As the year comes to a close, it's time to take a look back at the best tiny houses of 2022. Featuring everything from relatively large and expensive models to those that are very small in size and cost, here's a look at 10 of the most interesting examples of small living we've seen throughout the past 12 months.
Our selection of the best tiny houses of 2022 attempts to convey the sheer variety of the small living movement so we're not being too strict with our definition of tiny house here, and are including everything from towable abodes you might actually want to live in year-round, to less practical but interesting ideas, as long as they are sufficiently small.
Hit the gallery to see more photos of each one – and let us know your favorites in the comments.
Stella the Stargazer – Ample
Commissioned by an Australian tourism and events company, Ample's charmingly named Stella the Stargazer has a length of 10 m (32 ft) and looks like a rural farm shack at first glance, but has a neat trick up its sleeve: its bed can be pulled out to let visitors sleep outside under the stars.
When the weather suits, the occupant simply raises the glazed wall of the tiny house and slides out the bed manually. There's a net installed to keep creepy crawlies away and it looks like a fantastic way to spend a night under the stars.
Stella also includes a living area and a full kitchen, plus a bathroom, and it runs off-the-grid with solar power.
Trahan Tiny House – Fritz Tiny Homes
Built for a client who teaches online yoga classes, the Trahan Tiny House from Canada's Fritz Tiny Homes squeezes an impressive amount of features into its compact 32-ft (9.7-m)-long frame.
It serves as a home yoga studio and also has a comfortable living room, a small home office, and a workout area with an exercise bike. In addition, the home is very livable too and offers a well-proportioned kitchen and bathroom, with a typical tiny house loft-style bedroom upstairs.
Sunshine – Vagabond Haven
Some tiny houses nowadays can cost almost as much as a traditional brick-and-mortar home – and can be far too large to reasonably call "tiny" too. However, The Sunshine, by Sweden's Vagabond Haven, goes back to the small living movement's roots with an affordable home measuring just 6.7 m (22 ft) in length.
Its interior is taken up by a simple and unfussy floorplan offering a relatively spacious living area and kitchen, plus a loft bedroom upstairs. Nomads can also cut the cord with an optional off-the-grid package.
Potting Shed – Kelly Haworth
The winner of the UK's 2022 Cuprinol Shed of the Year competition, Kelly Howarth offers an excellent example of the ingenuity found in the shedding scene with her 2 x 3 m (6.5 x 9.8 ft) Potting Shed.
This diminutive hut is primarily made up of recycled doors and wooden pallets. Its interior is arranged around a central space used for preparing plants, and receives lots of natural light thanks to all the glazing in the doors, as well as a roof made up of transparent corrugated plastic. Some storage space has been installed and there's a small bathroom with a composting toilet and gravity fed sink.
Edelweiss – Cabini
Romania's Cabini takes a unique approach to maximizing floorspace in its Edelweiss that essentially involves stacking one tiny house on top of another.
The home measures 36 sq m (387 sq ft), spread over two floors, and its interior looks light-filled thanks to floor-to-ceiling glazing. The furnishings and finish are to a high standard and its unusual overall form offers the added benefit of providing a handy outdoor terrace area outside the upstairs bedroom.
The Porter – Bob's Containers
The Porter is one of the most ambitious shipping container-based houses we've ever seen. Texas-based Bob's Containers attempted to maximize living space in the tiny dwelling by installing a large garage-style door that opens it up to the outside.
It's based on a 40-ft-(9.1-m)-long shipping container and the interior is arranged on one floor with a simple layout, the majority of which is taken up by the kitchen/living room area. Additionally, the container home is topped by a rooftop deck area with hot tub and relaxation net.
Adraga – Madeiguincho
Madeiguincho's Gonçalo Madeira Marrote comes from a family of carpenters and once worked as one himself, so it makes sense that his tiny house designs are defined by their use of timber.
This is definitely the case with the Adraga, which measures 7 m (roughly 23 ft) long and features an attractive timber exterior and interior. Glazed operable doors really open up the Portuguese home to the outside when the weather suits and the Adraga gets all power from a solar panel and battery setup, while a rainwater collection system is connected to filters and provides water for shower and kitchen use. The layout is in typical tiny house style, with living areas downstairs and a small loft bedroom above.
Boulder 2.5 – Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses
Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses' Boulder 2.5 is made from recycled and utilitarian materials and measures just 18 ft (5.4 m) in length.
Its interior decor echoes the rustic exterior and is finished in shiplap walls, with a beetle kill pine ceiling and solid oak flooring. There's no living room or sofa since it's so small, and the floorspace is taken up by a combined dining table/office desk, as well as a kitchen area. The bathroom is on the opposite side of the home to the kitchen and the bedroom is reached by a storage-integrated alternating-tread staircase.
Vika One – Vika Living
The Vika One is a fascinating little Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) by Los Angeles' Vika Living that would be a good fit for a guest house or even standalone tiny house. Thanks to its prefabricated construction and interesting folding design, it can be assembled on-site in a mere one hour.
The interior measures 42 sq ft (3.9 sq m) and comes complete with furnishings and fixtures like a bedroom area with double bed, kitchen, shower, toilet, and hookups for water, power, and sewage – though off-grid is an option too.
Tadpole Tiny House – Build Tiny
New Zealand's Build Tiny was commissioned by a couple who wanted some extra space for guests and are classic car enthusiasts. The resulting model, the Tadpole Tiny House, sleeps two people comfortably and is based on a removable trailer, allowing it to be used to transport the owners' vintage cars.
It measures 7 m (23 ft) in length and contains a large open living space that combines living, sleeping, and kitchen areas, plus a bedroom, all on one level. When it comes time transport a car, the house is unbolted from its base, jacked up, and the trailer removed. The trailer then tilts for the car to move onto it and a nose cone is added.
