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Doug Stowe of Eureka Springs, Arkansas provided these pictures of his nearby retreat. After reading the description below, it's intriguing trying to reconcile the appearance of size with the dimensions of the siding. This kind of project, the pictures and the description are a real gift to lovers of tiny houses. In Maine, this might be called a "camp," and the close proximity to home would be in keeping with that state's traditions too. It's nice to know that folks in Arkansas love their homes so much they would build their getaway within sight of the main house. Here's what Doug said about his whole family project: "The cottage is situated on a limestone cliff right above our home outside Eureka Springs, Arkansas. We wanted a getaway that didn't require going very far. It is less than 75 feet from the house. Our main home is so tightly built that we wanted a place where we could sleep and hear the owls and other wildlife at night. "The siding, door and interior moldings are from recycled redwood two by fours from an old deck resawn on the band saw in my woodshop. It gives a scale much better suited to a tiny house than conventionally available siding material, but the small scale of the siding makes the house look larger in photos than it actually is. The actual dimensions inside are 110" x 135" with a loft 110" x 91" for a total of 172 sq. ft. It was originally intended to be much smaller. My wife and daughter asked, "Where do we put the couch?" and it got worse from there. "I have no regrets, however, as it has been enriched by being a family adventure. It was going to be almost a shack on the inside, but instead is fully insulated, sheet rocked, wildly painted, and has fake wood laminate flooring. We went over the top, both in expense and in the challenge of milling lap siding and moldings from the old redwood 2 x 4's. "The path to the house was part of the challenge. A stone pathway carries you to steps that wind through a gap in the cliff face up and up to a wood platform. Then natural stone steps that my wife discovered by digging down to bedrock carry you to the wooden steps and up the deck. The tiny house is anchored directly on limestone bedrock. "My daughter and I made the front door out of recycled redwood and the hand made iron latch was purchased on eBay. "Design inspiration came from a photo of a tree house in an article in Smithsonian Magazine." In a recent email, Doug described their latest update to the cottage: a solar conversion. "We recently put in a solar energy system for our tiny house consisting of a BP solar panel, two golf cart batteries and a 1000 watt inverter. For the amount of time we use it, the needs aren't much. No room for a plasma tv anyway." | |||||||||||||
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