Architect Todd Miller was determined to help his Japanese customer create a home she could both afford and love — which meant including a tea ceremony room. There is a lot to remember when you’re designing a traditional Japanese tea ceremony room in any scenario, however squeezing one into a 134-square-foot home is especially tricky.
The solution — combining the living space together with all the tearoom — not just gave the customer what she desired, but it also cut costs, removed the necessity to own property and reduced the customer’s energy bill. All these very small homes certainly are not for everybody, however they can”help free people from extra baggage, including high monthly mortgages and home duties,” says Miller.
in a Glance
Location: Marcola, Oregon
Architect: Todd Miller
Size: 134 square feet
Cost: Around $34,800, including materials, labor and design fees
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Miller used as many renewable and nontoxic materials as you can, including cedar for the exterior which has been sourced by a local mill, and no- and – low-VOC products. He avoided glues whenever possible.
Building such a small home required fewer materials, of course, reducing expenses and waste. The energy bills average $20 a month.
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The customer, who grew up in Japan, desired her home to be a soothing, quiet area where she can host and meditate traditional tea ceremonies. Miller split the area into a private bathroom and a spacious kitchen and tea ceremony room with a lofted sleeping area. The kitchen sits between the bathroom and the tearoom, which allowed him to pile functions and reduce pipes expenses.
The kitchen is small but efficient, with a 5-foot red oak counter, a double burner plus on-demand hot water. The streamlined kitchen leaves just enough space for a dining table on the opposite wall.
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Puck lighting recessed into the thick black walnut top shelf provides task lighting for your kitchen.
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The tearoom required a warming hearth for the pot. Miller hid the mechanics of the system below the floor; its streamlined coiled heating element can be switched on and off with a switch.
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An alcove emphasized by a single slab of walnut retains a hanging scroll an significant part the tea ceremony. A branch out of a madrone tree, found in the woods behind the home, sits between the scroll alcove and the customer’s tea ceremony chest.
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This custom red oak ladder on a black walnut trail leads to the loft. When not in use, the ladder can be stored upright alongside the counter top, as shown here.
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From the loft three easy tatami mats surrounded by a pine and black walnut framework compose the customer’s bed.
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The bathroom sits underneath the sleeping loft, behind the kitchen. The owner wanted a Japanese-style soaking bathtub, which reminds her of her childhood bathing regular, and this streamlined model worked perfectly in the tiny bathroom. A showerhead above enables the bath to double as a shower.
The property’s graywater is steered via an RV waste flange, which can hook up to a septic system, mobile waste system or custom system. A streamlined composting toilet on the opposite side of the bathroom eliminates any blackwater waste.
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A standing-seam Galvalume roof tops the comfy cabin, while wheels underneath make the road-legal structure entirely mobile. “Portability enables the owner the flexibility to really have a home wherever she goes, in addition to independence from property acquisition and rates of interest,” says Miller. Presently the home is parked on private, rural property which the customer has permission to use. She plans to stay here for the upcoming few years.
This very small house suits the customer’s independence; she owns a home that has been a small investment also has the freedom to go where she pleases.
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