≡ Menu

Tiny Home, Wild Adventures: Their DIY Timber Framed Tiny House in Northern CA


This post contains affiliate links.

It took married couple Edwin and Clara 2.5 years to build it, but they moved into their very own DIY THOW just a month before California went into lockdown due to coronavirus. Their home sits on 27 acres in Northern CA — the absolute perfect spot to shelter-in-place.

This home was a true labor of love, with it’s post-and-beam construction created from wood they milled at a friend’s wood mill! They were both incredibly dissatisfied with their concrete jungle lifestyle in San Diego, where they worked too many hours and struggled financially. Their DIY home cost $30,000 to build, but it’s given them a new freedom with their time and more connection to the nature all around them.

We got to interview the amazing couple, so enjoy the photo tour of their incredible home below and then read the Q&A! And don’t forget to follow them on Instagram @tinyhomewildadventures.

Don’t miss other interesting tiny homes like this one – join our FREE Tiny House Newsletter for more!

Post and Beam Tiny House on Wheels with Luxurious Shower

I want one of these hammock swings so badly!

Their bedroom nook is a mix between a ground-floor room and a loft.

They do have a guest loft over the bathroom.

The timber frame is absolutely gorgeous.

This bowl sink was actually free — a friend got two in an order by accident, and gave them the extra.

After living in multiple places with bad showers, this couple made a luxurious shower top priority in their tiny home.

In total, the house in 234 square feet.

In a compact kitchen, they chose each pot and pan very deliberately.

Their eating and dining space looks out this large picture window.

Which opens! How amazing!

Their dog, Whiskey, loves the tiny life, too.

Their little octagonal window in the loft is awesome.

Notice the hanging storage under the bed.

Their bedroom is like a little “hideout” away from it all.

Way to go! What an amazing DIY build for just $30,000!

What are your name(s)?

Clara & Edwin Bobrycki

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

There’s the two of us and our 7 month old Labrador named Whiskey!

Where do you live? How long have you lived tiny?

We currently live on a 27 acre piece of property in Mountain Ranch, California. We are in our 8th month of living tiny after building for about 2 ½ years.

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

Edwin has started a Tiny Home Business with a group of carpenter friends. They are currently almost finished with their build of a Timber Framed Tiny House on wheels. Clara works as a server part-time and is on her educational path to becoming an RN.

Why did you decide to go tiny? What are you hoping to get out of living tiny?

Clara was working a 9-5 schedule half the week, and taking a full class course load the other half of the week. Edwin was attending University of San Diego, pursuing Environmental Engineering. We spent most of our days catching up on bills and staying on top of our course work. On top of being excessively busy, living in San Diego was slowly draining us. We missed the Northern California wilderness. The “concrete jungle” lacked important undefinable aspects from the wild outdoors. One day Clara came home from work to find Edwin working away on his school work. Clearly stressed and unhappy. Both of us began the conversation about switching things up. Neither of us had been adventuring lately, and this weighed on us. Shortly after this conversation, the talk about going tiny began to get more serious.
We both had come across the concept of tiny homes separately. Clara was secretly dreaming of them through her pinterest boards. Edwin had done some research on them and how people were pursuing financial freedom through them. Before we had really talked to each other about tiny home living, we had both been fantasizing about them. The freedom from the debt cycle intrigued us. The thought of having to work less and being able to adventure more intrigued us . We have gotten everything out of going tiny, we could have hoped for. These aspects included freedom from the work cycle and chains from loans from school. We love spending more time in nature.

How did you first learn about tiny life?

We learned about tiny life mainly from pinterest and instagram. We kept seeing these amazing stories about people who moved into small houses on wheels. The more we heard, the more intrigued we were.

How did you acquire your tiny house? Are you comfortable sharing how much it cost? Have you done any renovations?

We built our tiny home completely from scratch. We acquired the trailer from Southern California. We towed the trailer up to Northern California where we built the home. We had friends that owned a mill. Because of this we were able to mill all of our own lumber to specific dimensions. We did all of the stud framing, windows, plumbing, electric, flooring and sheetrock ourselves! It cost us about $30,000 to build, not including the hours of our time. We have been making minor changes here and there (like light fixtures). But other than that we’ve been pretty pleased with how it turned out!

What are bills/utilities like compared to before?

Bills and utilities have equaled out. Although we are not paying for rent, we have to pay for the propane we use for our heat. We also have to pay for the solar panels and batteries associated with our solar system. Once we are completely set up with a large propane tank and a full array of solar our cost of living will be close to nothing.

How did you find a place to “park” your tiny? Or do you travel?

We had a friend who owned a piece of property in Northern California. We towed our tiny home to this lot and have been there ever since. We are looking at buying the land, but they have been gracious to be here during COVID rent free. We travel to see family in Pennsylvania and Alaska, but not with the tiny home.

Before going tiny, what was life like?

Before going tiny, we were constantly working and grinding to live tiny. The project consumed our lives and we were working on it every chance we got. We had very little time for ourselves or to adventure. Everything was about working to make the tiny home lifestyle work.

Is there anything from your old life that you miss?

We are very happy being in our tiny home. There is nothing about our life prior to this that we miss!

What benefits are you experiencing after going tiny?

We are experiencing nature more vividly. We have a lot of glass windows and doors in our tiny. So when we are moving about our day to day lifestyle, we feel like we are immersed in nature even though we are technically not outside. We are experiencing greater quality of life, taking a break from working on a project. We have more time for ourselves and find time to enjoy nice dinners and coffee in the morning.

What about some challenges?

The biggest challenge we have faced thus far is supplementing a fully capable solar array. We were not prepared for the nuances that solar panels come with. We were also not ready for the financial costs it took to initially start the solar and battery array. We are constantly having to watch our power consumption. The tiny home tends to get very messy, very fast. We are at odds with things that collect on our counters. Luckily since it’s a tiny home, it’s not too hard to clean up!

What makes your tiny home special?

Our home is a Timber Framed TIny House on Wheels. The building style of Timber Framing or Post and Beam, has been around for 10,000 years. The exposure of the wooden beams and grandeur it evokes was too beautiful for us to pass up. The other advantage of timber frames is their longevity. We wanted to build a home and an heirloom, something that could be passed down generations. Another aspect that we tried to tackle, was creating a sense of spaciousness inside a small space. That’s what led us to dedicate a large amount of open floor space with high lofted ceilings.

What is your favorite part of your tiny home?

Clara’s favorite part of the tiny home is the beams getting hit by sunlight in the morning. The way the morning light comes in through the morning, and lights up the beams is completely magical. She also really loves all of the windows and glass doors, because she loves being able to see outside.
Edwin’s favorite part is the large, stone floored, double headed shower. We created the shower with relaxation in mind. This part of my home may seem like an indulgence to some. But to us it just right.

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

For anyone who is interested in going tiny, our biggest piece of advice is get clear what part of a home is important to you. What area of a house are you most drawn to? When choosing or building a tiny home, there are areas that you can expand on and others that can be simplified. For example, an aspect of our home that was important to us was the shower. We went with a large shower design which took up a bit of our kitchen space. This tradeoff was okay with us, because of the importance a nice shower was to us.

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

We are looking at going for a van rebuild within the next coming months, incase you were wondering about any upcoming projects 😉

Learn More:

Related Stories:

Our big thanks to Edwin & Clara for sharing! 🙏

You can share this using the e-mail and social media re-share buttons below. Thanks!

If you enjoyed this you’ll LOVE our Free Daily Tiny House Newsletter with even more!

You can also join our Small House Newsletter!

Also, try our Tiny Houses For Sale Newsletter! Thank you!

More Like This:  Tiny Houses | THOWs | Interviews | DIY

See The Latest: Go Back Home to See Our Latest Tiny Houses

This post contains affiliate links.

The following two tabs change content below.

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)

{ 8 comments… add one }
  • Sheila
    October 15, 2020, 4:44 pm

    Like the fridge says, Unique. This is beautiful. Love the wood and the shower. Sun hitting the wood is beautiful.

  • Marsha Cowan
    October 16, 2020, 10:08 am

    Absolutely beautiful! Like a Medieval Castle and I am glad you included that picture of just the amazing frame. Awesome! It is beautifully decorated and well organized for living. Unlike a castle it seems very cozy and comfortable. Great job!

    • Natalie C. McKee
      October 18, 2020, 2:10 pm

      Yes! It does have that awesome castle feel.

  • qgarden
    October 17, 2020, 8:30 pm

    I love the idea of post and beam in a house, I just feel that in a tiny house it makes it feel a little bit tight. I would probably be hitting my head on things all the time. And, at the same time, it’s pretty.

  • Lantz
    October 18, 2020, 1:32 am

    This is the epitome of beautiful! I love everything! Well done and good for you leaving the rat race. I left San Diego when I was 20, packed up my two Goldens, and headed to WA. Now that I’m 61, I’m really missing the dry weather.
    I would do one small change. Swap the bed and have the wardrobe move up.
    The bed would be about 4” up off the floor. In bed, 2” above your head in sitting height, the clothes would hang both sides from front to back (way more clothes would fit). The above floor would then have more space. The storage that was in the drawers with the clothes could move into the above floor area.
    I would make the above floor area into a cozy lounge, love nest, coffee nook combo. That would be the place to have fun, wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

    • Natalie C. McKee
      October 18, 2020, 1:55 pm

      Haha sounds like some great upgrades!

      • Lantz
        October 18, 2020, 2:15 pm

        Upon further thought the bed (same spot only) would be on a casters that roll out into that open space. The clothes racks could slide out as well, something like a large version of tracks on the side of kitchen drawers. Then all could quickly rolled in and be hidden from sight, with false face cabinet doors.

  • Delos Turner
    October 18, 2020, 1:19 pm

    What beautiful wood work. That is a very nice tiny home.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.