Karenville: A Tiny Village of Tiny Buildings

Reset A− A+ Hello Alex (and Tiny House Talk readers), I love hearing about other people’s tiny house adventures. For a long time I thought I was the only one interested in living simple.

I kept thinking, it’s so easy why don’t more people do it? I live full time in a 270 square foot log cabin (you can see it below). Twenty years ago my brother helped me build my off the grid tiny home.

I also have a tiny village of tiny buildings that I built myself, I call this village Karenville. Karenville has a church, glass house, store/cafe, hotel, house, barn, silo and other small buildings.

Karenville: A Tiny Village of Micro Cabins And More in Ithaca, NY

Images © Karenville

My Tiny Off The Grid Log Home Where I Live Simply

The Entrance to Karenville, Showing the Church, Barn and Silo

These building range in size from 4×8 feet to 8×12 feet. All are functional in some way or another, and are used regularly. Most of the buildings are wired for electric, even though I only have electric if I start the generator.

Two, soon to be three buildings have sinks with drains even though there is no running water. Three buildings have working antique stoves for heat and cooking.

The Main Tiny House in the Village of Karenville

They all have charm, and lots of it! I built Karenville using wood from our family farm wood lot, cut and sawed by my father. I also used left over parts and pieces from my family’s remodeling projects.

When I walk through Karenville, I see lots of memorabilia. For example, my mother’s kitchen and dinning room windows, my daughter’s living room window, my brother’s sink, my other brother’s car window, and best of all the wood from the side hill behind Karenville.

I started building Karenville about ten years ago after Robert, who is now my husband, came to visit me at my cabin one afternoon, but then he never left. After about a year of our living in my cabin I could see we needed more room, or rooms.

So I started building. Robert sometimes helps me in Karenville if I need help, but mostly he just lets me be my silly self and build silly buildings. And now even more silly I find out there are lots of people who like tiny buildings.

Wow! Recently I put my village on Airbnb. People Love Love Karenville. I can’t believe it! There are lots of silly people like me liking tiny buildings. If you would like to see more pictures of Karenville you can look up, Airbnb Karenville.

Thank you,
Karen

Thank you so much, Karen, for sharing your wonderful village of micro homes with us! Great job! And thanks for being inspiring to all of us!

If you enjoyed the Karenville tiny house village you’ll absolutely love our free daily tiny house newsletter with more! Thanks!

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Alex

Alex Pino is the founder of Tiny House Talk, a leading resource on tiny homes and simple living since 2009. He helps readers discover unique homes, connect with builders, and explore alternative living.

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