Tiny House
Inside are a built-in desk, loft and sofa. Lustado’s carpenter friend did all the cabinetry, siding, floors and millwork. The built-ins are all made of FSC-certified wood. Her boyfriend trims and takes care of trees and also does construction work, and he played a vital role in building the house. “I would never have taken it on if he wasn’t able to help,” Lustado says. But she also wanted the project to involve the community. She enlisted local artists to design things like a custom frosted glass window, draperies and pillows. She got the oak hardwood flooring for free but paid to have it replaned, stained and installed.
Lustado constructed the home on a trailer rather than on a concrete foundation, which is a way of getting around many states’ requirement that any permanent living unit must be at least 600 or 700 square feet, depending on the location. The wheels technically make it a temporary housing unit and not subject to most building codes. (Lustado still followed most building codes as a safety measure.) One of the big drivers for Lustado was to live off the grid. All the electricity comes from four batteries fed by three solar panels. A 7-gallon propane tank provides a fuel source for a fireplace, stove and hot-water heater. The only utility she pays for is water, fed to the house by a garden hose. The deck is about the same size as the living space and allows for large dinner parties. “Well, what I would call large,” she says. “You can have 10 people there, and it’s intimate and cozy. No one is having a separate conversation, because everyone is so close. It’s not supertight, just comfortable.” The posts are from fallen trees that her boyfriend found on the property. The decking is from an old house and was reclaimed, remilled and stained. “Nothing was bought on the deck except the scr...
Having a fireplace was a priority for Lustado. She found the smallest one she could find. It cost $3,000, has a double walled flue and is remote-control operated, so she can turn it off and on from bed. “It’s superluxurious in my opinion,” she says. Trees on the property partially shade the solar panels, so she has to conserve her energy consciously. For example, she doesn’t use a blow dryer, toaster or any other appliance with a heating coil element, because it will blow the fuses. She could cut down the trees, but she doesn’t want to do that. In the future she will try to install her panels higher or buy more.
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