Elsa the Tiny House Comes With Its Own Greenhouse and Porch Swing

The downsizing movement has been around since the early 2000s, but it’s picked up considerable speed with the unexpected developments of 2020. As more borders closed due to the international health crisis, more people were forced to think of new ways to travel and experience the great outdoors, and this, together with the possibility of working from home, gave a new boost to the tiny house movement.

As of this moment, tiny houses remain niche products. They’re neither as mobile as an RV, nor as affordable as any other towable you can think of. Their reduced footprint, which is also one of its hottest selling points, often works against them when it comes to people trading in a real house for a mobile one.

As the saying goes, to each their own, and whether downsizing is for you is something only you can decide. Just know that there are many options out there, and some of them are as surprising as Elsa.

Elsa is a 2017 tiny by Olive Nest Tiny Houses, a small family-run company based in Greer, South Carolina. It was sold that same year for a reported $78,000, so it’s no longer technically an option for aspiring downsizers. But it can still serve as inspiration to them and, to the rest of us, offer some tiny house escapism.

Even on the niche market of tiny houses, it takes guts to stand out. This time, we’re talking about creative moxie, the kind that makes you bend and break the rules, to write your own. With Elsa, this is apparent in the addition of a secondary trailer that attaches to the tiny – a most surprising choice, since the very idea with tinies is that you’ll want less of everything.

Elsa offers 323 square feet (30 square feet) of living space and sleeping for four, on a custom three-axle trailer. The layout is rather simple, with the kitchen, living room and bathroom on the ground floor, and the master bedroom in the upstairs loft over the kitchen. Still, Elsa stands out: there’s storage integrated in almost every piece of furniture, the bedroom offers standing height, and you don’t get the cramped feeling that usually comes with this type of construction.

That’s down to styling, which is natural, almost Scandinavian in its minimalism, with plenty of wood and natural colors. The kitchen is almost full-size, with a refrigerator, sink, cooker and oven, and the bathroom is small but well-equipped. The dining area is limited to a pivoting bar, which offers seating for two when it’s placed against the wall and for four when it’s pulled out. The same bar table also serves as a home office during working hours.

The living area comprises a sizable sofa with integrated storage, which extends to sleep two adults. The queen bed upstairs also offers sleeping for two, but neither are features that haven’t been done before in a tiny.

One such feature would be the second trailer, which houses an actual (but small) greenhouse, and a porch with a swing for two hanging from the pergola. The idea for the greenhouse was to offer a place that would extend out into the great outdoors and offer that much-coveted connection with nature but, you know, within an enclosed space. It’s small, of just 85 square feet (7.9 square meters), but it’s more than what most tinies have to offer.

Another surprising feature would be the number of windows on the tiny, a total of 14 of them, and the 4-glass-panel front door. These Andersen windows help with creating the impression of a greater living space, by allowing in natural light and plenty of fresh air. A mini-split unit with heating and A/C takes care of keeping the interior at a comfortable temperature.

As noted above, the Elsa was sold quickly after completion. Unlike other builders, Olive Nest Tiny Homes doesn’t mass-produce tinies, but only builds about one unit a year, which they then sell. This ensures that all the work on their tinies is up to their standards – and that they are what they call pieces of mobile art. The Elsa was also featured on HGTV and DIY’s Tiny House, Big Living.