Interior designer Jessica Helgerson, tiny home designer and inhabitant, shares her time-tested strategies. Interior designer Jessica Helgerson and her husband, architect Yianni Doulis, bought five acres on an agricultural preserve ten miles from downtown Portland, Oregon in 2010. The land came with two buildings, one of which the pair immediately began renovating into a weekend retreat.
The small 1940s cabin had already been poorly remodeled, so they gutted it, vaulted the ceiling, added new windows and doors, and reconfigured the entire floor plan. Once it was all done, they spent their first weekend there for Helgerson?s birthday?then never left.
"We went for a four-day weekend, and we never turned back," Helgerson says with a laugh. They spent the following four years living in 540 square feet with their two young children. (They?ve since moved into a newly built home on the same property). Here, Helgerson shares her time-tested strategies for the small home?s successful redesign.
1. Function first
"It starts with a logical layout," Helgerson says. When working with a client, Helgerson will identify their spatial needs and how they?ll use their home. She asks questions about their lifestyle, such as whether they like to entertain or need home office space, and their answers inform the final floor plan.
For her home, Helgerson?s primary goal was to host overnight guests. "It was important that it be a house where we could welcome friends,...