You know what they say, “One man’s trash….” For John, what his neighbor saw as an old dump deserving of being burned to the ground, he saw as a restoration project!
John spent 15 years building his own home, so he had the skills necessary to head over and take the old cabin down log by log and haul it back to his homestead. He and his wife then spent 2 years putting it all back together. The home was built in Minnesota by a Kentucky solider who fought for the Union and was no longer welcome back home after the Civil War. If you’re curious about the restoration, you can watch Faircompany’s mini documentary at the end of the post.
In keeping with the times, the home has no electricity or plumbing, but kerosene lamps, a wood stove, and a kerosene cooking stove keep the place warm and functional. There’s an outhouse and rainwater collection system to provide some water for washing dishes and outdoor showers. Unsurprisingly, there’s no wifi connection either.
You can enjoy a slice of pioneer life by renting the spot on Airbnb! It sleeps up to four in the two queen beds in the upstairs loft/bedroom area. It may be just what you need to disconnect!
This $2k tiny home story (part 2) is a guest post by Winston W. Johnson
Here’s four more pictures of the progress on my $2k off grid tiny shelter. You can see the new heat shields and cathedral ceiling box that I built and painted with high temp black paint in the photos below.
You can also see my ‘shower’ setup, I purchased one of those old-fashioned galvanized round tubs and use it as my shower base. I installed eye hooks on the ceiling and hang a shower curtain from them. When I’m ready to take my shower I bring the tub in from outside, set it on the floor under where I’ve installed the eye hooks, hang the shower curtain and I’m good to go. When I’m done with my shower I empty the water in the tub, let the shower curtains dry over night, fold them up and take the tub back outside. It only takes a few minutes setting the shower up and/or taking it down so it’s no big deal. I use one of those pump up garden sprayers for the pressurized water to take my shower.
You can also see my newly completed front door, it’s one of those double Dutch barn door types, the picture shows the top door open. And there’s another photo of my new door with both top and bottom doors closed. Quite a lot of work went into making my new front door. Each door, top and bottom, had 18 pieces of wood that I had to cut, glue and screw in order to complete the build.
After the first of the new year I plan on adding a 4ft x 8ft deck on the front of my tiny shelter. I’ll probably install the new wood floating floor next. If you missed my original article you can click here to check it out. Please enjoy the updates and re-share below. Thank you.
