5 Dreamy Australian Tiny Cabins

Never Too Small

Head to https://www.nts-store.com/collections/bundles to grab all our publications at one discounted bundle price.  Discover some of Australia’s most breathtaking tiny cabins as featured on Never Too Small. Each offering a unique escape, from a transportable small home designed like a chic New York loft to an off-grid retreat in remote Tasmania complete with an outdoor bath. These beautifully simple dwellings blend rustic charm with modern comfort, featuring a cohesive blend of brick, wood and steel that complements their natural surroundings.   #cabin #tinyhome #architecture #interiordesign   Episodes & Credits  00:00-07:37 - The Brook https://youtu.be/o53VAut3pw8?si=kI9qHwRey4SWb-S5  Architect: http://smallnottiny.com.au/  07:37-12:39 - Bruny Island Hideaway https://youtu.be/fBMOaEuWgNI?si=h4oJ75L1WB6olZ5a  Architect: https://maguiredevine.com.au/  12:39-20:19 - Little Black Cabin https://youtu.be/b0V42O6qalo?si=rga1zYPT48RK0Oc8  Architect: http://www.smitharchitects.com.au/  20:19-27:26 - Jacky Winter Waters https://youtu.be/D25FjmptVOs?si=1J8I8CtVZuxK37ck Designer: https://imogenpullar.com/  27:26-34:43 - Gawthorne’s Hut https://youtu.be/uVOSWV_SzmA?si=E17LRlO3Qd0d7toF  Architect: https://www.caarch.com.au/  Muisc: Artlist.io Blossoming Thought by Emmauel Jacob Outside In by We Dream of Eden A Love That Fades by Roseblue Enlightened One by E J R M The Woods by Jon Gegelman  Share you projects with us- https://www.nevertoosmall.com/submissions Subscribe to our newsletter- https://www.nevertoosmall.com/subscribe  Check out our store- https://www.nts-store.com Website- https://www.nevertoosmall.com Instagram-  https://www.instagram.com/nvtsmall Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/nvtsmall

Transcript

00:03this particular location we flooded in October this building was sitting atop

00:08this concrete structure with floodwaters surrounding the building yeah it looked

00:12like a houseboat yeah so it was a pretty breathtaking sort of image

00:25the house is located in Rosebrook on the outskirts of Port Ferry it's in a beautiful floodway that was

00:32Gunditjmara land and it sits in the ruins of an old flour mill this house is nine meters by roughly

00:413.3 meters which gives it a total floor area of just under 30 square meters with the mezzanine

00:49level you get a total floor area of 40 square meters it's designed with a fully off-grid solar

00:56system with batteries and a backup generator and it's designed largely to be a passive house

01:06the road restrictions mean you can't transport anything on a freeway that's

01:10over five meters tall so that does restrict these buildings somewhat to a certain ceiling

01:17height which can make the spaces feel a bit more cramped that's why we designed this building to

01:22have an expandable roof section the way that this telescopic frame works is the wall panels fold in

01:28on themselves and then the roof can be expanded by operating a wheel which winds a cog system that

01:34pushes the whole roof structure up by 1200 millimeters then the panels fold back down

01:39to complete your wall sections the cypress that we clad the building in a felled old cypress wind

01:48breaks from local farmlands they're normally pushed into a pile and burnt we decided to mill the timber

01:54and clad our building in it it created both a beautiful aesthetic but also meant capturing a lot

01:59of carbon which we thought was pretty important we found the concrete slabbed in a paddock its original

02:06purpose was to hold up cow troughs but they seemed perfect as a floating staircase we also scrounged

02:12metal mesh from an abandoned pig shed and the beauty of that is that you can scrape your dirty boots

02:18off

02:18before entering the house the design was intended to feel like a New York style apartment that appropriate

02:28for a regional setting the design also explores the use of materials that have been recycled or restored

02:35the double height of the lounge room gives it an additional sense of space the lower section is

02:42encased by steel glass windows the glass section of the living area juts out from the rest of the

02:49building slightly when you're sitting on the couch you're sitting more in nature pushes you out into

02:54the environment copper and ply louvers run horizontally along those windows giving the opportunity for

03:02ventilation to come out through the building we have pivot doors on the south and western sides of

03:09the lounge room so in summer time you can open all the doors and have maximum airflow the western side

03:16you

03:17can actually just sit on the ground and dangle your legs over the edge the raised mezzanine gave us an

03:25opportunity to capitalize on some extra storage as well as separating the living area from the kitchen area

03:32and it gives you ample storage under the floor for the things you don't use on a daily basis so

03:42the

03:42kitchen's got a two burner gas cooktop an extra sized sink because the sink has to perform a number of

03:48functions in a small area it's got a relatively small fridge and ample storage covers the above

03:56sink drying rack means you're not wasting valuable bench space you can put the dishes straight up out

04:01of the way as soon as you wash them the sliding door operates as the bathroom door but it reveals

04:08this hidden storage component we chose to use a glass splashback so you can still see the beautiful

04:14texture of the spot of gum and again the pig mesh was used for some shelving to bring in that

04:21rustic feel

04:25the kitchen table has piano hinges that run along both sides for easy access and just to alleviate some

04:33space while you're working away at the kitchen

04:43the ladder which runs to the mezzanine area can be wound up using the same mechanism that winds the

04:49roof up so once you wind that ladder out of your way the dining space becomes much more ample and

04:55the

04:55advantage of having a raised living area is you can sit on that surface at the dining table

05:03we felt that the home office was a very important aspect of any house moving into the future that's

05:10why nick designed this really clever home office space in the mezzanine that utilizes the space

05:16perfectly because you can sit on the floor with your feet dangling on this beautiful plinth and get

05:21amazing views out of the windows at the same time

05:26and then we decided to put a bit of a bookcase easily accessible to your right there and chose to

05:33have a wall and a bookcase and a storage case that broke up the office from the bedroom the ridge

05:40line

05:40of the roof is shunted off center so that you could get this walkable space through the mezzanine area

05:48the bedroom has everything you'd expect a wardrobe a cupboard and drawers underneath the bed we've got

05:58a mixture of fixed glazing and louvers in the bedroom the fixed glazing gives you an amazing view and the

06:05louvers create excellent cross flow ventilation the colors are still dark to create that sense of the

06:13outside is more important while also making you feel very cozy yeah

06:20in the bathroom we chose to go with the blue stone cobble these cobbles they're basically off cuts

06:26from the factory that they tumble and get these beautiful rounded edges they make the bathroom feel

06:31quite luxurious but also very earthy and understated it creates a very nice experience when complemented

06:37with the slats of spotted gum on the ceiling the windows are pretty large so it makes you feel

06:43as if you're showering in the outdoors for the shy we've got these beautiful louvers that you can

06:49then close and feel as if you're less exposed we also used brass elements that have been recycled

06:56for the handrail toilet holders and in the vanity area every surface you touched and felt really made

07:04you feel like you were connecting to an earthy sort of experience the plumbing has a composting toilet

07:11and a grey water retention system the design philosophy of small is that we just want to shift the

07:18attitude towards living within your means as we evolve as a community we are going to understand

07:27that bigger is not better in a small space not only is it better for the environment but it's also

07:32better for human interaction and your interaction with the outdoors

07:44Bruni Island's a small island off the southeast coast of Tasmania

07:50with pristine beaches mountains rainforests sense of wildness

07:58bruni island hideaway is a small off-grid cabin so the purpose of the cabin is a pure retreat for

08:07our client

08:13so our client Sophia she had a great love of japanese architecture and minimalist sort of design

08:22and it was designed to have no loose furniture so we've got single material that folds and adapts

08:29into benches lofts it's all part of the one object we chose a baltic pine because it has that real

08:38lightness but it also has the richness that we were looking for the cabin's 28 meters squared as a footprint

08:47it also has an eight meter square loft and three six meter square external decks

08:55the design of the cabin was largely born out of a response to the site

09:01the views to the south are quite picturesque whereas we needed to catch some to the north

09:07the roof is sloped to angle the solar panels directly to the winter sun rainwater is harvested

09:13from the roof and collected in underground tanks to keep the clearing uncluttered

09:19the decks allow views to the south whereas obviously the sun is from the north so we were

09:26trying to create a deck where you get both those views and still are quite sunny so the translucent

09:32sliding doors on each side of the building create a sense of containment once the doors are slid open

09:38the small footprint of the cabin expands to a 10 meter long axis the design of of the windows and

09:47doors generally was to remove all of the frames when the large doors are completely open and you just

09:54have this timber opening which pulls you out into the landscape the day bed it's a place to sit around

10:03the table and eat but it's also a second sleeping space there's storage underneath it it's also a

10:12you know it's a reading nook we've got bookshelves built in sophia is a musician and she keeps her violins

10:19on the wall and it's really just the main kind of space that you you sort of want to hang

10:24out

10:25the cabin was required to also have a laundry sink this is set to the side so that it's a

10:30multi-functional

10:31bench inside of the cabinet is a combined washer dryer other parts of the kitchen there's a concealed

10:39fridge within the cabinetry there's a gas cooktop for quicker cooking or a summer time and you don't

10:46want to heat the space at the same time i guess the idea of it being a retreat you have

10:50time to bake

10:51bread the wood-fired oven is a beautiful ritual to cook your food

10:59the loft created a very different spatial experience it's it's very cozy and intimate up there

11:06the low window is appropriate to lying in bed and looking out the window the shelf around the bed with

11:12the concealed lighting is the alternative to a side table and then the glass balustrade from the loft

11:18also lets the lighting and a view from the bed through the skylight the cabin on the property is

11:25to be used as a base when there's multiple people camping on the side so that door from the bathroom

11:31onto the northern deck allows for other guests to access the bathroom without disturbing people sleeping

11:38inside the cabin we have a freestanding basin we have an open shower it's a very flexible open space

11:52the idea of the bath really was about this kind of sense of retreat the other side of that is

12:00is

12:01recessing in the deck meant that we were maximizing the kind of use of the space

12:10pergola it's a narrow doorway in a landscape that allows you to pass through and then when you walk

12:17down the the stepping stones down towards the cabin it gives you the ability to have a real sense of

12:22arrival at the cabin the cabin lends itself to this idea of escape and renewal in the

12:31landscape in the wilderness is a really kind of special thing that you don't normally get to do

12:41we've combined all of our publications today into one beautiful inspiration-packed bundle

12:46our two books plus our digital guide available now for a special discounted price thanks a bundle

12:59the original building was built in the late 1800s or early 1900s

13:04it was a workers cottage that had a few extensions that were built onto it

13:10we found this site in this house about three or four years ago and fell in love with it immediately

13:18it was 56 square meters what we decided to do in our approach was actually take the cottage back to

13:25the original size which is about 28 square meters and convert it to a cabin

13:32my partner MJ and i use the cabin as a retreat we get away from the city we come to

13:38the mountains to climb

13:44the house is located in blackheath in the blue mountains which is about two hours drive west of

13:50sydney blue mountains are known as one of the best climbing places in australia

14:00blackheath has an eclectic mix of people from artists and climbers and long-term locals and

14:07that mix creates a really vibrant hub when we found the existing cottage it was in quite a dilapidated

14:16condition we spent quite a lot of time with the existing structure trying to save what we could

14:22and that happened to be the original late 1800s component of the building

14:29the two bedrooms that were separated by the hallway was the original component of the cottage

14:35on the back of the two bedrooms there was also a veranda with a bullnose roof we converted the lounge

14:41room into a deck one of the bedrooms in the hall were combined to create a kitchen and a sitting

14:47space

14:47the other bedroom was converted into a bedroom a bathroom and a laundry

14:54for this project i was the client the architect and the builder

15:00the other one of the other things that were important for us is to design in a sustainable way

15:05to respond directly to the specific site designing a small space then uses less material

15:13financially it's more sustainable as well and we're able to invest then into the finer details

15:18and the craft in the building what we focused on is trying to make the space as comfortable as possible

15:24uh feeling luxurious feeling warm getting access to light and the beautiful view we chose very simple

15:32materials and simple tones that would connect to the bush we recycled all of the bricks that were on

15:39the site spent many hours cleaning them preparing them to be relayed

15:45the arrival is from the street down a terrace garden you enter the cabin through a custom black butt door

15:52wall stepping onto a black tile doormat which forms part of the fireplace hearth the black tiles separate

16:00the living room from the bedroom we have custom storage as you enter the house on the left

16:08as you move from the entry into the living space the view opens up in front of you

16:13the large clear glass window is positioned to frame different views as you move around the sitting space

16:21the small window to the front allows a connection with the street but affords some privacy in the space

16:29another high level window in the north roof space provides much needed light and warmth into the cabin

16:39any of the movable panels which provide ventilation have security screens behind them to satisfy the

16:45bushfire attack level requirements we've got a really comfortable two and a half seater couch that sits

16:52opposite a free-standing compact wood-burning fireplace which provides enough heat for the whole cabin

16:59our little cabin is a retreat for us and we decided that a tv would be too imposing in the

17:04space

17:05we're using an lg ultra short throw projector that provides a great cinema experience in our little cabin

17:13we keep the projector only a hand span away from the wall and it creates a really large screen for

17:19us

17:22the living room and the kitchen share the same space the kitchen is a single deep tiled bench with a

17:28hold to house a toaster and a kettle it's a compact kitchen but it provides multiple food prep areas along

17:35the length with a fisher and pike or fridge drawer two burner cooktop and a microwave oven combination

17:43we've integrated all of the appliances the drawers and the cupboards together to fit like a jigsaw puzzle

17:50some of the drawers are long and skinny some are wide and flat to fit around those appliances

17:58the sleeping room is separated from the living space with a large cavity sliding door the bed is surrounded

18:06on three sides by walls and it's nestled into the room small ledges are provided to leave books and charge

18:14phones we have storage under the bed along with a set of three drawers under the leading edge

18:23storage the glaze component of the window is located to provide a view of the mountain from bed

18:28the custom black butt robe is compact but it houses lots of drawers and plenty of storage for our

18:35personal items we've made this small space feel bigger by allowing floor to run underneath the robe

18:43we've got a floating shelf which we can use to work at at a computer but also have

18:49hanging storage underneath and a window behind it to allow cross ventilation through the bedroom

18:56the bathrooms access through the sleeping space and another cavity sliding door

19:02there is a floating basin with a mirror cabinet with lots of storage above it

19:08we love how even in a small cabin we manage to fit what feels like an opulent shower

19:15the fully tiled wall protects the toilet and basin from getting wet and there's an underfloor heating

19:21system that provides warmth to the space but also provides some ambient warmth that comes into the

19:27sleeping room

19:30the laundry is hidden through a heavy external door under the front veranda

19:34we separated the laundry from the internal spaces in the cabin to reduce noise

19:42when you're designing small spaces and when we're designing small spaces in the future

19:47our focus will be on understanding the use of that space and understanding how people

19:52will experience the space and what they value in those spaces you know creating and building small

19:59spaces provides a really good opportunity to be sustainable for example we had to clean and

20:05restore two and a half thousand bricks if we had to restore ten thousand or fifteen thousand bricks that

20:10probably would have become cost prohibitive by reusing this building and restoring the existing

20:16building it meant we weren't using new materials to rebuild it that's fundamental in a sustainability approach

20:37the inspiration behind this project is the simple beach shack or the new zealand batch which provides the basics of

20:46living

20:49for me in a small house each space needs to have overlapping function

20:59providing comfortable built-in furniture and storage minimizes the need for other furniture and objects to clutter the space

21:15this house is located in walkerville walkerville is a small seaside village two and a half hours southeast of melbourne

21:26it's on the land of the ratawalong people of the konai nation

21:32this building was built in late 2021

21:38the client is the owner of the jackie winter group which is an art agency and his partner who is

21:45a writer

21:46the house is used as a mental health retreat for artists for themselves and for their family and friends

21:56the client was looking for a seaside beach house that provided only the essentials of living somewhere

22:05to eat somewhere to cook and somewhere to rest

22:11the client had the idea that we would paint a mural and the mural is painted by becky orpin april

22:18phillips

22:19david booth and carla mccrae we have pitched the roof up so that it's at an optimal angle for future

22:27solar

22:28panels to be installed in this area there's no town water so all the water is collected on the roof

22:36and

22:37goes into a tank and is treated there's also no town sewage so we have an on-site treatment plant

22:44that

22:45treats all of the water because we're in a bushfire attack level which is quite high all the exterior

22:53materials are non-combustible the cladding is fiber cement sheet we have a rusted metal deck which is

23:02also known as corten corten is a very durable material that reacts with the coastal corrosive

23:09environment when it was first installed it just looked like shiny metal and a few days later it was

23:16a brilliant orange color the interior is a more minimal and calming space with light lime washed ply

23:25interior the house is built to passive house principles we have a airtight envelope high insulation

23:34levels in the floors walls and ceiling the main living space is tiled in a light grey porcelain tile

23:46we custom designed a banquette seat that turns from the dining banquette into a fold-out

23:54double bed the space also has a built-in day bed under the stairs it has storage built in underneath

24:06the kitchen has just the essentials a bar fridge a bench top oven an induction cooktop that can be packed

24:15away an exhaust fan in the wall and storage for lots of food we used radiata pine with a lime

24:24wash for all the cabinetry and open shelving the bench top is a white laminate the handles are all

24:32made out of neoprene rubber

24:36the bathroom is accessed from both inside and outside

24:42because it's a small house we've chosen to use a sliding door

24:47and it has towel rails on the back when you're coming back from the beach you can enter via the

24:53bathroom

24:58the tiles in the bathroom are the same as the tiles we've used throughout the rest of the house

25:05the vanity is also made out of plywood

25:09we also have the heat recovery ventilation system which uses a very small amount of energy to provide

25:17fresh filtered air so it's actually safeguarding against condensation and mould

25:25the staircase is made from a locally sourced hardwood timber we've used a steel balustrade with the same kind

25:33of netting that's used in sports nets we left the stairs open at the bottom as storage for shoes

25:44the space upstairs is rather voluminous it has a really high ceiling thanks to the pitch of the roof

25:53we have a queen bed which has storage underneath

25:58we've used an adjustable modular shelving system from muji that could be adapted to have a desk

26:06this is really great for our client who is a writer

26:11we have two high-level windows that provide ventilation for the whole house we've also got

26:18a ceiling fan it's also reversible so it can push the heat down during winter to keep the

26:24heat in the living areas we've chosen not to have any ceiling lights all the lights are located in

26:32the walls that are intended to light specific tasks we've used concealed led strip lighting

26:41this creates a really nice cozy ambience in the space

26:48the idea behind the house is that you live outside on the deck and in the landscape so the landscapers

26:56have created a fire pit area with local quarry rocks as seats

27:06by keeping a house small we limit the impact on the environment we reduce the amount of materials

27:13required it's also really important to me that we make the most energy efficient and thermally

27:20comfortable home so incorporating passive house principles we can create really comfortable

27:27small homes that are also healthy for our clients

27:46small homes that are healthy for our clients that are healthy for our clients that are healthy for our clients

27:51Gawthorn's Hut is situated on our 480 acre working farm where we have grass-fed beef and hay making using

27:58sustainable practices

28:03guests who come to Gawthorn's Hut absolutely love coming and staying on their own

28:09they have their own laneway to drive up from Mudgee and their piece of Woolgowra is just for them

28:22I'm Steph Gordon my husband and I are the property owners of Woolgowra and the hosts of Gawthorn's Hut

28:30Gawthorn's Hut is on the outskirts of Mudgee a small township about three and a half hours drive from Sydney

28:39Gawthorn's Hut was specifically designed to host on Airbnb from the get-go

28:44Mudgee had a vibrant and existing tourism industry and we had a spot on our farm that we thought we

28:51would

28:51love to share with others we talked as a family when we often picnicked and decided that it would

28:57be a positive use of the land there to build Airbnb type accommodation we really wanted to build something

29:06that was a little bit different and unique with the view that doing so would get the project a lot

29:11more

29:11exposure and to do it well we knew that we had to get an architect involved the main idea was

29:18to

29:18really create a simple robust building that was able to reference the materiality and the elements

29:24around it

29:29so the small space is maximised by having you know limited internal walls and having a quite open plan

29:36the only spot that's enclosed is the toilet

29:42one of the main parts of the brief was to create an off-grid sustainable building

29:46it was really important that we got the orientation right for the solar panels

29:50so the 30 degree roof means that we get great output from the solar panels which was important

29:57the building was designed with a 6.6 kilowatt off-grid solar system

30:02we have 12 kilowatts of battery storage which is housed away on the western side of the building

30:06you don't see any of that at all it's behind a big opening panel

30:11the building also has 40 000 litres of rainwater storage 20 000 litres of that is reserved for

30:16firefighting this building's in a bushfire prone area the building's designed for maximum natural

30:24ventilation and with maximum insulation values where possible double glazed timber windows and doors

30:30are operable so the building can cross ventilate in every direction the flooring is a polished concrete slab

30:38the slab was really about grounding the building in the landscape while also providing a good amount

30:43of thermal mass we lined the building with black butt ply we wanted something that was a little bit

30:51darker and more higher end than your normal plywood a ceiling fan provides cooling in summer a small wood

31:01fireplace provides heating in winter the kitchen is fairly minimal we built it out of some of the

31:10leftover timber from the walls and ceiling there's a two burner gas cooker and a fridge the dining space

31:20itself is just an extension of the kitchen bench looking out over the view with a big window that can

31:26be opened for natural ventilation the dining area also allows the space to be used as a study or workspace

31:33if required the main idea was that a lot of the dining could really happen outside you know by the

31:39fire pit sitting on the concrete step outside the bedroom has a king size bed we had it made locally

31:48by a

31:48furniture maker in terms of the bed head we've used reclaimed bricks from an old chimney that we had on

31:55the

31:55property it's quite low to the ground and it's positioned under the lowest part of the ceiling so

32:01it creates quite an intimate sleeping space the bathroom was intended as an open space really which

32:10is about sort of maximizing the feeling of space internally but it also allows good views from all

32:15angles of the property from both the bath and the shower we can get away with that because the

32:21building's positioned in a quite an isolated spot on a farm so there's no privacy issues with the open bathroom

32:29the only enclosed area is the toilet

32:34the recycled brick bed head just helps mediate between the bathroom area beyond and just giving

32:40a little bit of separation to the sleeping space

32:45a little bit of space because it was going to be guests that were using the space and when they

32:49were coming here it would typically be for the first time we just needed to be really conscious about

32:54the building being very intuitive and how it was going to be used so things like light switches to be

33:00easily located the kitchen appliances being able to be used without instructions

33:07you might have guests arriving late at night after driving so the building's always set up lighting

33:13going possibly the fireplace roaring as a welcoming gesture

33:21hosting on airbnb gave rick and i the opportunity to value add to our farm to also create an income

33:29stream that was more sustainable than cattle grazing on that particular piece of land

33:35the farms into its third generation we feel that we're setting our farm up as a more profitable

33:41business to ensure the continuity of family ownership what we've loved most about hosting on airbnb

33:49is being involved in the vibrant mudgie tourism community and having guests say that they've experienced

33:55something unique and positive that has created memories for them that they're going to take home with them

34:02each year we as a family have a tree planting day where we put in species local to our area

34:07in an

34:08attempt to offset a bit of our carbon use and return wilgowra to a more bush-like setting we're going

34:15to

34:16give our guests that experience and they can plant a tree before they leave and make their own small

34:20contribution to a greener more eco-friendly australia

34:27people have busy lives and i think they need time to reset chill and just relax and gawthon's hut provides

34:37that opportunity

34:44community

34:46you

Category

Transcript

Comments

Recommended