Travis and Becky and their Pine Top Homestead is our first featured “Small House.”

Travis and Becky spent the last year planning and building their tiny home on 3 acres in the Ozark Mountains. Travis says, “We absolutely love it, best thing we ever did. It’s 12′x18′ with a 6′x12′ sleeping loft for a total of a whopping 288 sqft. It’s just us two and our small dog and we find it very comfortable and useable for us two.”

I’m going to turn it over to Becky and let her tell you a bit about the construction of their home.

The land was the right deal at the right time and we could see the potential it had for our dreams of a tiny homestead. We weren’t sure when we would be able to build our own tiny home, so we purchased a little pre-built cabin to enjoy on our land as we did some clearing.

The media has made most of us believe that in order to be successful we need to live in large houses and be married to our mortgage. I, however, would prefer to be married to Travis the rest of my life.

Countless nights of customizing our own home design resulted in our plan for our 12 ft by 18 ft tiny home. My old high school math teacher was right…I would have to use that stuff again! I bought some graph paper and a ruler and went to work. It’s even drawn to scale! Below is our original design, but a few changes were made along the way.

It was time to start the framing of our cabin. Our dilemma of how fast we could get up the walls kept us guessing if we would make our goal of framed and shelled in before winter. After a little research, we decided to pre-build the walls off site and raise them on site to save time and money.

We were able to get our well done and it’s always nerve racking in this area because you don’t know if you’re going to hit water.

We decided to use hardie cement siding. it’s a mixture of concrete that is insect and mold resistant. It was extremely heavy and hard to cut but so worth it down the road.

The electrical was one very expensive part of our project it’s just ridiculous how much wiring costs these days. Just the wire used to run from our stove to the circuit box was $100.

Around the same time the electric and plumbing were getting wrapped up, Travis found a great door and began framing in our bathroom/utility/closet area underneath our sleeping loft. We did change this from the plan I posted earlier. The other changes from our plan included double windows on the front porch and we added a side door.

Our roof took a great deal of thought and consideration. We didn’t want to skimp so we spent the money on it to make sure it was done really well. We hired a well respected steel roofer in this area to put the roof of the cabin.

We started doing trim work and painting our barn siding a nice neutral antique white color. We used cedar of to continue the trim work theme. It’s not cheap but it’s a beautiful wood with a great aroma.

We debated on the loft ladder we originally planned for and had seen several samples of what people had done in other tiny homes.

After the insulation was complete we used tongue and groove pine for the ceiling and gables. Yeah we did this the hard way having no compressor and nailer.

In our loft Travis laid carpet and built in a cubby hole for extra storage. We are getting so close to being able to live here and it’s starting to feel like a true tiny home that I can’t wait to live in!

Travis put in the shower doors one afternoon and our bathroom was officially done. Since we are trying to pay for everything as we go instead of charging up a storm, we just didn’t have the funds for our stackable washer and dryer yet but will someday down the road.

Travis then set the cedar log posts and built the natural twig railing for our covered front porch. We love the look of natural cedar and it gives you the true rustic feel we were going for.

Travis added a pine shelf for the flat screen tv and we got a couple of glider chairs that were on sale. It’s a really cozy place to hang out and relax now. We absolutely love it and so does Vegas!

Our goal was to move in by March 1st and we got really close! Before the appliances I added the drawer pulls myself using our cordless drill. Some more great deals on our full sized appliances really finished it off! The kitchen really makes it feel like home and now I can display my collections!

The covered porch really makes it look like the cute cabin home it is — we really love the way it turned out. We also added a gutter to the front to keep water from going under the house now that we have it enclosed.

-Travis & Becky

I hope you’ve enjoyed our first Small House feature. Kent and I have really enjoyed reading the submissions and seeing photos of your inspiring homes. Check back on Fridays – we will keep posting until we run out of submissions. -Kasey

Lofted Porch

The Lofted Porch comes in 11 sizes from 8X16 to 14X40 and starts at $2,625 up to almost $10,000. This building provides overhead storage space with a covered entry. Windows provide natural lighting, and a traditional style metal door provides security and convenience. There is an abundance of overhead storage, and a covered entryway. The exterior of the Lofted Porch is virtually maintenance free.

Lofted Porch

Portable Casita

The Portable Casita comes in 9 sizes starting at 10×22 which costs $4,465 to 14×40 for $9,650. The Casita offers overhead storage space along with a “cabin” style exterior appearance. The covered “porch” offers a nice added touch, while windows provide natural lighting, and the metal entry door provides security and easy access. Built on sturdy 4×6 pressure treated skids with 2×6 treated floor joists and heavy duty 3/4″ plywood flooring, the Portable Casita is protected with 25 year solid tab shingles. The Casita also comes available with log siding which is available in 8 sizes. With the log siding option, you get real wood log siding over OSB sheathing. The inside of the building is still open with exterior stud walls that can be left unfinished, or you can finish the interior any way you want.

Portable Casita Interior

Mini Cottage

The Mini Cottage is patterned off of Dix’s very successful Portable Playhouse. This unique little cottage provides additional room for both play and storage. The end of the cottage features a larger door for adult access making it a very versatile storage shed. You can also order your mini-cottage with 6’6″ walls in place of the standard 5’3″ walls making it even more functional and providing additional storage room. There are three sizes available: a 10×12, 12×12 and 12×16. They range in price from $2,995 to $3,995.

Each Better Built building will be custom built to your specifications, allowing you to specify such things as overall building size, door and window sizes and locations, and shingle colors that blend with existing structures. Dix also offers a rent-to-own option with each of its buildings. Any plumbing, electrical and interior work will be done by the customer.

Each of the buildings feature pressure treated 2×6 floor joists notched into skids providing a much stiffer and stronger flooring system than the industry standard 2×4 system. They also feature:

• Wall Studs on 2′ centers, doubled on siding joints
• A solid framework for exterior siding
• 5/8″ T1-11 Pressure Treated Premium Grade Siding with sprayed on Cedar Stain/Sealer
• 2×4 Roof Trusses on 2′ center, with 7/16″ OSB decking
• 2×4 Reinforced doors
• Vents for air circulation and temperature control
• Exposed nails that are ring shank and galvanized
• One-year warranty

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)