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480 Sq. Ft. Kanga Cottage Cabin with Screened Porch


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So happy to get to show you this beautiful little Kanga cabin that was built near Blanco, TX. It has an extended open front porch, side screen porch, full bath, kitchen, sleeping loft, and an awesome living area.

The cabin measures 16′ x 30′ and it has an 8′ screened in porch in the back. You’ll also notice that it has a fantastic front porch that’s perfect for a few rocking chairs. But first I wanted to show you the beautiful interior.

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Kanga Tiny Cottage on a Foundation with Spacious Loft

kanga 480sqft cottage

Photo Credits Kanga Room Systems

The layout is absolutely perfect in my opinion. To me, this is the epitome of simple living for a couple, young family or anyone wanting to retire simply but not too tiny. But what do you think?

Please enjoy the rest and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

kanga 480sqft cottage

Open Front Porch

Open Front Porch

I would definitely add some rocking chairs here.

Sleeping Loft and Clever Ladder Storage

Sleeping Loft and Clever Ladder Storage

I love how they used the ladder for storage in such a smart yet simple way.

Sleeping Loft and Clever Ladder Storage

Gourmet Kitchen in a 480 Sq. Ft. Cottage

Gourmet Kitchen in a 480 Sq. Ft. Cottage

The downside of many tiny houses on trailers is that if you enjoy cooking you may not enjoy it as much in a tiny house because of lack of space. Unless you are Andrew and Crystal Odom. Yes, it can be done. But in a home that’s just slightly larger and on a foundation you can have much more flexibility for your kitchen. Which to many, is a very important feature! On to the bathroom…

kanga 480sqft cottage

The beautiful screened-in back porch

The beautiful screened-in back porch

Photo Credits Kanga Room Systems

Have you seen Kanga’s 14′ x 20′ tiny home in the city that I featured earlier this year? If not, check it out here. They’re also the creators of these two poolside tiny houses that you’ll also probably enjoy if you already haven’t.

Learn more about Kanga here. Visit them on Facebook here.

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Alex

Alex is a contributor and editor for TinyHouseTalk.com and the always free Tiny House Newsletter. He has a passion for exploring and sharing tiny homes (from yurts and RVs to tiny cabins and cottages) and inspiring simple living stories. We invite you to send in your story and tiny home photos too so we can re-share and inspire others towards a simple life too. Thank you!
{ 64 comments… add one }
  • Donna Lewis
    July 11, 2013, 9:37 am

    When you purchase a tiny house is it already put together and ready to live in? Who handles the permits?

    • Donna Lewis
      July 11, 2013, 9:41 am

      Do you have your own finance company or would I have to approach the bank for a loan.

      • zenLoki
        September 24, 2014, 2:42 pm

        some tiny houses are prebuilt and usually they’re on trailers or skids. the permits are handled by the general contractor who builds your house. you only need a permit for a building with a permanent foundation like the one above. you have to find financing on your own. I believe some tiny house companies finance your purchase. you’ll have to look around.

  • Tom Zollinger
    July 11, 2013, 10:40 am

    Damn you! I’ve been drawing — re-drawing, etc. a 320′ (20X16) gambrel roof 2 floor small house. 2d floor to have bedroom 2 decks and bath. Pretty proud of my concept. Now you publish the Kanga house. Not only is it beautiful, it is likely a lot more expensive than my concept. That porch has me drooling. I was not even planning a front door, much less a house-long porch. My entrances were intended to be beneath narrow gambrel into kitchen on one end. The ladder w/shelving is, of all things, pretty. (Ka-Ching, Ka-Ching) Damn You! If you keep on keeping on, I will die of old age before building the small house. (Getting too close now.) Damn You!

    • Ralph Sly
      July 11, 2013, 11:27 am

      Tom, you and I suffer the same design disorder. I have a photo file where I put the ideas I want to build in and then someone comes along with something as simple as this ladder with storage. Fortunately this will not take any more space than I have allocated. The big but with me is that I have 500’ I only want to use 250’ for living I did a mock up and it works. There is a time you have to say, “It’s Good Enough”! I am working with at least a blank floor canvas (building is already there) so that dictates one direction for me. Good luck, I don’t know what age you are but I would have been long dead before I settled on something.

      • john
        December 12, 2013, 12:21 pm

        My tiny home photo file has close to 20,000 images…not even attempting to exaggerate here…so many great ideas, so many great pictures, my tiny dream home now covers 5,000 sq. ft. on paper just to include all the great ideas!!

        • Ralph Sly
          December 12, 2013, 10:41 pm

          I can relate John but you have me beat. One of the problems with my life is thing happen and come along to change the calendar and just today it happened again but maybe it is a good thing. I will now be away for 2 weeks out of the month so might just have to call in a contractor, settle on what is going to work and make that good enough.

  • sparky
    July 11, 2013, 2:05 pm

    Love the design. I’d 86 the tile in the bath (the 80’s is calling and they want their tile back), but otherwise really like this house.

    • Adina Hirschmann
      July 11, 2013, 4:12 pm

      I like the bath with tile, but probably a bright ceramic, like red gloss with a black bullnose edge. I might even go for black fixtures and sliding glass shower doors, just to keep the look modern.

    • Jan
      October 17, 2015, 8:03 pm

      Sparky, I just rehabbed a house and did a bathroom with that tile. It’s darling and it is timeless.

  • Dianna
    July 11, 2013, 2:38 pm

    I am looking for approximate cost for the tiny house/cabin called Kanga Cottage Cabin with screened porch.

    Thank you
    Dianna

    • Francesca
      July 12, 2013, 5:17 pm

      Price list is available on the Kanga Room Systems web site for which a link was provided with this article. Unfortunately, the Cottage Cabin Price List (Link Removed) does not show the 16×30 estimate but only the 16×26 and 16×34. On their Facebook page with the photo album for this model (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.428179147195466.118994.136357766377607&type=3), the company wrote April 2012 … “Price can range from $55 to $70k depending on many factors, biggest one being site location and options choosen. The vaulted screen porch option is $6,000.”

  • Robert
    July 11, 2013, 4:05 pm

    I agree with the others, this one is the best I’ve seen too. This could even be built in an RV lot where you can buy your lot and place on a concrete pad. A 10!

    • Keith G.
      August 16, 2013, 2:52 pm

      Mmm, probably not, Robert. Don’t RV park models have to stick to that 400 sf limit? This one’s too big.

  • Michael Carmack
    July 11, 2013, 5:51 pm

    Everyone should really check out this company, i.e., http://www.ameribuiltsteel.com

    They have steel frame homes for any budget and will work with you to design your own unique floor plan if you choose.

    My parents used this company to build their house. They used a concrete foundation and then bought one of the large basic storage buildings fro them. They then went inside and polished and stained the concrete. Used 2×6 studs for the outer framing and then 2×4’s for the inner rooms, etc. They left a large open floor plan for the kitchen, family room and dining area and then closed off the rooms and bathrooms. They have 12 foot ceilings and also have a loft up above where they have their won personal spaces, work works / workshops and a HUGE storage area. After the building was erected and the outer studs and framing was done they came back inside and plumbed and wired everything before using silica aerogel expanding foam insulation and also a large enough solar power system to power the house. They also have an onsite well that supplies all of their water needs. They are completely self sufficient. Their entire home even with all the high end items like solar still came in way below any conventional home because they did all the work themselves. It’s really not that hard.

    You all also should look at alternative building techniques like cordwood masonry, straw bale construction, earthships, etc., as a way to build your dream homes.

  • Emanuele
    July 11, 2013, 6:35 pm

    Price?

    • Rich
      November 21, 2013, 1:34 pm

      Copied from another post.

      Price list is available on the Kanga Room Systems web site for which a link was provided with this article. Unfortunately, the Cottage Cabin Price List (Link Expired) does not show the 16×30 estimate but only the 16×26 and 16×34. On their Facebook page with the photo album for this model (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.428179147195466.118994.136357766377607&type=3), the company wrote April 2012 … “Price can range from $55 to $70k depending on many factors, biggest one being site location and options choosen. The vaulted screen porch option is $6,000.”

      • Alex Pino
        November 22, 2013, 5:57 am

        Thanks Rich

  • Charlie
    July 11, 2013, 8:32 pm

    Almost perfect. Perfect if you turn the screened in porch into a bedroom and add another covered porch opposite the front porch.

    • Mike
      July 13, 2013, 6:37 pm

      Love the ladder/stair system. This is very similar to a design I’ve had floating around in my head. Nice to see it come to life.

  • Lee Wood
    July 26, 2013, 6:18 pm

    Please submit to me any info on costs of the cabin. Is it prefab? How far would you move it. Need floorplan for electrical an plumbing. Is the wiring in the walls and are they accessible same for the plumbing ? Would like to see a footprint of the house. Thanks, Lee Wood

    • Keith G.
      August 16, 2013, 2:42 pm

      Lee, you’re not communicating with Kanga here, so there’s no one to send you what you’re after. Follow the links to the Kanga Rooms website and you’ll find much of what you’re after there. They’re very responsive to other requests as well.

  • Jane Hanson
    July 26, 2013, 8:34 pm

    This is beautiful!! Ya’ll are getting my wheels turning!

  • Freddie
    August 8, 2013, 5:03 pm

    This is a beautiful and very practical little home. The real tiny houses are just too small for me. For folks our age the downsides are climbing, too claustrophobic, and the danger of falling. I’d add another 20 sq. ft. to the floor space and work the bedroom in downstairs. I’ve always thought that about 500 sq. ft. would be perfect, divided up this way: 1 bedroom, 1 small office, kitchen, bath, living room. My wife and I lived in a 600′ log cabin for some years and did just fine.

  • graham gayton
    September 7, 2013, 5:37 am

    Kanga house need to know more details and cost please
    Graham

    • Princess Mom
      April 24, 2014, 5:47 pm

      Then you should go to the Kanga site.

  • Leslie Wilhelm
    September 16, 2013, 10:51 pm

    I am 54 years old Baby Boomer and I have been planning my retirement home over the past couple years now. How many of us really need these big homes? My husband and I live in three rooms of our sprawling 3 story townhouse, the living room, bedroom and kitchen. We are paying a huge mortgage and heating and cooling bills for all this space that we really don’t use. It’s plane wasteful! We aren’t even sure we will have Social Security when its time for us to retire, so our goal is to build a small, economical retirement home. The smaller it is, the less upkeep there is, the less space we need to clean, the smaller our mtg pmt will be. So I have come up with a 1,000 sq. ft. house. Its basically a square box with a wood burning stove in the center. The front half of the house is the kitchen, dining room and living room. The back half of the house is a master suite with a full bath and large walk in closet. Drapes can be pulled shut to close off the bedroom from the living area. The house will have a basement in it which will be divided in half, as the main floor is. the front half of the basement will be a finished family room with built in bunk beds along two walls. the back half of the basement will be a full bath, storage and a work shop. The basement can be used for guests or grandkids, they will have their own space. I want to the house to have a covered porch and a screened in porch, I would live to sleep out on the porch on warm summer nights or sit on the covered porch and watch it rain. I would like to buy about 10 or 20 acres of wooded property and build about 6 or 8 of these houses and sell them to my friends and family so we could all live together on the same property but each would have their own house. We could have a central garden and fire pit. As we get older I want to make sure the home will be easy to maintain (low maintenance costs, low utility costs, and no steps.). I want the roof and building materials to have good longevity. Possibly a metal roof, hardy plank cement board siding, no decking due to upkeep ( I hope I never have to stain a deck again!), possibly a patio. I am still working on my plans and each day gets closer to seeing this come to fruition. Love reading about this size of home and what others think.

    • Holly Morrison
      April 25, 2014, 3:11 am

      What a great plan! I would love to hear how that progresses. You really should blog it so others might feel motivated to do something similar!

    • Bill Burgess
      September 4, 2015, 11:56 am

      Leslie you might check out by 4Fathoms Designs on Facebook. Although I do not design larger than the 400 sq.ft. Park Model RV footprint, there are some good Ideas I find and share. For seniors I find my minimum is one and a half bath,washer/dryer, dish washer and a nine foot minimum overhead space to keep from attracting “Cabin Fever”. I have books on Amazon.com and e-books on Blurb Publishing. A village concept has been logical to m for years as well.

    • Tricia
      September 4, 2015, 8:45 pm

      Leslie, did your plans ever come to fruition? If so, I would love to see pictures of your home, and/or community.

  • Sonya J. Nichols
    September 18, 2013, 2:13 am

    Thats is a nice-looking cottage! I love everything about it. It looks absolutely cute and i love that the porch is screened. I love when the porch is screened. It’s more safe from unlikely creatures. This is really nice. I can’t help but be amazed of how this cottage looks. I would like to have a cottage cabin as beautiful as this someday.

  • Graham Gayton
    September 30, 2013, 3:15 pm

    Can I gbuy the kanga in the UK and where.
    with cost please

  • Tonita
    November 12, 2013, 11:40 am

    This comment is to John Hemingway who commented above. I hit reply under his comment but it won’t go through unless you are signed up with SPACEbook. not everyone here likes or is on Facebook.
    so- John, (if you are reading this)
    I really like to read you comments. Sometimes you go down a bunny trail from the original topic but well worth the read. Your passionate reply’s shed light on topics that often stay in the dark. Do you have your own blog?
    PS- This small home is just awesome. The layout is perfect.

    • Alex Pino
      November 12, 2013, 8:26 pm

      Thanks Tonita! Sorry about the Facebook, I understand not wanting to be on there for sure… But yeah- hard to please all 😀

  • libertymen
    November 20, 2013, 11:08 am

    See.For a little more space you get a much better design,You could live in this full time.Screened porch on the end-Excellent idea.
    On the side?Not really needed.2ft Knee wall-great idea and EZ to do.

  • Rich
    November 21, 2013, 1:29 pm

    Beautiful home, if you can afford it. But, it does not look like it is designed for snow and bitter cold weather. Just the right size, except I would need a bedroom on the first floor and a wheelchair shower. I also would rather have it on a trailer, until I can get a small piece of land.

    • 2BarA
      November 21, 2013, 2:37 pm

      There is much to admire in this house, but I wish to take issue with Sparky’s comments about the bathroom tile. It does not “belong” to the ’80s. It is not unlike two of the bathroom floors in my 1931 house,
      which are still in perfect condition and in use every day. They clean easily, go with any colour of towels you choose and are a classic. The trouble with so many young people is that they want everything to be “the latest” so they rip out perfectly good kitchens, bathrooms, etc.
      and send them to the dump. Is this being environmentally responsible?

  • Lauren
    March 16, 2014, 9:12 am

    LOVE the house! We are currently finishing a loft in our house and I love the look of the banister on yours. Can you tell me the widths of the boards you used?

  • Brian
    June 6, 2014, 5:38 pm

    Love it! Very similar to our workers cottages here in Australia. So very reasonably priced as well. Thanks for sharing

  • Maureen
    April 21, 2015, 8:59 am

    Very nice and spacious!!!

  • martha worley
    April 21, 2015, 9:40 am

    This house has my heart! Small, not too small, beautiful craftsman design, screen porch. I’m in love!

  • Patrick
    April 21, 2015, 10:10 am

    I absolutely LOVE it! I would definitely want one just like it!

  • Brendalee
    April 21, 2015, 11:26 am

    Love the whole concept of tiny homes,and this is one of my VERY favorites!

  • Karen R
    April 21, 2015, 12:20 pm

    Lovely! Keep the tile, because some of us don’t want modern. I will go with antiques, and others prefer rustic, Mediterranean, country, etc.

  • Rene
    April 22, 2015, 8:09 am

    Love the cottage, but as someone who is thinking ahead to my senior years, I think the narrow staircase/loft design is impractical. If people are to age in place, they need to anticipate the possibility that someday they might have to walk with a cane or even need a wheelchair — tiny house designers need to take that into consideration.

    • Brenda
      April 22, 2016, 12:42 am

      I agree this is a perfect sized house. Only thing I would do different is turn part of one porch into a bedroom and skip the loft. Thinking of our later years is something we should include in design plans.

  • Elle
    April 22, 2015, 8:14 am

    I know this has been commented on within an inch of its life but I love the Kanga cottages! Like someone said, not too big-not too small but juuust right. This model reminds me of a beautifully renovated barn, and who hasn’t thought of the deliciousness of living in a renovated barn -minus the horsy fragrance.

    This Kanga model is among my favorites, and clearly I’m not alone. 😉 So open and spacious it’s hard to believe this is less than 500 sq ft!! The soft, light color from floor to roof-line sandwiched between that beautiful wood floor and ceiling combines all the best to create an open but warm ambiance. It reminds me a little of an Oreo cookie. The storage-latter is not only barely noticeable but enhances the beautiful interior.

    With A loft you can stand up in, nice roomy bathroom, very spacious kitchen with ample counter space for hours of enjoyable cooking and baking, beautiful open porch, and ahhh, that screened-in rear porch It doesn’t get any better!!

    Thank you for the link to the website mrrrrrr! The owner (?) did a spectacular job finishing and arranging the interior and the photography is excellent. Thank you sooo much for sharing. What a treat!

  • Elle
    April 22, 2015, 8:17 am

    Oops. I meant to say, the storage-LADDER, ha.

  • Kate Jordan
    May 18, 2015, 10:22 am

    I am utterly in love with this house. I can find something I like in most of them, but there is usually one thing that messes it up for me – not enough headroom in the loft, or no space to cook, etc. This one has everything I would want!

  • Sharon Lambert
    June 20, 2015, 10:26 am

    almost all Tiny Homes have only loft bedrooms…..I would love to have one, but living alone, and being in my 60s, I am aware I need a downstairs bedroom…..maybe convert the screen porch to a bedroom? Loft would be great for storage and visiting grandkids….

  • Jacqueline Nevel
    September 4, 2015, 12:05 pm

    Love this house. I agree the ladder looks very nice but impractical for us.
    Thanks

  • gale
    September 4, 2015, 5:42 pm

    I have been on the Kanga website without using any social media. Just try kanga.com. They do several options so a loft is not always necessary. They really do build a nice home but they are not inexpensive at least for NC. You can get a wealth of ideas though and build it yourself.

  • Valerie
    September 4, 2015, 7:30 pm

    That is a lovely home.

  • Kathy Vestal
    February 17, 2018, 7:22 pm

    Just the design I have been looking for. Small cabin with sleeping porch to enjoy the section of prairie land and enjoy the cattle grazing. Need to know if a compost toilet could be incorporated in plan.

  • Jean Briggs
    September 21, 2020, 11:59 pm

    It’s beautiful. I love it. The only thing I want to say is, no matter what size your kitchen is, never keep your paper towels next to the stove. That really jumped out at me.

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