Tiia’s tiny house on a tiny budget—the measurement error that led to a lucky result!

At the top of the hill, a small yellow and green house peeks out. It disappears from sight as you turn into the garden between two mansard-roofed houses. Continuing a bit further, the tiny house stands proudly on a rocky outcrop among pine trees. From the house, the views stretch far across the fields; in the distance, a winding river eventually flows into the sea.

Living in the tiny house is Tiia Laine with her dog Taika. Tiia built the house herself with the help of her father. Her mother helped out by assembling the kitchen, among other things. They had no detailed plans or construction drawings. Her father had built houses before; Tiia embarked on the project as a novice but eager to learn.

The tiny house was painted a cheerful yellow-green. Since no one else had wanted to buy the green roofing sheets, they got them at a good discount. The exterior cladding panels were made from their own planks that had been stored in their workshop. They got the front door from neighbors.

Her own moving castle

“Well then, engineer, what shall we do today?”

These were the words that Tiia’s father often started the day with.

Tiia’s main goal was clear: to have an affordable yet beautiful home. She believes that inexpensive can be pretty; all it takes is some patience and time. She also wanted a functional and relatively large kitchen given the space, and sufficient headroom in the loft. Old and recycled materials, such as windows, were used whenever possible.

Tiia decided to make the house movable so she could, if necessary, leave her family farm and go anywhere with it. Therefore, it was important that the house could fit under bridges. Tiia’s father built the wheeled trailer serving as the base himself.

“I have such a talented dad,” Tiia says gratefully.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the house was completed quickly—in six months. Normally, Tiia’s parents spend their winters in Spain, but now they had time to help with building the tiny house.

Tiia adopted her dog Taika from an animal rescue organization nearly three years ago. With her loud bark, she’s a good burglar alarm. “But if the thieves get inside, it’s over! Taika rolls over and wants scratches from everyone,” Tiia says, laughing.

Because there were no detailed plans, they frequently encountered problems that needed solving. There were lucky mistakes too: due to a measurement error, the tiny house became three meters wide instead of two, which was the original idea. At least there is plenty of space now—18 square meters on the ground floor. On top of that, there’s a five-square-meter loft. Visitors often comment that the house feels surprisingly spacious inside.

Many of the interior design solutions happened by accident. When the wallpaper for the loft ran out, Tiia and her father replaced the top part of the triangular wall with a plywood decoration. Another wall was wallpapered with pages from old books.

Building the tiny house was, in the end, easier than Tiia had thought.

“I was convinced that more would have gone wrong. Considering that the drawings weren’t to scale, this turned out really well,” she says.

There were, of course, many emotions along the way, even frustration. Due to structural constraints, compromises had to be made, and Tiia had to give up her dream of a bathtub. The completion of the tiny house was both exciting and somewhat bittersweet. The father and daughter’s joint project was finished almost too quickly. Fortunately, there were more projects to come.

The loft was supposed to have wall-to-wall carpet but ended up with many loose rugs. The 120 cm-wide bed can comfortably fit both Tiia and her best friend. The loft railing was designed on the go, and a pothos vine climbs along it.

Next—even fewer square meters

Before building her own tiny house, Tiia had no experience with such projects. Her friends and family wondered beforehand whether Tiia knew what she was doing.

“Now Mom and Dad proudly tell people in town that their girl has built a tiny house!”

When the construction project began, Tiia found inspiration from around the world. For example, the New Zealand YouTube channel Living Big in a Tiny House showcased many different tiny homes. It gave Tiia ideas for the layout and interior design of her house.

Next to the desk is a bookshelf—a sign of a real home. Tiia got hooked on reading last year. Her mother was worried about the weight of so many books, but her father assured her that the axles could handle it.

The bathroom is separated from the kitchen by an 1800s door converted into a sliding door. It was found in an old school in Kemiö that now serves as a flea market.

What attracted Tiia to the tiny house was an interest in alternative forms of living. Building the house herself allowed her to have a say in material choices. Living in a tiny house is an ecologically sustainable solution with a small carbon footprint. And it doesn’t hurt that the living expenses are low, which makes it possible to work less. As a community educator, Tiia is currently substituting in a kindergarten; in the future, she could work in an organization or on different projects, or do creative work to support immigrant integration, for example.

Besides, with a movable home, you don’t have to settle on a certain place to live. You can move with your home for work or just for a change. Now the house happens to be in the countryside, where the best thing is being close to nature. Tiia can easily imagine moving the house to a tiny house commune, for example, where everyone has their own house and the garden is shared. Such places already exist around the world.

One of the old houses in the farmyard is the “little cottage,” formerly Tiia’s grandma and grandpa’s home. Now it houses a tenant. Tiia and the tenant like to tease Tiia’s parents that the old farm is quickly turning into a hippie commune.

For winters, Tiia would like to go to warmer countries—but not with the whole house, but with an even smaller home. Tiia’s next project is already underway: she’s building a camper van with her father. They are building it from a 1990s Volkswagen Transporter in the same farm workshop as the tiny house.

Not quite year-round

The tiny house was built on an affordable budget. Because they made the house themselves without external labor, and some materials came from their own stock, it was completed for about 11–12,000 euros. It’s not a record-breaking budget, as there was news of a young man’s tiny house project that was completed with 5000 euros. There’s no upper limit—tiny houses are popular in Australia, and sometimes people invest as much as half a million euros, comparable to a luxurious detached house.

Tiia is most satisfied with the kitchen. The lower cabinets are placed along two walls. The shelves have space for beautiful dishes, and there is enough counter space. In the kitchen, she has baked pavlovas and cooked jams.

The red teapot matches perfectly with the red wood-burning stove. Still, Tiia dreams of replacing the stove with a black cast-iron, antique-style model.

The stairs hide a surprising amount of storage space. Tiia keeps her clothes under the stairs on hangers and in small baskets.

Tiia and her father still plan to improve the house to make it more suitable for winter habitation. Insulating the maintenance room and installing windproofing under the house would prevent heat from escaping. Currently, underfloor heating keeps the base temperature, and additional heat comes from the stove and oil radiators. Still, it can get chilly, and there is no running water in winter. So Tiia hasn’t got to spend an entire winter in her home. In the first winter, she lived there until January; in the second, she moved even earlier to her parents’ house—the “main house”—when they went to Spain.

Tiia has to rely on the main house’s conveniences in other respects as well, as her own bathroom isn’t completed yet. She uses the shower in the main house; in summer, she can wash in the cottage’s lakeside sauna, within walking distance.

Tiia feels inspired coming home to a house she built herself. She can see her own handiwork in it.

“When I come home after a long day in winter and it’s 10–15 degrees inside, it feels a bit unpleasant. But the home warms up quickly and soon feels cozy.”

Tiia thinks she inherited her industriousness from her parents. The whole family is always busy with something. Even now, her parents have projects like their main house, cottage, boat, and a house in Spain.

Tiia and her brother get excited easily about everything, and together they’ve made jewelry, paintings, and even tattoos. Tiia might find herself sewing tassels onto burlesque costumes without any prior experience.

“My friends have told me that when I have a dream, I don’t just talk—I act. Whether it’s small or big.”