Married couple Renee and Zev have a long history of tiny house living in various locales. Recently, they found a beautiful forested 160-acre property near Roseburg, Oregon. It’s now their 5k Ranch. They’re developing into their dream home base to make memories with their family and invite guests to enjoy simple living in nature.
Tiny Homes on their Homestead
Renee has lived in under 100 square feet over the past eight years. First, in a tiny house utility trailer conversion and later a short skoolie conversion, where she lives with Zev. The latter is a Chevy Express cutaway 3500 bus. It’s entirely off-grid capable with 800 watts of solar panels, water storage, and propane appliances. Despite its limited floor space, the tiny home’s layout offers distinct areas for privacy and ease of use for two people. For instance, a small home office setup near the front of the bus feels removed from the main living area. It also has an inviting cabin feel with all the necessary amenities for full-time living.
During her time living tiny and nomadically, Renee launched TinyFest Events to give more people the opportunity to experience alternative small-space homes. Now, with Zev, they did just that on their sprawling homestead. They’re Airbnb hosts of an immaculate and retro-style vintage mobile home. Additionally, they rent out a beautiful Forest Haven tiny house.
The Forest Haven Tiny House
This 28-foot house on wheels was initially built for full-time living by Cool Beene’s Tiny Homes. As a result, it provides guests interested in the lifestyle with a realistic way to try it out. The layout features a spacious kitchen and bathroom. The cozy living room nook feels separate from the rest of the space, tucked away beneath the lofted bedroom. Inside, you can kick back and relax on a sofa with reclining seats. Simply fold up two wall-mounted side tables for your beverages of choice. Alternatively, the open floor space can be used for activities like yoga.
Off-Grid Tiny Cabins
Zev has built and lived in several different tiny off-grid cabins. His background is in sustainable logging, and Zev has a real passion for milling his own lumber to be used for various DIY projects. Currently, he’s constructing a 10×20 foot cabin on their 5k Ranch. Oregon makes building these pretty simple, too. A permit isn’t needed if it’s under 200 square feet with a maximum of 10-foot interior walls. Technically, it’s considered a non-habitable structure. Zev shares that if you want to live in it, just don’t call it your full-time residence. Instead, it can be called your hunting or vacation cabin.
Renee and Zev plan to live in the cabin over the winter before opening it up for Airbnb guests. These two nature-loving dreamers love simple living in small spaces and want others to experience this, too. This is the first of many cabins to be built across the rolling hills of their homestead. Other projects in the works include creating hiking, mountain biking, and motocross trails.
“Sometimes really simplifying for at least a short amount of time can really open your eyes to options and what you want. You know, you get a lot of clarity as to what you want and what’s going to work well in your life and what’s going to feed your soul rather than you know what’s going to look good on the shelf and what the latest style is. You know what piece of Decor you need and where you’re going to store this or that or this or that or this or that. I mean, it’s just really amazing when you reduce the amount of clutter around you and the number of things you own and mind,” Renee, TinyFest Events founder