In warmer climates (but not exclusively), opting for tiny living instead of an actual apartment or a house is a cost-cutting, more stress-free experience of ownership. Add the freedom that comes with owning a house that sits on a trailer, and you understand the appeal of it.
Downsizing is the future for mankind, the makers of these tiny houses often say. Freedom is important in order to stay creative, to remain connected to Mother Nature and not feel burdened by life in the city, to live in the moment and be able to pack up and leave whenever you feel like it.
Tiny homes, in short, offer you the illusion of real estate ownership without the burdens that actually come with it. In exchange, you have to sacrifice space and, most often than not, comfort.
Unless you don’t have to. New Frontier Tiny Homes from California doesn’t believe comfort should get thrown out the window when you make the decision to “live intentionally” and downsize with a tiny home. The Escher, completed in 2017 on commission and now available to the public, is a perfect example of that.
David Latimer built the Escher for a family of three, so it consists of two bedrooms, a full, custom bathroom and a chef’s kitchen, along with a living / dining room and plenty of space to move around without knocking stuff over with your elbow. The Escher is to tiny homes what supercars are to the average Joe driving his beat-up daily to work; it’s what the super-rich understand by tiny living.
It’s a massive (compared to other tiny homes), premium, ultra luxurious and very elegant tiny house. And it’s price to match, starting at $140,000.
Based on a 33-feet (10-meters)-long triple-axle trailer, the Escher comes with floorspace of some 300 square feet (27.8 square meters). It’s inspired by its predecessor, the Alpha, in that it uses a large garage door as one of the exterior walls and comes with a wooden awning that opens up interior space to the outside. It also resembles the Alpha in the use of only premium materials in the build, like Western Red Cedar treated with the Japanese method of charring known as Shou Sugi Ban.
Inside, the Escher is an elegant combination of solid wood and copper. A large art work, a wooden wall that represents a collaboration with 1767 Designs, sits in the living room, restricting access to the bathroom hidden behind it. Using the stairs for benches and the fold-away table stashed in a secret storage space, the living becomes a dining room with table and seating for up to 12 people. Let’s see you do that in your cramped city apartment.
The kitchen is stocked with everything you need, from burner and oven, to fridge, coffee machine and dishwasher, as well as plenty of storage space. Right behind it is the master bedroom with a king-size bed with a hydraulic system that reveals more storage space underneath – a most necessary addition, since there’s no more room left in the room to add an actual wardrobe.
At the back, there’s a bathroom with a custom tile and glass shower, a sink with vanity and a composting toilet. It also includes an actual walk-in wardrobe for two people, which is something you’re highly unlikely to see in any other tiny home. Above the bathroom is a loft-style room for a child with its own porch-style entrance.
A mini-split HVAC unit provides both heating and air conditioning, as well as ventilation. The Escher can be hooked up to the grid, but it can be turned off and ran on solar panels alone, should the owner want it.
The owners of the first model built, for whose daughter the Escher was named, travel a lot around the world. However, they don’t take the tiny home with them, saying they like to share the joy of living in such a unique home with others. That is to say, they’re renting it out when they’re away, so their travels pretty much pay for themselves.
Future owners can opt to further customize it and have it sleep up to six people. The Escher would probably be more trouble than it’s worth to move around too often, but it’s definitely a very fancy, elegant way of living small.
*Update: The original Escher tiny home burned down in a California wildfire at the end of August. With support from New Frontier Tiny Homes, the owners are hoping to rebuild in Asheville, NC.
Tiny homes, in short, offer you the illusion of real estate ownership without the burdens that actually come with it. In exchange, you have to sacrifice space and, most often than not, comfort.
David Latimer built the Escher for a family of three, so it consists of two bedrooms, a full, custom bathroom and a chef’s kitchen, along with a living / dining room and plenty of space to move around without knocking stuff over with your elbow. The Escher is to tiny homes what supercars are to the average Joe driving his beat-up daily to work; it’s what the super-rich understand by tiny living.
It’s a massive (compared to other tiny homes), premium, ultra luxurious and very elegant tiny house. And it’s price to match, starting at $140,000.
Inside, the Escher is an elegant combination of solid wood and copper. A large art work, a wooden wall that represents a collaboration with 1767 Designs, sits in the living room, restricting access to the bathroom hidden behind it. Using the stairs for benches and the fold-away table stashed in a secret storage space, the living becomes a dining room with table and seating for up to 12 people. Let’s see you do that in your cramped city apartment.
The kitchen is stocked with everything you need, from burner and oven, to fridge, coffee machine and dishwasher, as well as plenty of storage space. Right behind it is the master bedroom with a king-size bed with a hydraulic system that reveals more storage space underneath – a most necessary addition, since there’s no more room left in the room to add an actual wardrobe.
A mini-split HVAC unit provides both heating and air conditioning, as well as ventilation. The Escher can be hooked up to the grid, but it can be turned off and ran on solar panels alone, should the owner want it.
The owners of the first model built, for whose daughter the Escher was named, travel a lot around the world. However, they don’t take the tiny home with them, saying they like to share the joy of living in such a unique home with others. That is to say, they’re renting it out when they’re away, so their travels pretty much pay for themselves.
*Update: The original Escher tiny home burned down in a California wildfire at the end of August. With support from New Frontier Tiny Homes, the owners are hoping to rebuild in Asheville, NC.