This is the Blue Ridge Mountains Simply Enough Tiny Home.
Jody and her husband built this stunning home and you can read their story below.
Please enjoy, learn more, and re-share below. Thank you!
Related: 480 Sq. Ft. Tiny Cabin in the North Georgia Mountains
Blue Ridge Mountains Simply Enough Tiny Home
Images via Jody Brady
Related: Off-Grid Tiny Cabin on 35 Montana Acres
Images via Jody Brady
From Jody:
After living for years in traditionally scaled homes, my husband and I sold our last house and moved to an apartment to try out living in a smaller footprint. We didn’t miss the extra space and we loved ditching our mortgage. In the process, we found ourselves firmly on the path to living more sustainably.
We were fortunate enough to have a friend invite us to live on a corner of her property in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Zoning doesn’t permit a second foundation-built house on the property, so we designed our 250-square-foot house to be built on a 24-foot trailer. Since we have no plans to move the house, we built wider than the trailer, giving us an interior space that’s 11 feet wide. It took us a year (with time out for winter) to build the house.
Some details:
* Our split-roof design includes six clerestory windows that help cool the house in summer and passively heat the house in winter.
* The house is sided with wood clapboard and corrugated metal—the same metal as the roof.
* We knew we wanted a lot of light and cross ventilation, so we put 11 windows and three exterior doors (all glass) into our design.
* We built interior walls to divide our space for a bathroom on one end of the house and ground-floor sleeping space on the other. Both walls stop short of the ceiling for airflow and light.
* Our power is 80% solar (all lights and outlets), with supplemental grid energy for the hot water heater and pump and a microwave.
* We use an energy-efficient space heater as back up to our Kimberly wood stove to warm the house.
* We have a DIY composting toilet and use a mulch pit to filter gray water.
* We added a wrap-round deck and a free-standing screen house that expand our living space when the weather’s good.Read more about the journey at Simply Enough.
Resources:
Related: Tiny Off-Grid Mountain Cabin
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Love this tiny home! Well thought out and tastefully decorated!
That it is 🙂 — Tiny House Talk Team
Hi, Jan. Thanks for your comments! The best news is that we love our house more today than the day we moved in 18 months ago.
Looks good! Love that wood stove! Great job! 😀
Wood stoves are the best! — Tiny House Talk Team
Hi Lisa. We love our Kimberly wood stove. We had a big learning curve with our first wood stove, but it still seems a good fit. Pro: great looks, small footprint, low emissions, ease of use. Con: very expensive, fire doesn’t last the night, burns through wood! Conclusion: We would buy it again!
Drooling…totally in love! My design taste too!
Thanks, Andrea. We’re so happy living in here. Designing to fit your lifestyle is the way to go!
What a great idea to build larger than the trailer! Mmmm, just how far can you go? Can you ditch the wheels?
Anyway, very nicely done.
That it is! — Tiny House Talk Team
Hi, jm. My husband used building span engineering calculations to know how far over the trailer we could go (span tables dictate, basically, 2/3 supported means 1/3 can be cantilevered with appropriately sized floor joists and wood). Ditching the wheels would give you infinitely more options, but many of us need the wheels for zoning purposes!
What a beautiful, comfortable, liveable home. Great job!
Agreed 🙂 — Tiny House Talk Team
This is hands-down one of my absolute favourite designs so far…great job all round! I don’t think I would change a thing.
So glad to hear that 🙂 — Tiny House Talk Team
This may be my favorite tiny house! I do have a question about how water coming from the well is kept from freezing on its way into the house, and the gray water out to the mulch pit?
Thank you!
Good question! Maybe Jody can answer you here 🙂 — Tiny House Talk Team
Hi, Donna. We don’t have a well. Our water comes from a spring-fed water supply. Why it doesn’t freeze coming down the mountain, I still don’t understand! But once it gets to our neighbor’s location, we’ve set up a winterized system. Please check our blog for recent updates on this. As for the gray water, it doesn’t freeze leaving the house because it never sits in a pipe.
This wonderful Tiny House, in the line and in design well studied, reminds me of the most beautiful architecture 60′ years. Immersed in a quiet environment is the demostration that creativity wins on luxury, and refinement is often generated by the creativity. Interior exudes quiet sobriety, the great corner window, perfect communion between God and man
It’s a stunning home! 🙂 — Tiny House Talk Team
Questions: Does it never rain in the area? If yes, why no eaves troughs and rain barrels? Rainwater very useful for gardens, etc. Or does the property have a bottomless well?
Not sure! In some places with plenty of rainfall, the need to capture rainwater lessens a lot because it’s “always there” — Tiny House Talk Team
Hello, Dan. We don’t have a well, but do have a virtually “bottomless” spring that feeds our water. That said, we believe in conserving water. Rain barrels are on the “to do” list for spring. First, we had to put up the gutters. Now that they’re in place, we’ll direct water into a rain barrel specifically for use in the garden. So, yes! That’s the way to go. –Jody
I love these homes! My plan is to purchase! Thank you so much for Beautiful homes!!
Glad you loved them 🙂 I did too! — Tiny House Talk Team
Great houses – count me in!!
Gorgeous! And love the pallet table and door. How loud is rain on the metal roof, annoying?
From my experience with rain on a metal camper roof, it’s the most magical sound of all 🙂 I absolutely love the pitter patter lulling one to sleep. — Tiny House Talk Team
From my personal experience rain on a metal roof can be one of the most annoying sounds around. Can keep you awake at night if it is particularly heavy rain.
Lived in a 1910ish house when I was a teenager to mid 20’s. The old man had it re-roofed with decramastic tiles. For those not in the know they are metal tiles that are covered in bitumen and have relatively fine stone chips adhered to the bitumen. My mum loved it, especially after the first big hail storm. Slept like a log.
Hi, David. We don’t have any more sound from rain on the roof than we have with any other roof. I’m guessing that’s because we have a nice, thick layer of rigid foam insulation right under the roof! We can hear the rain more in our “screen house,” where there’s no insulation under the metal roof. –Jody
Nice Tiny…!
I think this is my favorite tiny house that I’ve seen. I especially love the screen door. Also in one of my very favorite parts of the country. Although I might not ever be able to get to a tiny house, watching and reading about them has given me encouragement to pare down. Thanks for posting this!
I’m in love! Gorgeous and functional. This is exactly what I want!
So glad you love it 🙂 — Tiny House Talk Team
Soooo…if someone designed a steel foundation made to LOOK like a trailer…some fake wheels…
Haha… — Tiny House Talk Team
I love it’s design, but I would probably faint if I saw the price tag on this Tiny House.. Oh…! And the composting toilet is definitely a deal breaker for me…!
Incinerator toilet, no joke!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4rdkGUFzvfc
Or, one that runs to a black water tank and have the porta potty guys come pump the tank every so often.
My husband said the same thing as you, and I’ll admit, there will be no outhouse type middle of the night for me either!
I’m wondering if anyone here has one of these, cause it would sure a whole lot cheaper than putting a new septic on our property?
Hi, Donna. Just to be clear, our composting toilet is INSIDE the house (no outhouse). As I’ve just commented, the setup works easily for us in our rural setting, and we can compost all the waste safely. No energy, no water required. –Jody
Zachary, we spent $40K on the house, all appliances included. You could do it for less! It might take more time to collect good reclaimed materials, shop sales, bargain prices, find sponsors, make less expensive choices….To us, it’s a bargain compared to any house we’ve owned before and any apartment we’ve rented. As for the composting toilet, it’s easy. No smell, no ick factor, no big deal. But, then again, we’re in a rural location perfect for this sort of set up. To each his/her own! –Jody
So cute inside and out!!!!! A second foundation NOT allowed? Why would that be? See, a person trying to make a traditional foundation but not allowed to so forced to do it another way….
Hello, Suzanne. Zoning says one 200+-sq-ft foundation building per site and one “residence” per site. So, we maintain a legal resident by renting a room in our neighbor’s house, where our property is located. Our “travel trailer” is tagged here, and we pay taxes on it. Does that help explain our setup? –Jody
I must have looked at thousands of tiny houses and pictures, but this is my new all-time favorite. Thanks for sharing the pictures and details, Jody. I am truly re-inspired!
You are so welcome 🙂
My kingdom for this tiny house. I love everything about it, except the composting toilet. Call me a sissy, I don’t care, a minor adjustment for the joy of owning this house. Could anybody give me a ballpark price?
I’m afraid we got this from the owner who didn’t disclose what they spent on it 🙁 But I’d guess $70,000
Wow. $70,000 Kind of defeats the purpose of owning a Tinyhouse. Unless this has become nothing more than a hobby for people that have nothing better to do with their money. I started to check out Tinyhouses for the purpose of affordable living, in our golden years. At the rate that inflation is dipping into our “nest egg”, we won’t have anything left to bury each other with. Was hoping, going the Tinyhouse route, would be a solution and we could get out of paying this crazy rent. Half the amount, would be doable for most senior citizens. I wil keep looking though. Thank you for bringing me back down to earth.
There are always ways to save more money when making your own build — doing it yourself, finding materials on Craigslist that are recycled etc. Honestly, I think someone could build a tiny house for free (minus nails/tools) if they had the time to wait for deals on Craigslist and someplace to store their finds until they could start building. But when you start looking for homes already built, it gets pricier, quickly.
Hi, Judy. We spent $40K on our house, appliances included. You could build this house for less by taking the time to source more reclaimed materials, shop sales, seek sponsorships, barter, negotiate bulk buying discounts, etc. –Jody
Love it!
This entire set up is pretty great.