She Built a $25k Tiny House and Outdoor Paradise

Building the Dream: Danielle's Tiny House Journey

You'll want to meet Danielle, a DIY tiny house builder who built her enchanting tiny home for $25,000 using 70 percent repurposed building materials about 7 years ago. It's given her much freedom to spend more time doing what makes her happy, from exploring nature to crafting. She also created a magical outdoor living space. The tiny house is located in Sisters, Oregon, and Danielle wanted to build the home because she was paying a lot of money in rent 7 years ago, and that issue has only gotten worse in recent times, so she is extremely grateful she built the tiny home when she did. Initially, she had considered purchasing a regular-sized home, but didn't have the money for that, and saw the documentary 'Tiny' which was her first exposure to tiny houses, and once she saw that she was inspired by the idea.

A Creative Collaboration: Building Experience and Inspiration

The building experience for Danielle started with no building experience, she did however have an uncle who is an artist to help her with the building. Her tiny house is 8.5 by 20 feet, 200 square feet including the loft. She lives on her uncle's property which is about 3 acres. She has been living in the tiny house on wheels for about 6.5 years, and has a nice outdoor space with a pond, that brings in a lot of birds which probably wouldn't visit otherwise. Her uncle is an artist who is very creative with his outdoor spaces and served as her inspiration on how to do the pond.

Enchanting Outdoor Features: The Treehouse and Deck

The treehouse is one of the newest additions to the outdoor space, with the idea to on hot summer nights have a cool place to sleep. The outdoor deck not only provides a place to sit in the morning with her morning drink but is a good place to wipe off her shoes so she doesn't track dirt into the tiny house space. The outdoor deck also provides a place to put all her plants and has lots of greenery close to her door. Another of her favorite features of her tiny home is the outdoor cedar shakes, inspired by all of the coastal Oregon homes with the same feature.

Inside the Tiny Home: A Sustainable and Functional Design

Once inside you will love all that the tiny home has to offer with its open living/kitchen space. When Danielle was building her tiny house she wanted to focus on using reclaimed building materials, not only because they are more affordable but also because they are more sustainable. A lot of the design in her tiny house is inspired by the use of reclaimed building materials, with one example being a wall of windows with the whole slope of her tiny home being inspired by a particular window. The tiny house has high ceilings which lend to the spacious look and feel of the tiny house. She has a craft corner, that provides room with a shelf to store her beading materials and whatever crafts she is into at the moment. She found a trunk at a thrift store, which she put wheels on, and can either be used as a coffee table or doubles for storage.