Pequeno Tiny House Has the Most Surprising Layout and Even a Home Office

Contrary to what you see on social media and in silly movies, the reality of working from home hardly ever involves you casually lounging on a couch with your laptop in your lap and a steaming cup of coffee in your hand while you lazily type away with the other. That's the Hollywood version of it.

More often than not, working from home is a give-it-your-best type of activity, where you (literally) work with what you've got and in whatever conditions you get. Think working out of the laundry room or from the kitchen table, with kids running around or while you try to squeeze in other daily chores, for a better approximation to the everyday reality of working from home.

But if you can afford to pack it all up and hit the road, a tiny house is a solid alternative. Tiny living, once considered a niche segment reserved exclusively for "tree-huggers," has seen an unexpected boom in recent years. Working from home is an entirely different experience when you can take the home wherever you want.

Australia-based Uber Tiny Houses developed a tiny specifically for this purpose. It's called the Pequeno, and it's tailor-made for the digital nomad – or a pair of them if they don't mind sharing the same compact footprint. "Pequeño" means "small" in Spanish, so while this might not be the most creative name possible, it's definitely the most accurate fit.

The Pequeno is 6 meters (20 feet) long, 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) wide, 4.3 meters (14 feet) high, and sits on a triple-axle custom trailer with patented subfloor insulation and drainage system to prevent build-up of condensation. The chassis is thicker to prevent bowing, and the framework is high-quality SIP panels. Uber Tiny Houses promises to check every box in the book to ensure durability and long life for the foundation of the house.

But what makes the Pequeno stand out is the unique layout that allows for many of the features of a brick-and-mortar home within a much more compact and more mobile footprint. Working off a typical single-loft configuration, Uber Tiny Homes is able to put a bedroom with a full wardrobe inside the Pequeno, as well as a two-person home office. An office with a view, no less.

Obviously, when you call a 15 square-meter (161 square-foot) footprint "home," sacrifices will have to be made. Spatial limitations impose them and turn them into a given. The Pequeno is no exception: the living room is also the dining room, which is a U-shaped dinette with a removable table. The kitchen is in the middle of the house, with just the basics. The bedroom doesn't have standing height, and use of the wardrobe will probably imply some contortionist poses to get to the items farther in the back.

But all these are a given with any tiny house and with downsizing in general. For the space it provides, the Pequeno is able to offer quite a lot in terms of creature comforts and a styling that creates an uncluttered, sleek space.

The kitchen, for example, is compact, but you still get a residential fridge, a deep sink, and a two-burner cooktop with oven. The pantry is integrated into the staircase that leads up to the loft, and you have additional storage in a couple of cabinets and presumably under the couch in the dinette.

The bathroom is equally small but full, with a glass shower cabin, a toilet, and a small sink with vanity. The bedroom is a loft with a standing walkway and the wardrobe at the head of the bed. From there, you move to the office, which is a compact nook with a window and a long desk with seating for two, but at a squeeze.

It's not much, but it's enough. That's the description that fits most tiny houses unless we're talking about oversize park models – those units that look like mansions on wheels and can't be moved without special permits. The Pequeno is… pequeña, but it's also a very nice mobile home for a single digital nomad.

Uber Tiny Houses offers this unit as a turnkey for AUD$145,000 (US$93,700 at the current exchange rate) or at varying price points depending on whether you want just the plans, the plans and a course in tiny house building, a shell, or a custom unit including off-grid features.

Uber Tiny House is not your typical tiny house builder, either: it's more of a community of tiny house enthusiasts started by builder Samuel Commerford, who wanted to offer others the tools to build their own tiny house.