Posted by Ryan Woofenden (TreeSong Arborist Services, LLC)
Orcas Island
Apr 13, 2025
Orcas Island
Apr 13, 2025
360.317.3903
A Beautiful Wee Tiny House
Apr 13, 2025
If you’re someone who appreciates the wisdom of simplicity, care, and integrity in the spaces you live, this might be just what you’re looking for.
The backstory:
I built this as my home as it has been for the last four years. I needed a space that was functional, beautiful, and would provide me with the financial flexibility to live my life based on my values rather than paying a mortgage. It’s built of local and sustainable materials: I intended it to last for decades, but like all things eventually it will end, and when it does I want it to return to the soil instead of fester in a landfill for the next seven generations. It’s built of island grown fir, and cedar (and a piece of Ipe gifted by a friend for the threshold-better to not be too purist). The lumber is all wood I milled (except that Ipe, of course) using trees that were removed for safety reasons in my work as an arborist. It is exceptional in its care towards sustainability and locally grown materials. It’s a shame that’s exceptional, but few things are built with such dedication to using local materials and ethical sourcing. It’s insulated with sheep wool and built with lots of sweat, a little blood, a few tears, and plenty of love and care.
Why I’m selling:
First off, if I saw a feasible way to keep this I would. I’ve poured many hours into it from design to completion. It’s irreplaceable to me in that sense. I’m only selling because I’ve been offered admissions and a scholarship to a Master in Peace and Conflict Studies in Aotearoa New Zealand, and this feels prescient to this moment and an opportunity I can’t pass up. I’m selling to fund the portion of tuition and living expenses not covered by my scholarship. Post graduation I’ll be working in mediation, negotiation, and conflict resolution as I see that as essential in these chaotic times. This home has been a sanctuary and an anchor for me, and yet my best option is to pass that along to its next habitant. If it were seaworthy, I’d sail it down south, but being built of and in the PNW, it clearly belongs here. It’s done its traveling already, all the way to the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina and back, and it’s now time for it to settle back into life in the these Islands and Mountains of the Salish Sea and Cascadia.
The specifics:
It’s footprint is 84 square feet. Truly a tiny house. And yet, people or consistently surprised with how comfortable it feels when they walk in. I’m not going to pretend that as a designer and builder when someone says “oh, it feels much more spacious than I expected that I’m not stoked. That was a key design goal for me. The other thing people often say is “wow, it feels really good in here” and I think that’s what we should say walking into any home.
The galley (kitchen): It has a high quality three burner marine propane stove, complete with a small oven and broiler. The water system is a glass carboy and a foot pump. Simple and effective, I’ve thought about putting in something more elaborate, but I love that my water comes out of glass rather than a plastic tank, and I simply find it works well. If you had pressure water on your site, it would be easy to add an on-demand propane water heater and have hot running water.
It’s heated with a cute and functional little wood stove that keeps it toasty and homey. The roof is oldgrowth cedar shakes fastened with stainless steel ring nails and flashed with copper.
The bed is on the floor, for less temperature fluctuation with the wood stove. It would come with the wool mattress, and some of the kitchen equipment (but not my Griswold cast iron, sorry).
The siding is charred in the traditional Japanese style of yaki sugi wood preservation.
It comes with a wood fired cedar soaking tub. I’ve always lived in places where I’ve had access to showers, toilet, etc, but it would be pretty easy to use this bathtub as the start of an outdoor shower/bath setup.
Reasons this would not be a good fit for you:
•You’re looking for the cheapest option per square foot: This isn’t that. I could have built something out of plywood and Tyvek, insulated it with off-gassing Styrofoam, and slapped a composite roof on it. This is about as far from that as you can get in a structure on wheels, but that also means it took A LOT more time to build. Seat of the pants I’d guess my price is not a whole lot more than you’d pay in materials today, to say nothing of my time.
•You want a space that requires minimal effort to live in: This isn’t that, from the wood stove to the water system this demands your participation in the basic functions that sustain you. In fact, that’s really the point of it. I wanted a space that reminded me of my human nature and history when so much of modernity has sold us the idea that faster, bigger, more is what brings happiness. My experience tells me simplicity is the key to contentment, but if that’s not you this probably isn’t your cup of tea.
•You need plenty of space to spread out, entertain guests, and store lots of things: This can’t offer that, it’s truly a tiny house and while it’s very functional for its size, it’s still not going to let you spread out that king sized quilt you’re working on, or have 20 friends over for dinner (my record is 15 of us inside; actually a highlight moment of many of my closest friends and family).
•You like it but want to make payments: I would need to have a minimum of $23k up front, and would be open to financing the remainder over 12 months. Anything less is not financially feasible for me given the requirements for admission and visas for the graduate school I’m going to.
Asking $33,351, and also motivated to sell.
•This would be available for you to move into as early as May. I have multiple locations on Lopez and Orcas that I’ve lived in it on, and would be happy to pass along contact info if you’re looking for a spot to park it.
The backstory:
I built this as my home as it has been for the last four years. I needed a space that was functional, beautiful, and would provide me with the financial flexibility to live my life based on my values rather than paying a mortgage. It’s built of local and sustainable materials: I intended it to last for decades, but like all things eventually it will end, and when it does I want it to return to the soil instead of fester in a landfill for the next seven generations. It’s built of island grown fir, and cedar (and a piece of Ipe gifted by a friend for the threshold-better to not be too purist). The lumber is all wood I milled (except that Ipe, of course) using trees that were removed for safety reasons in my work as an arborist. It is exceptional in its care towards sustainability and locally grown materials. It’s a shame that’s exceptional, but few things are built with such dedication to using local materials and ethical sourcing. It’s insulated with sheep wool and built with lots of sweat, a little blood, a few tears, and plenty of love and care.
Why I’m selling:
First off, if I saw a feasible way to keep this I would. I’ve poured many hours into it from design to completion. It’s irreplaceable to me in that sense. I’m only selling because I’ve been offered admissions and a scholarship to a Master in Peace and Conflict Studies in Aotearoa New Zealand, and this feels prescient to this moment and an opportunity I can’t pass up. I’m selling to fund the portion of tuition and living expenses not covered by my scholarship. Post graduation I’ll be working in mediation, negotiation, and conflict resolution as I see that as essential in these chaotic times. This home has been a sanctuary and an anchor for me, and yet my best option is to pass that along to its next habitant. If it were seaworthy, I’d sail it down south, but being built of and in the PNW, it clearly belongs here. It’s done its traveling already, all the way to the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina and back, and it’s now time for it to settle back into life in the these Islands and Mountains of the Salish Sea and Cascadia.
The specifics:
It’s footprint is 84 square feet. Truly a tiny house. And yet, people or consistently surprised with how comfortable it feels when they walk in. I’m not going to pretend that as a designer and builder when someone says “oh, it feels much more spacious than I expected that I’m not stoked. That was a key design goal for me. The other thing people often say is “wow, it feels really good in here” and I think that’s what we should say walking into any home.
The galley (kitchen): It has a high quality three burner marine propane stove, complete with a small oven and broiler. The water system is a glass carboy and a foot pump. Simple and effective, I’ve thought about putting in something more elaborate, but I love that my water comes out of glass rather than a plastic tank, and I simply find it works well. If you had pressure water on your site, it would be easy to add an on-demand propane water heater and have hot running water.
It’s heated with a cute and functional little wood stove that keeps it toasty and homey. The roof is oldgrowth cedar shakes fastened with stainless steel ring nails and flashed with copper.
The bed is on the floor, for less temperature fluctuation with the wood stove. It would come with the wool mattress, and some of the kitchen equipment (but not my Griswold cast iron, sorry).
The siding is charred in the traditional Japanese style of yaki sugi wood preservation.
It comes with a wood fired cedar soaking tub. I’ve always lived in places where I’ve had access to showers, toilet, etc, but it would be pretty easy to use this bathtub as the start of an outdoor shower/bath setup.
Reasons this would not be a good fit for you:
•You’re looking for the cheapest option per square foot: This isn’t that. I could have built something out of plywood and Tyvek, insulated it with off-gassing Styrofoam, and slapped a composite roof on it. This is about as far from that as you can get in a structure on wheels, but that also means it took A LOT more time to build. Seat of the pants I’d guess my price is not a whole lot more than you’d pay in materials today, to say nothing of my time.
•You want a space that requires minimal effort to live in: This isn’t that, from the wood stove to the water system this demands your participation in the basic functions that sustain you. In fact, that’s really the point of it. I wanted a space that reminded me of my human nature and history when so much of modernity has sold us the idea that faster, bigger, more is what brings happiness. My experience tells me simplicity is the key to contentment, but if that’s not you this probably isn’t your cup of tea.
•You need plenty of space to spread out, entertain guests, and store lots of things: This can’t offer that, it’s truly a tiny house and while it’s very functional for its size, it’s still not going to let you spread out that king sized quilt you’re working on, or have 20 friends over for dinner (my record is 15 of us inside; actually a highlight moment of many of my closest friends and family).
•You like it but want to make payments: I would need to have a minimum of $23k up front, and would be open to financing the remainder over 12 months. Anything less is not financially feasible for me given the requirements for admission and visas for the graduate school I’m going to.
Asking $33,351, and also motivated to sell.
•This would be available for you to move into as early as May. I have multiple locations on Lopez and Orcas that I’ve lived in it on, and would be happy to pass along contact info if you’re looking for a spot to park it.
