by Jacquelien Wubs
We live in a very small house with 5 kids. My parents live 1200km away and like to come visit a couple of times a year. When we saw an advertisement for this (unfinished) cabin/shed the wheels started turning and the ideas began forming. What if we built a tiny guest house for mom and dad? Then we would no longer have to give up our own bedroom to sleep on the couch when they came! We put the idea to them and they loved it as much as we did!
We wanted them to have full bathroom facilities and a queen size bed (on the main floor). How much could we do with a 12 x 16 shell? We drew up floor plans multiple times until we came up with what we have now.
I love how it turned out and I hope you do to! We moved the cabin here by renting wheels and towing it about 25 km to our property. We had built a tiny “basement” (5 x 5 x 5) to hold the hot water tank and store a few things. We moved the cabin onto the foundation floor and started working. We changed out the 2 x 4 walls for 2 x 6 – building out as not to take away any inches inside the building. We have cold winters and wanted to be able to use the cabin year round.
We chose to go with electric heat as it would cost too much to have a gas line put in place. The cabin has everything except laundry facilities. It has a small kitchenette with a fridge (with a freezer), a two burner stove, a microwave, and a large toaster oven. The cabin also has air conditioning for those very warm summer days. We were able to put in a queen size bed with large storage drawers underneath, and a small hanging closet.
We have a living area with love seat, built-in bookcase and electric fireplace. There is a dining area with table and 4 chairs. The bathroom has a full sized tiled shower, a toilet, and a linen tower for storage of towels and sheets and personal items.
There is a trap door in the floor of the bathroom that can be lifted for access to the “basement” where you can put suitcases, etc. There is also a loft that can sleep up to 3 people. My husband built a custom ladder that folds down for loft access and lifts back up into place – sitting horizontal with the loft – when not needed.
We tried to utilize every square inch to make a comfortable and fully functioning home away from home for my parents and any one else who would like to come and visit!