30-ft Tiny House Uses an Automatic Slide-Out to Create Space for the Entire Family

Tiny houses are not just the solution to a whole bunch of modern problems but also a sum of paradoxes forced to co-exist. Because they're built on top of trailers and are essentially mobile homes, they're strictly limited and defined by their compact size, yet some of them are still able to live very large – and quite luxuriously.

The Grand Sojourner is one of those tinies that appear both big and compact at the same time, no matter how strange that might sound. As its name implies, it's on the larger side, and it's based on a triple-axle custom trailer with dimensions that limit its mobility on the road. But it's still a mobile house in a way in which no brick-and-mortar home could ever be.

The Grand Sojourner is the largest model from Australia-based company Häuslein, introduced a few years ago as a variation on their flagship Sojourner model. Last year, the Grand Sojourner reached Version 3, which brings several modifications and improvements that turn it into a solid rival to traditional housing alternatives while maintaining the focus on mobility and downsizing.

The Grand Sojourner Version 3 is also a gorgeous take on the whole tiny living movement, offering luxurious, custom interiors and high-quality finishes, as well as a sleeping capacity for up to six people. Granted, you can cram that many people in a dual-axle mobile home if they're willing to undergo the experiment, but this tiny offers this kind of accommodation with minimal impact on comfort.

It seems paradoxical to have this much space within 34.5 square meters (371 square feet), but it's possible, as the video tour at the bottom of the page proves. The Grand Sojourner Version 3 is 9 meters (29.5 feet) long, 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) wide, and 4.3 meters (14.1 feet) high, and it's able to pack in this dimension everything from a spacious lounge to two bedrooms, a full kitchen, and a surprisingly large bathroom.

The secret is in the design, of course.

V3 uses a dual-loft layout like most other tinies, but it adds its own spin to it: the smaller loft is accessible by ladder and can be anything from a kids' room to a home office, while the bigger loft gets a storage-integrating staircase, and standing height on the dropped-down walkway. It also gets a full wardrobe, a skylight, and a surprisingly good amount of headspace when standing in bed.

The highest selling point of V3 remains the highlight of the Grand Sojourner model: the slide-out in the lounge area. A slide-out is a rare feature in a tiny house, but it's not entirely unheard of. Häuslein uses it to add depth to the lounge, placing in this unit a large couch on it. At the press of a button, the living area becomes spacious enough to fit the entire family for a night of entertainment, whether that entails watching TV or board games.

Everything in V3 seems full-size, which, again, is a rarity in this industry. Among the first things tiny house builders choose to do without is extra space in the kitchen or bathroom, which are thus reduced to their basic functionality. In this case, both the kitchen and the bathroom are very spacious, packing extra features like a large fridge and a dishwasher, as well as a proper laundry station in the bathroom with a washer and dryer combo and storage.

Storage is, again, among the first to go when building a tiny house, but it abounds here. V3 offers storage under the staircase, in the kitchen cabinets, in the bathroom, in the bedroom wardrobe, and basically everywhere else builders could fit in a nook, a cubbie, or a floating shelf.

Finishes include solid pine paneling for the interior, solid cypress pine flooring and countertops finished in natural tongue oil, and soft-close hinges on all opening doors. The home is insulated with fiberglass earth wool and silver sarking in the floor, walls, and ceiling. It comes with an instant gas water heater, a mini-split for AC and heat, and RV-style connections for water, plumbing, and electricity.

That said, the V3 can also be rendered fully off-grid with assistance from the builder. They don't build the home as a self-sufficient unit themselves because it's less expensive for the owner to handle certain aspects of autonomy with local providers, such as the solar system, a rain catchment system, and the water tank and pump setup.

The Grand Sojourner V3 is designed as an organic evolution of the Grand Sojourner and the Sojourner before it and as a family home that offers all the features and creature comforts for a comfy life. It's meant for full-term or permanent residency, but it makes no compromises on quality and high-end finishes.

Prices start at AUD148,500, or roughly $97,000 at the current exchange rate. This amount doesn't include stuff like the fridge or the washer-dryer, and it definitely doesn't include rigging the home for running off the grid. In the end, perfection in the niche of tiny houses is achievable – but it also comes at a cost.