William Yudchitz and his son Daniel had already built one modern cabin on their land in far north Wisconsin, but it cost close to $100,000 and they wanted to prove it was possible to build a well-designed tiny home on a budget.
source/image(PrtSc): Kirsten Dirksen
Using salvaged material and their own labor- they worked weekends for about a year-, the two architect/builders built the 9-foot-by-12-foot structure for about $10,000. Eschewing a full-perimeter foundation for eight concrete piers and screw jacks saved not only money, but left a smaller imprint on the surrounding nature and allows the family to adjust the settings as the home settles.
The facilities are quite basic (e.g. a rainwater shower, a composting toilet, and an outdoor kitchen), but most of the furniture transforms a Murphy bed built from a $300 kit (with hydraulics), a kinetic bathroom that enlarges for use, a fold-down dining table and collapsible chairs hung “Shaker-style”.
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There are beds both on the ground floor and in the nine-by-five-foot sleeping loft. There’s a roof deck fitted with a telescope for viewing the surrounding forest and Lake Superior. The black metal matches the surrounding tree trunks and the 12-foot-high, white-oak rainscreen doors close the place shut when not in use./Kirsten Dirksen
