A few design ideas for Tiny Houses for older folks

The two flaws I see in most tiny house designs are the upstairs bedroom and lack of a truly comfortable place to sit and relax. Here are are my thoughts on how to remedy these two problems.

Let's change how the space is used.

First, let's bring the bed downstairs. I don't want to climb up and down a ladder in the middle of the night. But I don't mind doing it during the day. I want a couch that converts to a bed. Stay with me here. I have an idea. Here's a link to the sofa/bed I'm going to be talking about. Note it has lots of storage space underneath. CONVERTABLE COUCH.

My father had one in his RV and it was quite comfortable. It's bigger than I need so I would be happy to have just a regular couch and sleep on it. But if there are two people using the tiny house this is a way to have a small double bed. This is a comfortable couch. It has decent padding on the bottom and back and I'd use pillows as armrests. Also if you're having one or two people over it's a decent place to sit.

Come nightfall, you turn it into a bed. All you do is grab the front, pull, and the back drops down to form the bed. No removing bottom and back cushions as in a regular fold out couch. Take the bedding out from the storage space and put away any miscellaneous items you've been using on the couch during the day. I would also suggest getting over the whole idea of a fitted bottom sheet, top sheet blankets etc. etc. etc. Bed sacks seem like a great idea to me. Bottom and top sheet in one add a comforter and you're there.  Another obvious advantage is that you are at a reasonable height to get out of the bed. No getting off the floor. And, you're on the same level as the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Here's my second thought. Even though the couch is pretty comfortable I'd like to have a seating area with all my stuff near it and an ottoman upon which to rest my feet. Enter the unused space upstairs. Here's what I'd like up there. With a lovely table for stuff. And maybe a small table to use as a desk.

I understand I won't be able to stand up. I'd rather hunch over to enter or leave the loft than crawl out of the bed to the ladder. And, in that I'm going to use this during the day at least when I reach the ladder or stairs I'll be able to see them.

I think to make this a really effective space I might need to make the kitchen ceiling height 7" rather than 8". I'm fine with that.

So, that's what I think.

So, what are your thoughts? Please put them in the comments here or on Facebook. I've been doing some other thinking so expect some more posts as the weeks go by.

Thanks,
Michele