Beautiful Halcyon Tiny House Is Full of Space-Saving Surprises

Tiny houses used to have a reputation for being charmingly rustic. However, the tiny house movement has evolved immensely during the last decade; what once used to be a mostly do-it-yourself effort in a pastiche of styles has matured into a full-blown industry of sorts, with a wide range of tiny house building companies offering professional services in designing and constructing these more energy efficient homes.

Some of these new and professionally built tiny homes are quite impressive, like the Halcyon from Alberta, Canada-based company Fritz Tiny Homes (seen here previously for their custom builds). The 28-foot-long Halcyon is a departure from the company's prior projects in that it's intended to be a model home that can be produced more efficiently to meet growing demand. We get a tour of this stunning small residence via Exploring Alternatives:

The Halcyon isn't your typical tiny house; it has a number of features that are quite unique, including clever storage ideas, and a thoughtful layout that makes it feel very much like a scaled-down, metal-clad version of a conventional house.

For starters, the home feels incredibly open and bright, thanks to the prioritization of light, the careful of integration of built-in storage, and plenty of multifunctional furnishings. In addition, the home has been designed with a minimalist, Scandinavian-inspired aesthetic, emphasizing cleaner lines and a neutral color palette of white, gray and warmer wood accents.

Upon entering, one can see all these elements at play in the living room. There are two big picture windows opening up the corner, plus a clerestory window above to light up the space generously.

The convertible couch here from Resource Furniture is brilliant—it looks like a typical sofa but also transforms into a bunk bed for two.

Next up, the counter here doubles as both a space to prepare food, eat and work. Thanks to the abundance of drawers, one can easily imagine setting up a home office where file folders and documents can be stored out of view underneath the counter. The counters are made with poured concrete with glass beads added in, in order to make them lighter. Concrete is arguably not the greenest choice, but here there isn't much of it, as it's not a structural element, and does give a neutral look to the space overall.

Past the multipurpose counter, we step into the kitchen proper, which has the usual things like an apartment-sized refrigerator, a Furrion gas range, plus other space-saving additions like a dual range hood and microwave.

There are also a couple vertical pull-out cabinets, with one being used as a spice rack and another as a pantry, as seen here.

There is yet another built-in storage unit nearby, this time intended for items like coats and shoes. The ingenious pull-out coat rack here makes it less cluttered without compromising the convenience of being able to come in and hang up one's coat. On top of that, there is a surface that functions as a drop-off point for mail and keys, for displaying photos, or as a standing desk.

Past the kitchen and past a sliding pocket door, we enter the gigantic bathroom. It's been designed to be longer than most tiny house bathrooms, as the enclosing wall extends over the staircase to create a larger area. Rather than having the storage space under the staircase accessible from the kitchen, as many tiny house configurations often have it, here the storage is located inside the bathroom instead—a nice solution to maximize the bathroom space.

The wedge sink here is also cast in concrete, and the drain is off to the side and down into the sole interior wall of the tiny house, which holds all the bathroom plumbing. This design allows for more storage space under the sink, as no pipe is needed underneath.

There is enough space here for a full-sized bathtub. Under the stairs, we find a Separett composting toilet, making the home a completely off-grid unit. The full wall of cabinets here also hides space for plenty of storage and a combination washer-dryer machine. There is also an IBC combi boiler that does double duty by providing on-demand hot water and in-floor heating, plus a Blauberg air exchange unit that helps to improve indoor air quality.

Back out in the main living space, we see that the staircase has been designed to look and feel very much like a regular staircase, though with more storage drawers and cabinets hidden within.

The stairs lead up to a drop-floor loft, with part of the floor plate being lowered in order to provide more than 6 feet of clearance beside the bed.

At the end of this space, we see a built-in closet that offers a rack and drawers to store clothes.

The bedroom itself feels amazingly large, and can fit a queen-sized bed.

With all these high-end features, the Halcyon doesn't come cheap, with prices starting at $142,300. There are three other variations of the base model planned however, with one of them more suited for families, and another for short-term rental. Check out the options over at Fritz Tiny Homes.