Luxury Tiny Home: How He Made a 28 Foot Build Feel High End
Updated: 1 day ago
Nicola spent about 15 years building and running nail salons, so he knew a thing or two about creating spaces that felt polished and high end. When he lost the business and started looking for a way to dramatically cut his housing costs, he brought that same attention to detail into a 28-foot trailer. What he created is a luxury tiny home that feels anything but basic, with a waterfall countertop, rooftop deck and even a full-size bathtub. But as Nicola's home shows, making a small space feel luxurious isn't necessarily about having more space.
At a glance
Trailer: 28 feet long by 8 feet wide, with composite wood and plastic siding
Built: six months of research, an architect, two hired helpers, three months of construction
Sleeping: a queen Murphy bed on the main floor, with the loft kept for storage and guests
Outside: a bifold door opening onto a 10 foot by 12 foot deck, plus a rooftop deck reached from the loft
Timeline: at least three years finding somewhere to park it, three years living there since
What Makes a Luxury Tiny Home Feel Expensive
Nicola's research method was not subtle. He typed "million dollar mansion" into Google and studied the pictures.
What he found was a short, repeatable list. Glossy floors that reflect. Marble or something like it. Cabinets with simple, clean faces. A waterfall countertop, where the surface runs down the side instead of stopping at the edge. "It's pretty simple," he says of the pattern, and he built to it.
In a space eight feet wide, a reflective wall behaves a little like a mirror and pushes the walls outward, which is why he leaned on the gloss hardest in the bathroom.
Buy Fewer Things and Buy Them Better
Ask Nicola how to make a small home feel expensive, and his answer is pretty simple: buy high-quality things, but don't buy a lot of them. Invest in a good countertop, faucet and sink, then stop adding things just to fill the space.
His refrigerator is a perfect example. He wanted something that would blend into the glossy white kitchen, which narrowed down his options quite a bit. He eventually found a German model with a white glass door that almost disappears into the cabinetry. As Nicola puts it, "What's the point of seeing a fridge exposed?"
He takes the same approach with his closet. There's a coat, a jacket and one suit hanging above a set of IKEA drawers, some of which he's had for 10 or 15 years. For Nicola, it's less about constantly buying something new and more about choosing things he really likes and keeping them.
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The Door That Doubles the Living Room
The biggest decision in the house is a door. A large bifold door across the front opens the living area onto the deck and adds a 10 foot by 12 foot outdoor room. Open both sides and the interior stops reading as small.
He is firm that this is the point of a tiny home rather than a bonus. "Every tiny house should have a deck," he says, because the idea is to spend more time outside, not indoors in a smaller box. There is a TV on a swing mount and a projector that drops onto a blind at the back, but the view he recommends is off the deck.
Why the Bed Is Downstairs
There is a loft, and Nicola does not sleep in it. A low ceiling over his head makes him feel claustrophobic, so the bed is a queen Murphy bed on the main floor, under the full ceiling height. Folded down, he says, it feels like a regular room.
Rather than leave dead air around it, he built cabinets to frame the bed, with lights, an outlet and a USB C port on each side and the air conditioner hidden above. The loft became storage, a guest room, and the way he reaches the rooftop deck, through a door in the loft wall. (If you want this with no loft at all, our guide to tiny home layouts without a loft collects five of them.)
Everything Has Two Jobs
"Every item in this house is a multi-purpose item," he says. The table opens out to seat a full group and lifts to standing height to become a desk, which matters because he edits video and would rather not sit all day. Put it away and it is counter space again.
The kitchen is built so he can stand in one spot and turn, with the fridge, the spices and the microwave in reach, and his wok lives in a drawer it plugs into. The washer and dryer sit under the counter. Under most of the furniture he left open space, so bins slide out of sight without a cabinet built around them. (More ideas like this are in our storage roundup.)
A Bathroom Built Like a Spa
Nicola used to design nail and beauty salons, so he knows what spa-like looks like. The bathroom runs light colors and green wood tones against white walls, in a high gloss finish that works like a mirror.
He wanted a bathtub and a shower in the same space, so he searched for the best high-end tub he could find and paid $3,000 for it, jets, glass panel, 220 volt circuit and all. A rain shower head went in overhead and a handheld wand on the wall, which is also how Dexter got his baths.
The shower door is a heavy sliding glass panel, about $1,000 for the glass alone, hung on the wall because a swinging door would eat space the house does not have. Most days he leaves it open, because seeing front to back makes the place feel longer.
Designed Around a Dog
What the house was really built around was Dexter, Nicola's dog, who was blind and diabetic.
The furniture went along the walls, out of the middle of the floor, so Dexter would not catch a corner with his face, and the transforming table got checked for height for the same reason. A dog door went in low on the wall, because diabetes meant more trips outside at night. Dexter found his own way out and back in, blind, though Nicola still watched for coyotes.
Dexter passed away this summer, after this tour was filmed.
What He Would Do Differently
Two things, and the second one is the one that costs people years.
He would build 10 feet wide instead of eight, and probably 28 to 30 feet long again. The extra two feet of width is what he misses.
And he would find the parking spot first. The house took three months to build. Finding somewhere legal to put it took at least three years. "Search for the community first, know where you want to be, then build your home." (Our guide to whether tiny homes are legal covers what to check first.)
What Owning Less Actually Bought Him
Nicola came to the US from France at 16, the child of Vietnamese parents, and spent his 20s and 30s chasing the success he had seen on television. He got it, burned out around 35, and lost the business when a beauty school venture went wrong. Building this house got his monthly cost low enough to start over.
What he describes now is time rather than savings. He teaches yoga and tai chi and makes documentaries, and there is a pull-up bar and room for a yoga mat where another house would have a closet.
"The more things you own," he says, repeating a line he likes, "those things end up owning you."
FAQ
What makes a tiny home feel like a luxury tiny home?
Nicola's answer is reflective surfaces, a short list of high quality fixtures, and nothing on display that does not need to be. He used white high gloss finishes so the walls bounce light like a mirror, a waterfall countertop, simple flat cabinets, and a white glass fronted refrigerator that disappears into the kitchen.
Can you put a bathtub in a tiny home?
Yes. Nicola's bathroom has a bathtub and a shower in the same footprint, with a rain shower head overhead and a handheld wand on the wall. The tub cost $3,000 and its jets needed a 220 volt circuit, which is worth planning during the build rather than after.
Is it better to sleep in a loft or downstairs in a tiny home?
Nicola has a loft and chose not to sleep in it, because a low ceiling over the bed makes him feel claustrophobic. He put a queen Murphy bed on the main floor under the full ceiling height and kept the loft for storage and guests.
How wide should a tiny home trailer be?
Nicola built on a 28 foot by 8 foot trailer and says he would go 10 feet wide if he did it again. A wider trailer usually means a wide load permit to move it, so it is a trade between everyday comfort and how easily the house travels.
How long does it take to find a place to park a tiny home?
It took Nicola at least three years after the house was finished. His advice is to find the community or the land first, confirm you can legally park there, and build afterward, so the house is not sitting finished while you look.
Follow Nicola:
Website: nicolado.com
YouTube: @nicolado
Instagram: @quantum_movies
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