Bahama Times

Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

A Pair of Tiny Home Builders Craft Their Ideal Mountain Dwelling

A Pair of Tiny Home Builders Craft Their Ideal Mountain Dwelling

The duo behind Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses design their own winsome home to pay tribute to San Juan Mountains of Colorado.

For their own residence in the San Juan Mountains of Durango, Colorado, Greg and Stephanie Parham-the owners of Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses-have crafted an eye-catching tiny home that’s packed with functional features including an elevator bed, a folding deck, and an awning made of solar panels. Above all, the design elements pay tribute to the spectacular surroundings.



The exterior shape, which echoes that of a covered wagon, is a riff on a whimsical design that the Parhams have previously created for clients. It also employs some tricks that maximize the home's tiny footprint.

The design and build of their own dwelling presented the Parhams with the opportunity to indulge in some ideas that they aren’t always able to explore with clients.

"It is more ‘organic’ than our other builds," says Greg. "When we build houses for other people, they are normally on a tight budget and timeline, and this dictates a lot of design decisions. For this build, since we were doing all the work and didn’t have to pay for man hours, we committed to making something a little more eye-catching and beautiful than normal." Additionally, since they didn't have a hard deadline, it became a chance for Greg to experiment with some ideas and brush up on some woodworking skills.



The San Juan Mountains and the environment inspired many design elements of the aptly named San Juan Tiny House. The undulating roof line, for example, recalls a flowing river, while the blue gradient on the back wall recreates the shifting blues of the Colorado sky. "The sun-ray pattern pays homage to the Colorado sun-we have 300+ days of sunshine per year-and the portholes mimic the stars in the desert sky," says Greg.

The Parhams used reclaimed wood for their build, finding various resources on Craigslist ("mostly people taking down old fences or sheds," notes Greg) and scoring the antique porthole windows on eBay. The hardwood flooring was milled from local barn beams, and the loft beams were pulled from a house that was being demolished. They sourced their light fixtures and hardware at antique stores.



The kitchen is designed to be both compact and functional.



The Parhams added a convertible table that slides out to extend the kitchen and can be used for added prep space, dining, or as an office nook.



The living area is under the sleeping loft, which is actually an elevator bed. Note the pulley on the right side.



The bottom of the bed features a Southwest-inspired pattern that the Parhams designed together. "We wanted to have something beautiful to look at while sitting on the couch if the bed was raised up," says Greg.

The clever use of an elevator bed allows for a more comfortable sleeping space.

"Elevator beds are all the rage in the tiny house world!" says Greg. "They are a design tool that allows you to have a downstairs sleeping arrangement without lengthening your trailer another six to eight feet. Trailer length is the primary factor in cost, so keeping the trailer shorter will save lots of money, and make the house easier to tow."

However, an elevator bed adds a layer of complexity, since the space beneath needs to be clear for lowering. Says Greg, "Most people opt for a motorized mechanism, but I wanted ours to be manually operated, both for the novelty and in case we were boondocked somewhere and didn't have power. The house has an off-grid solar system, but even these can fail during a three-day snowstorm."



The living room area enjoys a porthole opening to the outdoors.



The Kimberley woodstove is designed specifically for tiny houses and very small spaces.



The bathroom, which features a penny-tile floor, is relatively large-and even holds a soaking tub.



The storage loft looks towards the elevator bed.



Completed in the summer of 2017, San Juan Tiny House has since been shown at four tiny house festivals in Omaha, Denver, Colorado Springs, and Austin.


Newsletter

Related Articles

Bahama Times
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
BBC Personalities Rebuke Accusations Amidst Scandal Involving Teen Exploitation
A Swift Disappointment: Why Is Taylor Swift Bypassing Canada on Her Global Tour?
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
Unilever Plummets in a $2.5 Billion Free Fall, to begin with: A Reckoning for Misuse of Corporate Power Against National Interest
Beyond the Blame Game: The Need for Nuanced Perspectives on America's Complex Reality
Twitter Targets Meta: A Tangle of Trade Secrets and Copycat Culture
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
×