Tiny Carriage House

Since tiny houses are all the rage now, I thought I'd share some photos of a tiny "carriage house" which I built about 15 years ago.

One of my dearest clients sent these photos recently to show how it had weathered in over time. I don't do work of this scope any more, simply because I prefer smaller jobs, but it's fun to look at.

There's a lot of nice interior detail which I don't have photos of. The upstairs has a real "tree house" feeling, and one of the big windows looks over the main house to a long view of the city skyline.

The carriage house has a small bathroom and kitchenette, so it could be rented out as an apartment. It's also framed in such a way that the owner could expand it to the right and behind. If you look at the third picture, you can see how it would work: you would put double doors in where the windows are.

I did all of the work myself, except the roofing. It was quite a large project to take on by myself. I raised the walls with a pulley thrown over one of the branches of the large trees overhead, then pulled them up with my car. The bottom plate was hinged so that it just folded straight up when I pulled on it.

The whole floor plan is 448 square feet. If I had it to do over again, I would do it all on one floor, because it's easier to build and maintain, and the stairs really ate up the floor space. On the other hand, the tall structure with the windows in the gable is really dramatic and appealing, so maybe it's all for the best.