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Family of 4’s Texas Park Model Cabin Life


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Hanna and Nathan wanted a debt-free lifestyle, so they chose a gorgeous park model from Recreational Resort Cottages in Texas and put it on an acre and a half of unrestricted land in Texas. The couple and their two young children are living the tiny dream!

The interior of the home has a gorgeous white-and-dark-wood farmhouse vibe, and features a large main living/kitchen space. We got to interview Hannah about what it’s like to live tiny with tiny humans, so be sure to check out that Q&A at the end of the post. There’s also a video tour of their home!

You can follow the family on Instagram here.

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Gorgeous Park Model Home for the Stone Family (Interview Below!)

Look at those storage baskets over the kitchen! Love it.

They have a real couch in the living room.

Love this realistic picture of what tiny living looks like!

Down here is a playroom/their son’s room.

I’m in love with that navy wall!

A staircase leads to the loft, which is the Master Bedroom.

The bathroom opens to the bedroom and living area.

I’m impressed with that shower size!

Another view.

The Master Loft/Nursery. Too cute.

Wow! It’s really quite spacious.

The very-tidy closet!

A washer and dryer are a must!

What are your name(s)?

Hanna & Nathan Stone

How many people (and animals) are living in your home?

4 people, 1 dog

How long have you lived tiny?

2 years

What do you do for work? Or do you travel full-time?

I am a stay at home mom and my husband is an engineer and he works from home!

What are you hoping to get out of living tiny/small?

When originally going tiny, we were hoping to live a debt free minimalistic lifestyle!

Describe your decorating style and philosophy.

I don’t know what my style is haha but I do know that nearly everything revolves around organization and functionality! Many things in our house have multiple purposes.

What inspired you to choose a tiny home (rather than say a bus or RV)?

We’ve always wanted to do it and we knew that we were planning on having kids so living in a tiny house felt like this was the option that was best for us long term!

How did you acquire your home? Did you do a lot of renovations?

We purchased a model home on site. It is technically an RV park model and is 399 sq ft. We purchased from recreational resorts in Rockwell, Texas. Originally we wanted to design from scratch but it was getting too expensive, which was the opposite of our goal. We found one that fit our needs and just made it work.

What are bills/utilities like compared to before?

$100-$120

Before going tiny, what was life like?

We lived in an apartment in Houston! Going tiny has changed our lifestyle as a whole and our prospective on life.

Is there anything from your old life that you miss?

Occasionally I miss being able to go into a room by myself 😂 but usually headphones do the trick. Or whenever we feel like we need time away we will just leave the house and go on a drive or do something we enjoy!

What benefits are you experiencing after going tiny?

We have donated many many things. We are much more organized and intentional with our time, money and objects. We are able to save money and payoff debt. We are able to have more family time 😅

What about some challenges?

Challenges include noise with the kids, needing to be quiet once they go to bed is sometimes hard. Honestly though,
that’s it. Everything else you just deal with as it comes and find a solution that works for you and move on!

What makes your tiny home special?

It is special to us because we have added many personal touches and is our first home together after getting married.

What is your favorite part of your tiny home?

We LOVE our high ceilings and our windows.

What helpful advice would you give to others interested in going tiny?

Of course there are challenges and moments of frustration while living tiny but that will happen no matter what size your house is. Going tiny is the best thing we could have ever done for our family so if you are considering it, I would say to just do it and deal with things as they come!

Anything I didn’t ask about that we should know?

We live on an acre and a half of unrestricted land in the middle of a forest.
(Adding this because I get that question a lot 😂)

VIDEO TOUR: Family of Four Living in 399Sq Ft Tiny House

Learn More:

Related Stories:

Our big thanks to Hanna for sharing! 🙏

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Natalie C. McKee

Natalie C. McKee is a contributor for Tiny House Talk and the Tiny House Newsletter. She's a wife, and mama of three little kids. She and her family are homesteaders with sheep, goats, chickens, ducks and quail on their happy little acre.

Latest posts by Natalie C. McKee (see all)

{ 10 comments… add one }
  • Brenda Foster
    May 28, 2021, 9:52 am

    Lovely setup. Could easily live in that space. Really live the rustic look of the outside. Very appealing to me, along with the combination of light and dark inside. All comments from me are positive. They did a good job piecing it all together for comfort, style and utility. Only thing needed will be a gate to keep the little ones off the stairway for privacy and safety. Good luck to you all. Brenda

  • Linda Baker
    May 28, 2021, 11:07 am

    Truly a very livable home set on a private lot – lucky you!

  • Sue Roberson
    May 28, 2021, 5:56 pm

    Oh my word! It’s beautiful & I want it…..

  • Marsha Cowan
    May 28, 2021, 7:15 pm

    Love the porch! The whole house is beautiful and spacious, and the kitchen is wonderful. Really lovely home!

  • Sheila
    June 25, 2021, 1:15 am

    This is beautiful!!! Stunning and so clean.

  • Donna Rae
    July 12, 2021, 1:06 pm

    Very homey! LOVE that it has that huge couch and BIG screen TV and it still looks spacious! Nicely done!

  • Cindy Goller
    July 12, 2021, 3:27 pm

    This is a beautifully designed and decorated home. I’ve got some questions about the nuts and bolts of tiny living. 1) Safety: I’ve lived in tornado-prone areas all of my life and I can’t help but wonder, what are Hanna and Nathan’s plans in case of tornadoes? 2) Then, Financing: were Nathan and Hanna able to work through educating a local/regional lender to get financing or did they have to go with one of the handful of companies that specializes in tiny house financing companies? I would appreciate any information they willing to share! Thanks, Cindy

  • Cindy Goller
    July 12, 2021, 3:34 pm

    P.S. I wanted to see where Rockwell, TX (spelled with an “e”) was on a map, but couldn’t find it. There is a Rockwall, TX (spelled with an “a”), however. Is the name of the town spelled correctly? The link to Recreational Resort Cottages says that this Mobile Home Dealer is located in Rockwall, TX.

  • Kathy Handyside
    September 23, 2021, 11:11 am

    I love the designs of park model homes! Why can’t the designers of manufactured homes design homes that are like park models? The reason I ask is that here in Michigan, you’re not allowed to live in an RV as your main permanent fulltime residence. And since park models are classified as RVs…you get it. Why are manufactured homes so long, ugly, boring shipping container-like boxes? Why is something beautiful like this couple’s home be rejected in favor of a dull manufactured home?

    • James D.
      September 23, 2021, 12:39 pm

      There’s actually a wide range of manufacture home designs available. There’s even some companies that offer a certain range of custom built options and can even blur the lines between manufactured houses and modular houses that are part of the traditional housing market.

      However, designer homes cost more, a lot more when custom built, and most manufactured homes are intended to be more affordable options, which tends to make them cookie cutter and basic to achieve the lower price ranges.

      While meeting residential building codes like HUD also cost more than meeting RV standards like ANSI, which is what Park Models follow, a standard that only needs to meet recreational usage standards, and why they don’t switch to HUD to go larger than 400 Sq Ft, as otherwise they could go up to 500 Sq Ft but would be noticeably more expensive than their intended market. So they stick to just under 400 Sq Ft, not counting the non-living spaces which does allow some leeway, thus some can have sizable lofts, decks, patios, etc. but also why they’re not normally legal to live in full time and why they’re required by law to stay under 400 Sq Ft as that’s the threshold the government had set that anything larger must meet residential standards.

      While saving on building costs allows more flexibility and ability to focus on appearance…

      Tiny Houses buck this trend, of choosing between an RV or a Manufactured House. Being that they are built like houses regardless, and are actually not limited to being 400 Sq Ft or less. It’s just the targeted change to the laws to allow those truly tiny to be legal to live in, but you can scale as big as you want as long as it can meet the requirements and regulations of where it will be placed. Such as serving as a ADU or even a small house…

      Alternatively, like a modular or Pre-Fab, you can have a tiny house built to meet local code and then placed on a foundation when it arrives, among other options that just depend on your budget and what you want to end up with as the main barrier then is cost.

      However, anything on a foundation has to meet local codes and regulations but that includes up to a long list of fees, permits, inspections, approval process, etc. that can add up to tens of thousands to the costs involved, depending on location, and there can be other limitations based on location and local rules but otherwise there are options. Just, also reasons why there can be many different ways to do it to give more people options they can use than there otherwise would be…

      Basically, there are always trade offs and often compromises… But we are slowly getting more options to choose from… Like the 2021 IRC Update will introduce both an Appendix U, for adding Cob houses to the building code, and Appendix AW, for adding 3D Printed Homes to the approved code as well… While the Tiny House Appendix Q, from the 2018 IRC update, is gaining wider acceptance and local municipalities are at least considering easing up on some restrictions and unnecessary costs/fees. We just have to keep pushing for continued change…

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