What’s dreamier than a tiny house parked on an island? Maybe equally as charming, one parked in the Rocky Mountains. DIY builder Jillian built her home on wheels with help of friends at an elevation of 8,519 feet in Colorado. Then she took it on a road trip to Washington. After a couple of different parking spots and falling in love, she towed it to a remote island.
“When I decided to take it on the road, I bought this big dually, like the biggest dually you could get, the biggest cab, longest bed, and I just learned how to drive a dually. Well, I had to go from where I built the tiny house at 8,519 feet and take it down to Denver. So immediately had to learn how to use the towing brakes. And I had my mom with me. She was my partner in crime for the drive out, which was kind of hilarious.
At one point, we were driving, and I kept saying, Mom, you have to look to make sure the siding’s not coming off, right? I was just worried the house was going to fall apart as we were driving down the road. And at one point, she’s like, I think the siding’s coming off. And so I pull over, we’re in the middle of Wyoming, and I get out, and she’s like, it was a shadow. Oh, it was a shadow. It’s like, Mom, you can’t do that!
This house has gone a little over 1,700 miles on its journey. Getting it to this property, we had to put it on a ferry. And that was pretty unique to put a tiny house on a ferry. I loved seeing it. People were really excited about it. But then we had some challenges. We were coming down the hill, and the truck kind of skid out on some mud and hit a tree. And we had to hitch and unhitch and re-hitch four different times to get it to this particular spot because there are so many tight angles. This is where it’s going to be forever.” -Jillian, @chillinwitjillin
Now Jillian’s tiny house is an off-grid retreat on her PNW island property. There her husband, Ken is building his own man-cave shed house. Fortunately, they were able to get a camping permit to allow them to “camp” in her tiny house for up to 120 days per year. They make the most of their time there with outdoor games, sing-a-longs around the campfire, and Schenker grilling.
As you can see in the tour video below, Jillian’s 160 square-foot tiny house just feels right in an island setting with its rustic, artsy charm. She built a very cute creative home with lots of salvaged materials. This is what enabled her to keep the cost down to $40,000. For example, her sliding bathroom door features reclaimed barn wood. A few of the contrasting pieces came from an old fence that was around her childhood home.
