There's no reason to settle for a series-production item if you can afford the custom variant. When it comes to downsizing to a tiny home, going down the custom route is less about indulging a whim as it's a prerequisite to ensure your future forever home is just what you need and want.
On the downside, going for the custom option with a tiny home will entail a higher cost, like with everything else you get personalized. Tiny homes are still priced prohibitively, and prices go even higher when you opt for a bigger trailer, more options, or customization.
Then again, this is your forever home, small as it might be. Many of those who make the transition to a tiny home, whether on financial or environmental considerations or simply because they wish to travel more, find that customization options help turn that compact space into a more home-like space, doing away with spatial limitations. Those with an even more generous budget can opt for a one-off fully-custom unit – a tiny like the Chloe.
Movable Roots Tiny Homes is a Florida-based builder that has since expanded nationwide and is famous mostly for its park models. A park model tiny home is still a tiny home but less mobile because it sits on a longer and wider trailer, which makes transport more of a challenge. In other words, park tinies can only be towed to another location with a special permit and, in the case of the biggest units, with a special towing vehicle.
Photo: Movable Roots Tiny Homes
Park tinies can still move on their wheels from place to place, but they won't be as mobile as standard units, which you can tow like you would a travel trailer. They're often found in tiny home communities, where such communities exist, and they're perfect as retirement homes, family houses, or housing alternatives for those wishing to get out of the city.
The Chloe is also a park model, sitting on a triple-axle 26-foot (8-meter) Movable Roots trailer. It's big enough to accommodate an entire family, kids and all, but it was designed for a single owner and her pet. As noted above, it's a fully custom unit, and it stands out for its unique and colorful styling and the upside-down interior layout that puts the bedroom on the ground floor and "hides” the living room in the single loft.
All Movable Roots tinies stand out because of their bright and cheerful styling, and the Chloe is no exception. On the outside, it's painted a custom shade of green dubbed Peacock Plume, while the interior is a very elegant combination of different shades of brown set against a stark white background. The result of this mix is the creation of an open-plan, airy interior that's homey and elegant in equal measure.
Photo: Movable Roots Tiny Homes
Most tiny homes will use a loft layout to create as many usable areas as possible. As a rule, sleeping is relegated to the upper level, whether the house has one or two lofts. The Chloe turns the rule on its head and places the main bedroom on the ground floor, under the loft, which now holds the living room.
You still don't have standing height inside the bedroom, but you get a privacy slant that can roll into position when privacy is required. The bedroom has room for a queen-size mattress and maybe one pint-sized storage unit or two; it's definitely a tight space, but it's made to feel less claustrophobic by a small window and the slanted divider.
Over the bedroom is the living room, protected by a wooden banister and accessed by a storage-integrating staircase. The ground floor also holds a galley-style kitchen, a laundry station, and a residential-size bathroom with a flushing toilet, a walk-in tile shower, and a standard sink with vanity.
The kitchen comes with quartz countertops and open shelving, a two-burner induction cooktop, a hood extractor, a large farm sink, a residential fridge and freezer, and a small breakfast bar on one end. Tiny houses are all about compromise, and that's apparent in this owner's choice of putting a laundry station, with a washer, dryer, and dedicated storage, opposite the single-block kitchen, where one would normally find more kitchen cabinets for storage.
Photo: Movable Roots Tiny Homes
Offering under 250 square feet (23.2 square meters) of living space, the Chloe is designed as the perfect permanent residence for a couple of downsizers and one pet, but it could sleep as many as four people on an occasional basis. To those using it as a permanent residence, it aims to offer a clean, colorful, and relaxing space where they can carry out their daily lives as they see fit. It's quite a looker, that much is clear!
The Chloe starts at $116,000, but the unit presented in the video below, since delivered to the owner in Florida, cost $132,000 with everything inside. This brings us back to the old discussion about how tiny homes remain priced too high for how affordable they claim to be.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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