This Ultra-Small Tiny House Can Sleep 6 People, Has Climbing Wall and Bike Storage

Tiny houses are very popular these days, progressing from hipster-like abodes for tree-huggers to almost mainstream housing alternatives for those looking for affordable, preferably mobile home ownership. While they remain priced somewhat prohibitively, unless we talk about DIY (do it yourself) or shell units, tiny houses are "in" right now.

The boom in popularity has translated into a boom in options, so today's buyer can pick and choose from a variety of ranges, features, and degrees of mobility, depending on how they imagine their future as a tiny house dweller. In between single-axle homes and oversize park models, there's a wealth of tinies to choose from, with the only conditions being a generous budget and the desire to make the switch.

Yann made the transition in 2019 when he took delivery of his Bonsai Tiny, which is the star of the latest episode of Living Big in a Tiny House, probably the biggest channel for alternative housing out there. His home is more like the original tiny homes that first started popping up in the early 2000s, in that it comes with a very compact footprint and high degree of mobility yet still offers the basic features of a home.

Seeing how the Bonsai Tiny is located in Cevennes, France, its small footprint should come as no surprise. Downsizers in North America prefer larger models that only rarely move, but those in Europe, and France in particular, are more fond of smaller units that stick a by-the-book understanding of downsizing.

So, the Bonsai is teeny-tiny. It sits on a dual-axle trailer and measures just 4 meters (13 feet) in length, with the road-legal 2.5-meter width and 4.2-meter height (8.2 feet by 13.2 feet). With help from an angled rear wall and a couple of bump-outs (one in the front and the other in the back), it creates a bit more space inside.

To that same end, the Bonsai employs a dual-loft layout to expand living space upwards, but it does so with a twist. Since it's so small, it can't fit a proper loft over the living room area, so it has a netted lounge instead, made from an upcycled fisherman's net. This space can be anything from a chill-out space to a kids' bedroom, and Yann says it gets used as both.

The main loft, which extends over the bathroom and kitchen, has a small wooden walkway attached, so it's able to offer a combined sleeping capacity of three: two people in the bedroom and one more on the walkway, on a separate mattress. If you're not new to tiny houses, you know already that this is an unheard-of feat with units this small.

Another unprecedented feat is the six-person sleeping capacity. Yann says the Bonsai has it: three people can crash in the main loft, two on the net, and another one on the living room couch.

The entire home is packed with surprising creative decisions (or risks, better said) like these above. For example, all furniture pieces are removable, from the sections under the couch to the storage boxes scattered around. Move them around, and you get a table and chairs or steps, or you can simply get them out of the way to make room for more people.

Even the lamp "moves" up and down on a pulley, so you can choose the mood of the night. The rear wall, which is a climbing wall on the outside and a bike rack on the inside, has a nook that Yann uses as a reading seat, a dining seat, or his office chair when he's working on his laptop.

Indeed, despite the constricting layout, this tiny still has room for bike storage: Yann keeps his favorite bike, whose frame is made from locally-sourced bamboo wood, hanging on the rear wall. You don’t have to be a passionate rider to know that wooden bikes are very expensive. Yann reckons he has about 30 bikes in total, but he still wants to keep his fave protected from the elements.

The Bonsai Tiny is hooked to the mains for water and relies on solar power for electricity. It has a composting toilet, so it combines on- and off-the-grid features to minimize its carbon footprint. Yann and his family don't use it as a permanent home, so this halfway solution works for them whenever they feel like getting away from the city.

Yann describes himself as a "bike addict" who's into running, yoga, meditation, sustainability, and healthy living. Dividing his time between the city and his tiny home is an ideal compromise. He and the family are vegetarians, which explains the absence of a fridge in the kitchen and the overall basic setup here: a sink, a two-burner gas cooktop, storage, and counter space.

The Bonsai Tiny was completed in 2019 at a cost of €50,000, which is roughly $54,000 at the current exchange rate. It's not just a very quirky home with an unusual layout but a sustainable one as well, from the reduced reliance on the grid to the way it only used responsibly sourced wood for the interior, free of glue, varnish, or paints, to keep the environment toxin-free.

If you're into green stuff, that's a lot of pros to outweigh the cons of the small living area.