A strong personality is something that any tiny house worth discussing has plenty of. When you're working with such a compact space that also has to be functional for everyday living, the only way in which you can compensate is if you use creativity to make it have its own personality.
Builder Tiny House Chattanooga knows all about the need to create a product that stands out in a way that makes up for spatial constraints. Founded by Mike Bedsole in 2014, the company aimed from the start to offer "out of the box" creativity that went against cutie-cutter or uninspired designs. As a result, their tiny houses are "smart, right-sized if not sometimes complex" units that walk the fine line between a typical brick-and-mortar family home, park models, and highly mobile units.
The Mini Mansion, whose name really says it all if you think about it, is a good example in that sense. It's also one of the most popular units from the Chattanooga, Tennessee-based builder, and a looker, too: large enough to accommodate the needs of a family unit but built in such a way as to remain roadworthy and with the styling of an old country manor.
The Mini Mansion is a gooseneck tiny that sits on a triple-axle 32-foot (9.7-meter) custom trailer and uses custom steel framing instead of the typical wood frame on weight considerations. With a total length of 39 feet (11.8 meters) and a width of 8.5 feet (2.5 meters), it offers a layout of 312 square feet (29 square meters), not including the loft, but including the gooseneck part that, in the gallery photos above, is styled as the main bedroom with integrated storage.
Photo: Tiny House Chattanooga
If you've been keeping up with the hottest trends in downsizing and tiny living, you probably know that gooseneck models are considered the "perfect" compromise in terms of getting a larger footprint without losing mobility. Unlike park models that require special permits to relocate, for which reason they spend most of their lifecyle at one single location, gooseneck tinies can be hauled around much like a smaller unit – with the exception of the need for a more powerful towing vehicle, of course.
Gooseneck tinies are more spacious yet still highly mobile, but they're also more expensive than traditional tiny homes. That, in case you were wondering why you don't see more of them around. But you know what they say, you can't have it all in life.
Assuming you have the budget for it, what you can have is rustic elegance with a tiny like the Mini Mansion. Designed to sleep a maximum of four people, this unit offers a large kitchen with all the necessary appliances from freestanding propane range to a microwave and a washing machine, a dining area, a full-size bathroom, and a loft on top of it, which can be used either as a storage room or the guest room.
Photo: Tiny House Chattanooga
The main bedroom is a proper room in the gooseneck part of the trailer, with a custom bed with storage integrated into the frame and accessible through a hydraulic lift and a shelving unit on one of the walls. It's not as low as a loft would be, but it doesn't offer standing height, either. In a tiny house, every inch counts, whether on the horizontal or vertically, so whatever extra space you get in headroom is a most welcome addition.
The Mini Mansion is styled like an elegant, almost somber country house, with all-white walls and dark wood flooring, and accent pieces throughout. What you get is basically a nice, homely combination of stark white and rich dark woody tones in tongue and groove. The large butcher countertops and farm sink in the kitchen play right in with the rustic theme, while the large windows allow in plenty of natural light to create the impression of a much larger space. For that same purpose, there's a large skylight in the main bedroom because no one likes feeling like they're sleeping in a small box.
Bedsole, the company founder, started in the tiny house business with experience in home remodeling. It's safe to say that he knows – and knew right from the start – how to style a space that was the perfect combination of style and functionality, and you can tell by looking at Mini Mansion. It's still a tiny house for all intents and purposes, but it's worthy of the "Mini Mansion" nickname, delivering a punch in terms of functionality and good looks.
Photo: Tiny House Chattanooga
The original Mini Mansion was completed in 2019 and offered for a starting price of $121,800, which positioned it as a premium offering. Even four years later, tiny houses remain somewhat prohibitively priced, though builders and people who have already made the transition to tiny living will tell you that the initial cost is worth the trouble.
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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