Building a tiny home can be a dream come true every step of the way.
From the initial brainstorm to a realized product, buyers can customize all details to fit their aesthetic, eco-conscious lifestyles, and safety concerns.
When thinking through the build, it’s the safety concerns that often get highlighted.
Configuring a small space with lofted sections means you’ll have areas high off the ground. Falling can be prevented using material that is chic, affordable, and durable.
So what are your options when it comes to tiny house loft railings? We’ll cover everything you need to know in this article.
Disclaimer: We hope you find value in the products we recommend! This article may contain affiliate links where we collect a share of sales or other commissions. We really appreciate it if you use our links, it helps us keep Cozy Architect running.
Tiny house loft railing ideas
The sheer number of options for lofted railings are too many to list here.
To keep you from experiencing choice-paralysis, we’ll cover four of our favorite ideas.
Cable railing
This is a beautiful choice that does two things for your tiny home loft: it keeps the space feeling spacious and works with any design aesthetic due to its minimalist lines.
With space being such a hot commodity in tiny homes, having key structural pieces that are “see-through” tricks the eye into believing there’s more space in the area.
Add some clean, strong lines on top of that and you’re good to go whether you’re a modern minimalist or a more traditional maximalist.
Here’s a video of how this couple managed to choose and install their own tiny house cable railing:
Piping
Piping can come in a variety of colors and is typically made of plastic or medal. It’s just plain cool.
Imagine getting to match your industrial pipe-shelving units with your industrial pipe lofted railing. Didn’t think it could get better than this?
Now top it all off with simple, unique arched pipes used as a guardrail for stairs leading up to your chic lofted space. It’s the complete package.
Wooden bannister
A wooden bannister is another great tiny house loft railing option.
It’s similar to the cable railing, just without the cables, and made entirely from wood, rather than metal.
Wooden railings are used effectively in tiny houses by Build Tiny and you can see that they fit right in with the aesthetic of each home.
Glass
If you’ve ever watched the Netflix series Blown Away, you know that glass is one of the most beautiful and versatile materials on the market.
Even in simple panel form like panelled glass on lofted railing, there’s something delicate yet trustworthy at play.
Dadoed glass railing systems, for example, operate within this delicate yet trustworthy framework.
The glass connects to grooves in the wood that make it stable.
With the transparent nature of the glass, your space looks bigger and airier using this lovely partnership between wood and glass.
One issue, however, is that glass railings can add a lot of additional weight to your tiny house. Make sure you take this into account when choosing your tiny house loft railing.
Installing your own loft railing
Now if you’re managing your build on a tighter budget, chances are you will need to DIY what you can.
Tiny house loft railings are a great place to put your skills to the test as the materials are so easy to find and railings are typically sold as a kit.
The Muzata Cable Railing. This innovative system is made up of aluminium posts and thin medal cables. The brand makes it easy for users to access all the parts needed (including all the tools for building) to make the building process as simple as possible. The idea is if you can build with blocks, you can build with Muzata.
NOPTEG Glass Railing. It’s really a high end look at low cost. The lovely glass panels fasten securely to the stainless-steel posts using a unique technology called a “gasket.” This stops you from having to use any heavy power tools or drills and instead keeps you busy with various sized Alan wrenches, a much simpler way to go.
The Live-edge Slab. Imagine instead of using a live-edge slab of acacia wood as a table, you use it as a half wall for your lofted space. Just imagine. Sit and picture the horizontal grains running in tantalizing, irregular patterns. Now pretend you are low, looking up at say a gorgeous dark walnut slab contrasting your crisp, modern white interiors.
You don’t even need art. You don’t even need a plant. You now have an element that functions as a safety wall but poses like a natural luxury art piece. However, this is on the higher end for cost as quality wood is valuable, and you will have to make sure that your tiny house can support the additional weight.
Pros and cons of railings for tiny homes
The pros of tiny house loft railings no doubt exceed the cons, but we will cover both for your benefit.
As you deep dive into the creation of a tiny home, some things will need to stay relatively simple.
Lofted railings can bring a unique design to a space while keeping within a minimalist aesthetic, staying true to the simple nature of the sapce.
There are also so many materials to choose from you are destined to find exactly what you’re looking for. And if you run into a snag, a contractor can always help implement your design in a structurally safe way.
What about the cons? There aren’t many, but one would be having horizontal bars, cables, or iron rods with small children around.
Toddlers especially climb everything and introducing any horizontal railings could be a safety hazard for the child who sees everything as a jungle gym.
In a lofted space, it’s important children can’t climb the railing. Another one to think through is changing design aesthetic. Modern materials change with time and railings especially can look dated rather quickly.
As you build your tiny home lofted space, pay special attention to the railings. They can add so much to the design element of the space while also keeping you safe.