From Render to Reality: Before & After Photos of the Tiny Dice House

We can't believe this day has come, but the Tiny Dice House is done! 

Going through the initial concept renderings for the Tiny Dice House and seeing how they have come to life is mind blowing. We can't believe we turned this crazy idea into reality and if we must say so ourselves, we think this real life tiny home shaped like giant stacked dice looks pretty darn cool compared to the renders. 

The Colorful Sidewalk Exterior

The colorful board game inspired sidewalk is one of my favorite features of the Tiny Dice House. Of all the fun features that we incorporated into the home, this one makes you most feel like you’re going through a childhood board game. It also makes the biggest first impression because it’s the path that leads you to the front entrance of the home. 

Initially, we considered using large pavers to achieve this look similar to the render, but from a practical standpoint, pavers would be harder to walk on and drag your suitcase across, so we ended up pouring concrete in a curved path shape and utilized the saw cut joints as the natural separation between each block that we then painted with three different alternating colors.

Paint Colors Used (Sherwin Williams H&C Colortop Concrete Stain):

• Drive-in Twilight (blue tone)
• Naturally Red
• Aztec Sand (yellow tone)
  

The Front Exterior

Anyone who walks up to the Tiny Dice House will immediately recognize that the structure looks like... dice! That's just what we wanted so in that sense, the final exterior looks pretty much like the render. The only slight differences that we had to incorporate in reality was obviously adding a front door. Additionally, we added gutters along the edges of the house since it does rain a lot in Greenville and this would help with the longevity of the stucco and minimize water streaks along the sides of the home especially since we have a flat pitched roof.

The Living Area

We love how the windows turned out in reality compared to the render. The living area is the first thing you see when you walk in through the front door and in terms of the vibe and design we were going for, the first floor was where you “rest, eat and sleep” while the second floor is where you “play”. So we wanted the color palettes and interior design to convey that separation as well. Here, the living room gives off a cozy, modern living area vibe with a sleek neutral palette. 

We basically only really had that tiny corner to work with to turn into a living space so we had to get creative with the furniture we sourced. We knew we wanted a seating area as well as a table that served as a space for dining, working, and playing games while you’re drinking your morning coffee! 

So we ended up with a breakfast nook setup with a round dining table. My favorite part is that there is hidden storage in both the nook seating benches AND the round dining table (extra storage is always a bonus in a tiny home)! It was also perfect that these benches were “backless” so it didn’t have a clunky back like a sofa/couch or chair that would’ve covered up the round windows behind it. 

The Kitchenette

We made quite a few tweaks to the original kitchen render vs. what you see in the final build and I think overall, we made this kitchen feel way larger and more functional than you could’ve imagined for such a tiny space. 

Instead of wall to wall open shelves, we went with an over-the-counter microwave to maximize space efficiency and incorporated smaller open shelves with the rest being hidden cabinets and drawers with cute circular Ladbroke handles that really ties into the whole modern dice aesthetic with all of the round windows. We also were able to incorporate an electric stovetop, mini fridge with freezer, a deep kitchen sink, and a mini dishwasher!

The Tetris Shower

Normally, I am not a fan of tiles in the shower because I do not like cleaning grout so I always opt for a plaster or microconcrete finish or really large tiles with much fewer grout lines BUT in this case, we just HAD to go with a Tetris-themed shower. It was just such a fun, clever and perfect use case here that we couldn’t have thought of a better game-themed design to incorporate. And for all the OCD people out there who can’t unsee the two pieces that aren’t aligned, I’m sorry but we were mimicking my real-life Tetris games. 😅

The Jenga Staircase

This Jenga-inspired spiral staircase was the most difficult part to build and get right during construction. Once we completed the framing and drywall, we realized that the interior space left was pretty small and narrow. The bathroom entrance was also right there on the right-hand side, so we had to make the stairs work with the limitations that were in place. The fully stacked wood staircase as seen in the render would’ve made each step too narrow and impossible to step on. 

So as a compromise, we made floating Jenga wood blocks as the steps anchored to a custom welded metal staircase pole and metal treads. This meant that each step up the staircase was steeper but there was much more room to actually put your foot on each tread. The turn along the back wall to go up towards the loft bedroom was also more narrow in person than we had initially envisioned so for some people it might require going up that part a bit more sideways 😅, but with walls and barriers on all sides, it definitely feels very safe going up and down where you don’t feel like there’s a risk of falling. All in all, this staircase definitely fits in well with the “tiny home” theme. 

The Second Floor Game Room

The second floor is by far the most fun area of the entire home! We wanted the entire theme of the second story to be “play” so we packed as many games and fun possible into every inch of this space. Some of the playful things we’ve incorporated into this space include: a Polycade arcade machine (I've searched far and wide and this is by far the best and most modern looking home arcade machine that exists out there), a claw machine where guests can play and win free prizes including a Tiny Dice Buddies plushie, a foosball coffee table, and tons and tons of board games from classics to novelty games.

To go along with the play theme, some of the decor we chose included life-sized Lego storage boxes, a light up tree with hanging game ornaments, and life-sized wall art board games! We also wanted to make the space both cozy and functional so we have a wall-to-wall floor sofa that can be adjusted and turned into chairs instead along with an actual table and chairs for those who want to play games or work on a more “proper” surface. Not to mention another loft area for lounging, napping, and more games accessible by a loft ladder.

The Back Exterior

Another really cool angle of the Tiny Dice House is looking at it from the back of the home where it almost feels like one dice is floating on top of the other. Structurally, it also provides a nice little shaded overhang area for some outdoor seating protected from the elements. You’ll see more windows as well as the back features the 6-sided part of the dice.

The biggest difference between the render and reality here is that we decided to forego the skylight windows for practicality and cost reasons. Given that it was already going to be difficult cleaning all these round windows, having to get up onto the roof to clean additional skylight windows was going to be more maintenance than it was worth. 

With everything said and done, I think the reality turned out better than we could've imagined given all of the creative limitations we had. We're still in awe and mesmerized every time we step foot into the Tiny Dice House!