We are very excited to show you our tiny cabin build! It was a labor of love for Cupcake and I and we put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into the build. Our cabin is located about 30 yards from a spring-fed creek in Tennessee, surrounded by sweet gum and oak trees, with wide open fields nearby!
How It Started
After moving to Tennessee from Louisiana (after the 2020 hurricanes), we were fortunate enough to live with Cupcake’s son for a while so we could regroup. During that time we found an amazing piece of property, but it had one issue – it was in a flood zone. To qualify for financing, any home built on the property must have an “elevation certificate”, and on this property it meant “floor of structure must be 14 feet above ground”. Add to that home owners insurance would have been $4,000 a year, so Cupcake and I opted for the route we knew we could handle – build it ourselves. As the property is unrestricted, we chose to build a 256 square foot cabin that would be 8 feet in the air!
An Ongoing Process
We’ve had the property for over a year and we started out building an outdoor kitchen. The kitchen is 10’x10′, 3 feet off the ground, with a tin roof and screened walls over half of the structure. It was a lot of fun to build and it has been a great place for us to cook, spend time with friends and family, but we needed a little something more.
A Micro Cabin
After the Outdoor Kitchen was complete, we thought we’d build a tiny cabin so we’d have a place to camp out (without setting up a tent). We built a small 8’x8′ cabin with a clear plastic wall facing the creek so we could enjoy the morning light. We’ve spent many nights in the micro cabin, but as time went by we decided we wanted to live on the property full-time.
How It’s Going
So we’ve finished our tiny cabin and we’re loving it. It allows us to have a permanent home while we’re on the road traveling in our cargo trailer. As I’m writing this we’re in our cargo trailer traveling through Colorado and while we’re having an amazing time, I’ll be glad to get back to our tiny home. It has everything we need!
