Kristie Wolfe is an Idaho dressmaker with a creative spark and a sojourning soul. While she enjoys her work in Boise, she sometimes wants to get away from those cold, snowy winters and spend some time in warm, tropical climes—and that is what inspired her to build her own tiny vacation home in Hawaii for just $11,000.
Really, though, her story starts with the construction of her first tiny home in Idaho, her “Tiny House on the Prairie.” Driven to the point of desperation by the thought of living in an apartment complex, she purchased a small plot of land and constructed a tiny house out of materials costing just $3,000 back in 2011.
She thought she’d try living in the 97-square-foot space as an experiment—and soon discovered that she loved it. She also ended up saving a lot of money. So she stayed in the house fulltime, and that was when her thoughts started straying to Hawaii.
Kristie got started building her tiny vacation home (her “Little House on the Big Island”) by purchasing a plot of land in Hawaii for $8,000. The house itself cost $11,000 to construct. She then spent an additional $4,000 on flights, rent, food, and other miscellaneous costs during the two-month period dedicated to its construction. In sum total, that is $23,000—not cheap, but quite efficient all told. She did all the construction herself with the help of her mother.
Here is the house! As you can see, it is very different from other tiny house designs! In theory, it could have included a ground floor, but Kristie opted to leave that space open so that she’d have a swing set to lounge around on. The entire living area is located upstairs. There is a wide wraparound balcony and huge windows offering a spectacular view of the surrounding rainforest. It’s not technically a tree house, but living here, you’d feel like it was.
Here you see the beautiful bedroom. So far as I can tell, there is no kitchen in this tiny house (but perhaps I have missed something). There is a functional bathroom, but the bedroom is the main living space. The décor in here is contemporary with naturalistic accents. The colors used are muted tans, browns, yellows and greens, plus plenty of white.
The texture of the headboard and the light fixtures gives the vacation home some rustic appeal.
Can you imagine waking up and walking out onto that patio?
This photo gives you an idea as to the kind of view you would see when you opened your eyes in the morning. Just imagine it … no neighbors, no one to bother you, up in the trees, away from the world.
Every element inside the home was designed and constructed from scratch. This has allowed Kristie to make her vacation home entirely eco-friendly. If you step into the bathroom, you will notice that the toilet and washbasin are combined. When you wash your hands, the water you use is then used to flush the toilet automatically. This saves water and cuts down on your bills.
The swing underneath the house is large enough that you can lie down. Read a book, take a nap, or just daydream the hours away.
I highly recommend watching this video where you can take a tour of the house and see all the features for yourself:
Also be sure to visit Kristie Wolfe at her link below!
Tiny House on the Prairie: http://tinyhouseontheprairie.net/category/tiny-house-on-the-prairie/
