Allow me to be frank. I am an easy consumer. I’ve never met a point-of-sale item I didn’t want to pick up and walk away with. I’m the guy that goes to IKEA and opens my wallet for the overflowing bin of plastic 3-piece kitchen utensil sets for just $2.03. So considering my affinity for tiny homes it is no wonder that I would be drawn like a moth to a flame for a tiny house called the BunKaboose. At 170+ sq.ft. the love child of a caboose and a bunkhouse is a truly unique tiny house on wheels and it is slowly becoming one of the more popular homes in the tiny house arena.
Having premiered at Earth Day Texas April 22-24 at Fair Park in Dallas, TX the BunKaboose, designed by David Papen and Darin Zaruba from EcoCabins, is a uniquely original tiny house on wheels built with rugged style, classic appointments, and incredible craftsmanship. It harkens back to the time of the hobo and the “boxcar willie” lifestyle when times seemed to have been simpler. The house is currently available in a 20’ plus a 4’ deck model, or soon with a 24’ with a 4’ deck. Either way the BunKaboose floorplan includes a bathroom, a kitchen, a living area, and two lofts (one of which holds a king sized bed).
Upon entry you are greeted with an open, airy, interior that is courtesy of four large, double hung windows. The natural light accentuates the Beetle kill pine interior walls, pine trim, and wood floors. There is also room for a large shaker-style couch (from Ikea) with storage drawers beneath the cushion that is directly across from a reimagined media center and mantle area. While the onboard fireplace is actually electric there is a very cool firewood holder accent touch that looks as comfortable in the BunKaboose as it would in an Aspen cabin.
In the first prototype, the kitchen – separated from the living area by a stainless steel wrapped barn door – features a 17 cu. ft. refrigerator, a 2-burner cooktop with microwave, an on demand hot water heater, and a small, apartment style sink.
The bathroom, while small, is packed with state-of-the-art upgrades including a small, galvanized tub/shower, a standard flush commode, and a stainless steel medicine cabinet and mirror.
To keep homeowners comfortable the BunKaboose runs a 100 AMP standard system with pigtail, a mini split AC/heat system, and an interior panel box. What is truly comfortable though is the cozy feel of the tiny house. In fact, sitting on a dual axis trailer chassis (both rated at 7,000 lbs.) the total trailer capacity is 14,000 pounds, which offers a highly stable feeling even in inclement weather settings. Surprisingly though, with some of EcoCabins proprietary building design, the whole unit comes in less than 10,500 pounds.
Ultimately the popular BunKaboose tiny house saw roughly 25,000 visitors at the Earth Day showcase and it is no doubt why. Sided in LP SmartSide lap siding with French entry doors, a metal, gabled, roof, as well as a banister porch, the BunKaboose is just so many good things wrapped into one. And with a starting price of just $56.9k it seems the BunKaboose is still one of the more solid tiny houses being built, walking the fine line between fun, and function!
By Andrew M. Odom for the [Tiny House Blog]
This is great 🙂 And the price seems good.