on the blog yet, and I think that a renovated studio in a character building is a pretty perfect place to start.

Potts Point’s story is pretty well-known, but here’s a brief top-of-the-head rehash. It’s one of the suburbs that ‘binds’ Kings Cross, which is a locality that borrows off Potts Point, Elizabeth Bay and Darlinghurst. It’s probably the most ‘Kings Crossy’ of those three suburbs. This apartment is about 200 metres from the centre of the action, but it’s in the suburb’s more peaceful, leafy pocket – which is quite a sweet spot to be in. Pulsating nightlife, nice street, footsteps to the city and to the harbour … I’ll take it. You could call it a ‘gentrified’ suburb, I guess, but I don’t think that paints a full picture; it’s been expensive for decades, and part of its appeal is the schism between wealth and red light district.

The studio has been renovated well. What was left of the studio’s best character features has been preserved (ornate light fitting, bay window – is there anything in life better than a bay window, by the way?). The space is effectively broken up by stairs, which separates the studio into three distinct areas. This makes a studio feel far larger, and creates interest, which is all-important in a small space that can too easily give everything away at once.

I can fairly safely say this is one of the better studio renovations in the area, as I spent the rest of my weekend looking at studios and one bedders to rent. This is the first apartment I saw on the day, and I found myself pining for it as the rental inspections continued to disappoint. It may attract an investor, but could just as easily draw in young professionals looking to live in a stylish little place that’s walking distance to almost everything. When done well, a studio apartment can minimise wastage of space and demonstrate the versatility of home design. That’s what I like about this one – it incorporates a fantastic kitchen into an open plan living area, boasts a foyer of sorts and has a distinct living area/study by the window. It has everything you need – all in a tight package.

As the (out-of-character) title indicates, this post is a bit of an aberration from my usual posts (you could call it a dalliance, if you really wanted to). But it’s totally necessary as it’s on tiny houses, and tiny houses are pretty awesome. Below is an interview with Mark from Tiny House UK. 

To use a turn of phrase my grandad employs regularly, a tiny house is ‘exactly what it says on the tin’. That is, it’s a small house. Depending on whether you’re claustrophobic, they’re both efficient and cute; they load up everything in a conventional house into a neat north-European inspired (…maybe. I don’t really have a clue, but it seems a bit IKEA design-ish, doesn’t it?) compartment. Like a studio, but usually portable.

When did you start building tiny houses?
I started building my first tiny house in August 2011. Unfortunately, the first one suffered a broken axle due to the weight of the structure when I was towing it down the highway. Not a great start! The second house was built on a caravan chassis, which again did not cope with the sheer weight and bowed at front and back, causing the roof to part in a few areas. Back to the drawing board!

The third house, after a lot of re-calcs and structural re-thinking, turned out very well and solid as a rock.

What was your inspiration?
I first saw tiny houses on the Internet –  Jay Shaffer’s blog (Tumbleweed Tiny House) – and loved what he had accomplished.

Are there any unique challenges associated with designing and constructing a tiny house?
The weight was the main problem to overcome. Tiny houses [originated] from the USA. Vehicles in the USA are a lot bigger and heavier, which means conventional trailers are designed to cope with … much more weight. It seems trailers in the UK are made [more cheaply] (save as to cost), which is why my first [two] tiny houses were not successful. The rainfall in the UK is far higher and, as we all know, timber can weigh two and a half times its dry weight once it has been exposed to the good old British weather.

Do you think tiny houses will become a viable alternative to traditional dwellings in the future?
Property [values have] risen over the last 10 years at an astonishing rate and [have] effectively priced the younger generation out of the market. … Living in a tiny house for a few years gives people the opportunity to live cheaply and save money.

What do your customers most commonly use the tiny houses for?
Most enquiries seem to come from guest houses, B&Bs and homeowners looking to use one as an extra room or to rent out. … Rather than living cheaply, extra income seems to be the area that attracts customers.

What are the costs associated with tiny houses?
Apart from the initial payment, the cost of living is very low. Our tiny houses can be installed with low voltage lighting [and] solar power is a viable option. We insulate our houses with Celotex, Kingspan or Super Quilt, which have very high insulation values. The bed area is elevated, and because heat rises, the sleeping area stays warm for longer.