Fancy spending the night in even the smallest house?
In the middle of Bremen, in the beautiful Schnoor district, lies the smallest house in Germany. The artist Fynn Kliemann bought it in 2020, lovingly renovated it together with his team and turned it into a vacation apartment.
"You have to like each other if you rent this little house, it's something for close people," grins Fynn Kliemann. We are sitting in the smallest house in Germany - a vacation apartment that measures an incredible four square meters. The front door, kitchenette, shower and toilet are all in view from the middle of the room. And if we stretch out our arms, we can touch almost everything without moving. But: four square meters, I am surprised to discover, are bigger than I thought, even if only a tiny bit. Fynn is the owner of the smallest house in Germany and took the time to interview me today.
The smallest house in Germany is located in a side street of the Schnoorviertel, Bremen's oldest district, and it is tiny. If you want to find it, you can simply join a guided tour of the city, as almost all of them head for the pretty brick building. Many groups of friends and families also stroll along here, as the little house is a real sensation. "Even back when it was sold, it was all over the media," Fynn tells me when I ask how he came across the house. "My assistant Antje is relatively small and a colleague said it was her house. It was a running joke in the company at first, but then I got interested. When I asked the estate agent, there were already over 2,000 applicants, including investors from China and the USA. They all wanted this house. And then I just went there spontaneously on a Friday evening, met with the estate agent, told him about my plan to convert it into a vacation home and got it."
DIY at its finest
Fynn is a doer. In addition to his music, he creates works of art, has set up the creative farm Kliemannsland, designs and produces fashion and builds. Playgrounds, for example, or a houseboat. And he renovates properties. He and his team always put their heart and soul into their construction projects and renovations. "We spent three years working on the smallest house in Germany, it was the biggest renovation project of my life so far." Just fitting everything essential into the four square meters was a challenge: "Some architects told me that I would have to do without something - but I didn't want to." And so Fynn and a team of carpenters, his employees and architects tried out a lot of things.
"Everything is custom-made. In total, we have installed and removed two complete interiors. The ideas were always great on paper, but you can only see if everything fits and is cool once it's installed." The ladder to the roof terrace alone caused him and the team half a year of headaches. It is anchored in the wall next to the shower and can be folded down when needed. "It's an ancient construction that the fire department used to use in a slightly modified form," explains Fynn. "Someone sent me the inspiration for it on Instagram after we spent a long time looking for a good solution."
He pulls the ladder down, steps onto the window sill with his right foot, grabs a rung with his left hand and climbs up the ladder, coffee in his free hand. At the top, he places the coffee on a ledge and pushes open the skylight. The climb is not as easy as Fynn makes it look. At 1.90 meters, he clearly has a height advantage over me. But even I make it to the top, coffee cup in hand.
Like a camping vacation in the middle of Bremen
The mini house is full of ingenious and unusual designs. The bed, for example, is hidden in a narrow chest of drawers, from which a table can also be folded out. The pretty green tiles in the shower were pressed and dyed from building rubble. And the toilet is particularly small - in fact, according to the Italian manufacturer, it is the smallest toilet in the world. There is no need to worry about overlooking anything when visiting the little house. There are information stickers in many places highlighting the special features - and of course there are instructions on how to use the bed, table and balcony.
"It's small, like a camping vacation, but in the middle of Bremen," is how Fynn sums up his vacation apartment. He wouldn't necessarily recommend his little house to long-term guests, he says, but it's perfect for a day or two and for anyone who wants to explore the city. "Bremen is really beautiful, you're right in the middle of it all - and you also have an exceptional accommodation experience - what more could you want?"
