If you were to consider this Raglan bach on the raw numbers alone, it really shouldn’t work. Thirty-five square metres of living for a family of four, including a bunkroom, master bedroom and a third bed, plus kitchen and bathroom? Surely not.

Yet the owners of this ‘tiny house’ have managed to pack all of the above into a slick-looking 4.3-metre high timber structure without it feeling like a squeeze at all.

Among the clever sleights-of-hand involved are a pull-down wall-bed, and the use of a ladder and trapdoor to reach the loft bedroom, along with a variety of nifty storage features. They also chose a mid-green for the interior that links it directly with the views of bush and distant grassed hills, fostering a sense of space.

It helps, too, that they’ve made smart decisions on windows and doors, optimising the flow between inside and outside with generous openings.

For the largest of these, a four-metre-plus opening between the living area and the deck, they went for an innovative over-the-wall slider from the First Windows & Doors range that not only maximises access, it retracts over a room that needs walls more than glazing – a snug use of space in every sense.

The rest of the house uses windows from the First Residential Series, a mix of awning windows, fixed windows and a louvre set in the loft bedroom, all finished in a light bronze anodised finish to complement the house’s vertical cedar cladding.

In such a diminutive house, where space is at a premium, every element has to fight for inclusion. Nevertheless, there’s always room in any residence for at least one flamboyant gesture – in this case, a gold-framed mirror in the bathroom. Small house, big heart.