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Interview: Troy & Krista’s 25 ft. Castle Peak Tiny Home


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This is Troy & Krista’s 25 ft. Castle Peak Tiny Home in Washington.

It’s a fully-customized THOW built for them by Tiny Mountain Homes, and they’ve been living inside for 8 months, loving their tiny life!

We are thrilled with the design, and functionality of this model. Every detail of the interior and exterior my wife and I specifically picked out.

Troy and Krista sent us pictures of their lived-in home, and shared their story in a Q&A at the end of the post: You don’t want to miss it. I really love that they prove living in an RV park can be luxurious — just wait until you see their quaint little lot!

Related: Jared and Haley’s Tiny Mountain Home

Interview: Troy & Krista’s 25 ft. Castle Peak Tiny Home

Images via Troy & Krista

Loft bedroom with living room underneath.

An awesome loft lounge area over the bathroom and kitchen.

I love the expandable gate they use for their pup, Stella.

Here’s the cozy living room with a comfy couch!

A view from the hallway to the inside of the living room.

The steps have cupboard storage as well as hooks for coats and more.

I really love the cabinets in their kitchen!

Awesome deep sink, good-sized fridge and more!

The tile work couldn’t be more classy. The chunky blinds are great, too.

Same cottage-y beadboard cabinets in the bathroom.

Great shower stall with built-in storage/seating.

Residential toilet and a super cute shower curtain.

Here’s a close-up of the loft bedroom. Good head space!

Aww! Stella loves her tee tiny home! Too cute.

Now THAT is a tiny house lot! And it’s in an RV park — no way 🙂

Images via Troy & Krista

Related: Little Tahoma Peak Tiny House by Tiny Mountain Houses

Interview with Troy & Krista:

What are your name(s)? Troy and Krista Kline

How many people (and animals) are living in your tiny house? 2 humans and 1 (Stella) King Cavalier

Where do you live? Washington – at a tiny house friendly RV park – been here 8 months!

Why did you decide to go tiny? What are you hoping to get out of living tiny? We love simplicity. The idea of living in a small space, downsizing, decluttering and saving money were all very appealing – no regrets!!

How did you first learn about tiny houses? Really, the reality shows on tiny living. We are both very minimalistic in life, so we were easily drawn to the idea.

How long did it take to finish your tiny house? From placing the order to move in, around 4 months.

How did you build your tiny house? Did you have any help? Did you do it yourselves? Tiny Mountain Houses built our house. We customized everything exterior and interior to fit our style and needs.

How did you find a place to park and live in your tiny house? Local RV park that was already tiny home friendly (we aren’t the only ones here!). We have hopes to find a more permanent spot at some point, but we have total privacy and tons of outdoor space where we are – so no rush.

Before going tiny, what was life like? We were renting in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. Rent was getting out of hand – tiny living has saved us money and sure beats apartment living!!!

What benefits are you experiencing after going tiny? You can deep clean your house in 30 min!! Ha! Staying organized is much easier and of course saving money is amazing!

What about some challenges? Going up and down stairs with our dog can be tough. We have a washer dryer all in one in the tiny house it’s not as efficient as we hoped- but fortunately we have coin laundry at our current location so not a big problem.

What makes your tiny house special? We love our layout- we feel that there are really three separate spaces for us to use. Allowing for us to have room to spread out and not feel in each other’s way!

What is your favorite part of your tiny house? All of our windows! We are in such a beautiful area, and our windows let such nice light in! Also the metal roof is fun to listen to the rain fall (we do love outside of Seattle).

What helpful advice would you give to others interested in going tiny? Do your research. We had a list of requirements — be flexible with how things go, but make sure your house works for you!

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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.
{ 35 comments… add one }
  • Alison
    June 17, 2017, 7:09 pm

    Is there a dedicated dining area? The bedroom and loft lounge are really appealing. Looks like a lovely RV park.

    • James D.
      June 18, 2017, 3:00 am

      Alison, it looks like they have folding tables they keep under the couch…

    • Natalie C. McKee
      June 19, 2017, 12:09 pm

      From what I can tell from the pictures there is so specific dining spot.

  • June 17, 2017, 7:43 pm

    Puhlese. Always include a few words about the price.

    • Eric
      June 19, 2017, 3:51 am

      Puhlese… stop obsessing with price. Depends whether you self build. Part build. Have a business build for you. And… depends whereabouts a business is in the country as to how much they will charge you. Obviously in NYC or LA it’ll cost substantially more than lil ol’ hick town someplace in the Mid West… (no offense to Mid Westerners, metaphor used)

    • Eric
      July 5, 2017, 7:35 am

      Just to put your mind at rest Charles, from their website, bog standard $59.4k for the 24 foot version and $61k for the 25 foot version.

  • Kathleen veltsos
    June 17, 2017, 7:53 pm

    Probably the nicest thow I’ve ever seen. Great layout!

    • Natalie C. McKee
      June 19, 2017, 12:07 pm

      So glad you liked it that much!

  • suzette
    June 17, 2017, 9:49 pm

    I have looked at literally thousands of tiny homes over the past four years. This is one elegant piece of work! Probably my favorite!

    • Natalie C. McKee
      June 19, 2017, 12:07 pm

      Wow Suzette! I’m so glad you love it so much 🙂

  • Frances Acevedo
    June 17, 2017, 11:11 pm

    Are there tiny house models , ranch style. I am a senior citizen and a loft bedroom would be a bit difficult for me .

    • James D.
      June 18, 2017, 5:15 pm

      Frances Acevedo, yes… Tiny Houses are usually custom made so they cover the full spectrum of house designs. Especially, for the builders that offer completely custom work from the ground up or people who DIY it…

      It’s more a question of what your local zoning rules may or may not allow…

      Designs are especially flexible if you don’t need it to be movable and they can also be built on a foundation if the local zoning allows it…

    • Natalie C. McKee
      June 19, 2017, 12:02 pm

      Hi Frances, You can see tiny homes without lofts, or with downstairs sleeping arrangements, here: https://tinyhousetalk.com/category/no-loft-tiny-homes-2/

  • Sockeye
    June 17, 2017, 11:45 pm

    I do like the set up and double lofts in spite of the grandiose name- ‘Castle Peak’ does put images in my head that just don’t match the outside. I also wonder if the extra height causes problems for moving down the road. Maybe not a big deal if you don’t plan on moving often or will get professional truckers to move it.

    • James D.
      June 18, 2017, 3:18 am

      Sockeye, extra height?

      It’s only 13′ 6″, which is the road legal limit and what most Tiny Houses on wheels are sized to to maximize available headroom.

      Interior headroom is 10′ 8″, below lofts is 6′ 6″ and the lofts themselves are 48″…

      The same with the width at 8′ 6″, which is also to adhere to the road legal limits… and the trailer is 25 feet in length…

      So no more difficult to tow than most tiny houses that push the road legal size limits… Just watch out for low bridges and other low hanging obstacles…

  • Sarah
    June 18, 2017, 12:17 am

    Wow, I just love this. At least 3 well-defined spaces to retreat to for privacy, 2 lofts and a living room! Love the beadboard and the ceiling in the loft! NEAT!

    • Natalie C. McKee
      June 19, 2017, 12:01 pm

      They really maximized the space!

  • George
    June 18, 2017, 4:50 am

    I love this place! It makes me kick myself for not adding a loft (but there were mitigating factors). And I very much appreciate the interview. I wish we could have that for most of the articles. I also would like to know “what, if anything, would you do different on your place, now that you’re in it.”

    • Natalie C. McKee
      June 19, 2017, 11:59 am

      Oh that’s a great question for me to add George! Will do 🙂

  • Joe
    June 18, 2017, 8:09 am

    I didn’t see the square footage of this place, but it seems really large. Great job.

    • Natalie C. McKee
      June 19, 2017, 11:58 am

      It’s a 25-footer and probably 8.5 ft. wide, so around 212 (ground floor).

      • James D.
        June 19, 2017, 4:10 pm

        According to the TMH site, it’s listed as 335 sq ft, ground floor is 213 sq ft… 77 sq ft for main loft, and 45 sq ft for the other loft…

        It doesn’t look like they deviated from the default dimensions, at least significantly, so that should match up to what they have, give or take a couple of square feet for what they may have had customized…

  • Joanna Chanin
    June 18, 2017, 8:50 am

    Darling house. Love the kitchen

  • Susanne
    June 18, 2017, 11:09 am

    Fantastic! I also love the two seperate sitting areas!!!! I agree with George- it’s so nice to hear honesty about what they’d change. I recall reading here previously the washer/dryer combo takes 3 hours…Plus I always wondered how well it could do both, wash and dry-and what about maintence for it?
    Great house and interview!!!!!

    • James D.
      June 18, 2017, 6:01 pm

      Suzanne, combo’s work well enough… There’s just compromises because of their size and how the dryer works.

      Normally, the dryer is bigger than the washer because the drying process can cause the cloths to expand a bit. So in a combo unit you have to account for this and not put in a load that would max it out too much in the drying phase.

      There’s also the difference between vented and ventless dryers… Though, vented is falling out of favor and many other countries beside the US have already stopped using them, some even banning them…

      Combo units are typically ventless and thus use one of two technologies… Condensation drying technology, where warm air is channeled through the chamber and then put through another cooling chamber to extract the moisture from the air and let it drain with the rest of the water… The air is then reheated and put back into the chamber to continue the process…

      The other technology is heat pump dryers, in the U.S. These ventless machines replace the condenser with a heat pump, which works like an air conditioner running in reverse: As they recirculate hot air in the drum, they also remove moisture from laundry.

      Heat pump dryers are more efficient than condenser dryers, since they can achieve the same result at even lower temperatures. The average heat pump dryer uses half as much energy as a vented model.

      Another benefit being that both Whirlpool and LG make full-size heat pump dryers, so you don’t have to sacrifice load size to get better efficiency.

      However, the tradeoff is longer cycle times and higher price tags, plus a more sophisticated design that could require additional maintenance.

      The thing to watch out for is whether you are used to vented or ventless because ventless operates at lower temperatures and thus the cloths can come out cool to the touch and people can mistakenly assume they’re still wet and then proceed to over dry them.

      Otherwise, the lower temps are easier on the cloths and will give you good results…

      Though, of course, with any product there will be variables on brand and model as to whether they operate as advertised or not… But it can take more than 3 hours to complete the process and that should be accounted for along with the smaller loads you will have to manage…

      • Natalie C. McKee
        June 19, 2017, 11:44 am

        All I can say is from experience with the one washer/dryer combo unit I had in my apartment in Scotland (which they don’t make here in the US anyway) that I would read TONS of reviews before picking one. I preferred it to going to a laundromat, but moving back to the US and having a real washer and dryer is life changing 🙂 haha Three hours per load was standard (to wash and dry) and the clothes rarely dried after one cycle, meaning you’d have to dry AGAIN. Probably used wayyy too much energy, and I still had to hang jeans, etc. You have to do smaller loads if you have a smaller unit, which means even more washing. We hardly ever got “on top” of our laundry situation for the 9 months we had it. But like James said, I’m sure there are units that work better than that one!

        • James D.
          June 19, 2017, 4:02 pm

          Yup, always good advise to check reviews before buying any product… Even name brand models can be good one year and bad the next… and the problems aren’t always bad enough for a recall…

          But generally, it’s also a learning curve if you’re coming from using vented and separate washer and dryers…

          Ventless dryers run cooler and so the cloths can come out dry but feel cold to the touch, unlike the toasty vented dryers. So it can seem wet when its really dry and you’d end up over drying the cloths…

          It’s also a issue of size because a combo unit doesn’t allow for a larger chamber for the drying process and thus if you load the washer to capacity then you’re not giving enough room for the drying process to run properly and that’ll result in the cloths remaining wet…

          Mind, it’s using warm air to draw moisture away from the cloths but that won’t work if there’s no room for proper air flow and for the cloths to expand as they dry…

          So, first time users should try to stick to small loads just a little over half the washer’s capacity until they get the feel for it and see what capacity they can load it to before it has problems with the drying process…

  • Emily
    June 18, 2017, 5:02 pm

    I’d love to chat with Krista and Troy. I have a 25 ft Castle Peak also about a 15 min drive away from North Bend. I’ve been in my home for about nine months, and it’s working out fine for me, my daughter and kitty. I have the same white beadboard walls, but with dark alderwood cabinets and ceiling. May be an open lot here on the property where I live, if you are interested… just outside of Redmond 🙂

  • Scott Yamasaki
    June 20, 2017, 5:00 am

    I’m guessing its off limits for dog on the loft with the bean bag since I don’t see any doggie gate for that…LOL. Also, George does bring up a pretty good point that a lot of people commonly ask, “what changes to the THOW would they make if they could start over”. I think that would really give insight into the complete “transitioning” process. Watching popular THOW shows on TV, they always change/add something after living in the house for a few weeks (extra storage, extra racks, extra seating, etc.). Nice to know their reasons.

    • Emily
      June 20, 2017, 4:07 pm

      I own this model… if the owners placed a plank on top of the kitchen cabinets over the sink, their pooch could walk across the cabinets. My cat regularly jumps across the 2 ft span over the sink and joins me in the smaller loft. And she taught herself how to climb the ladder.

  • Febe
    June 21, 2017, 5:07 am

    This is the only tiny house so far that actually feels like a normal house in stead of a tiny house on wheels…
    Love it!

  • Jan
    July 3, 2017, 12:22 am

    Love this tiny house! Of course everyone is different in what they require in a kitchen but I would like an oven if it was me The kitchen is beautiful though😊 Nice all around design.

  • Joyce
    July 3, 2017, 10:02 am

    Very nice Tiny, but definitely for young, flexible people–not even that stairs could get me up into the loft! Good design; I’d have my bedroom where the living room is–there’s only me, I don’t entertain at home, so don’t need a separate living area–and I’d have a comfortable rocking chair in the corner that would be created by what is now the stairs (I’d just use the same ladder for both lofts, letting my minister’s young sons go up and get things down for me 🙂 ). Overall, this is a very nice, very attractive Tiny, and the couple can be proud of their sweet little house!

  • keepyourpower
    July 3, 2017, 7:17 pm

    I wonder how much they pay a month for the lot?

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