Property book of the month: Tiny Houses by Gill Heriz

This month we just can’t get enough of Tiny Houses: Inspiring Small Spaces for Tiny House Living by Gill Heriz. This coffee table book is all about the tiny house movement, and is packed with great interiors ideas for tricky spaces.

What’s the tiny house movement all about?

It’s just what it says on the tin: living in a really small property. We’re not just talking about studio flats in the centre of London, either. As fans of the TV show George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces will know, tiny houses can be pretty inspirational. Some of the most creative uses of space include turning treehouses, shepherds huts and cargo containers into tiny homes. A lot of creative spaces feature inside Gill Heriz’s book too. The reasons behind the tiny house movement range from financial (it’s cheaper to run a tiny property) to environmental (they use fewer resources).

Why we love it

Flicking through Tiny Houses: Inspiring Small Spaces for Tiny House Living gives you a great idea of what’s new in interiors. It’s essential if you’re trying to figure out how to decorate a small space such as a bathroom or boxroom. The photographs are impressive and inspirational, and it’s fascinating to see how people are able to fit an entire home into a space the size of a double bedroom. Despite the focus being firmly on tiny properties, many of the ideas are also useful for people decorating a normal-sized home.

Using it in your own home

There are a number of ways that the principles of tiny living can be used by people in normal-sized homes. These are a few of our key takeaways.

• Decluttering: an essential part of the private house sales process as well as the tiny home movement. Clutter can devalue your home. A lot of tiny home owners live by the wise words of the poet William Morris: “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
• Smart use of space: the uniquely intelligent use of small space seen throughout the book is certain to give you some interesting ideas for converting small rooms in your own property.
• Storage: everyone needs more storage in their home. Some of the ideas in this book are a wonderful mixture of utility and creativity and definitely worth giving a try.