Sunflower Is a Cozy, Affordable Tiny House That Pays for Itself

Whatever your reason for considering tiny living, you will probably love Cindy’s story, because it involves a tiny home that is both affordable and comparatively spacious, and more importantly, that is paying for itself. If today’s inspiration is to come from the Internet, let it be this sunflower-inspired park model tiny that oozes coziness and warmth.

Cindy has been living in her tiny for about three years, full-time. However, she also travels a lot, so when she’s out on the road, which is about 2 to 3 weekends a month, she offers Sunflower up for rent on Airbnb. In between the money she makes this way, the $500 she pays on rent and utilities a month, and the affordable price she paid for the tiny, Sunflower is paying for itself in a way – Cindy also works from home.

Such a business model isn’t new even to the tiny living niche, but it’s certainly rare to see it with an older tiny-dweller. Cindy says she found a solution to keep guests from going through or using her personal items, and it has worked well for her so far. It involves putting personalized stickers in areas that are off-limits, and others in those that are for guest use.

Being a park model, Sunflower is wider than a standard, towable tiny home, at about 11 feet (3.3 meters). The downside to that is that you can’t move it without a special permit, but it doesn’t look like Cindy is wasting her time with regrets. Measuring 39 feet (11.8 meters) in total length, the tiny offers a floorspace of 396 square feet (36.7 square meters) and sleeping for four people, and all the creature comforts of a proper home.

By comparison to towable tiny houses, Sunflower is large. There’s a spacious lounge area that can become a guest bedroom when needed, a separate dining area that’s also Cindy’s office, a full-size kitchen with residential appliances, a separate washing station, a bathroom with a tub and shower, a flushing toilet, and a bedroom with extra storage. The tiny has central heating on gas, and two air-conditioning units for hot summer days, and gets water and electricity from the grid.

Cindy bought Sunflower from an RV maker, so it’s not a custom unit, with the exception of the finishes she was able to choose herself and whatever improvements she made later. One such upgrade is the skirting that helps with insulation and which she couldn’t do without either way, since it’s mandatory at the Acony Bell Tiny House Community in Mills River, NC, where she’s been living all these years.

Even the furniture pieces inside came from the builder, with some small items she brought along for sentimental value, like a small table and a lamp, or art pieces she scattered throughout. In other words, Sunflower is as standard as a tiny house gets, but the feel inside is anything but “standard.” As you can see in the video tour below, Sunflower feels like a proper home, one that’s been built with love and attention to small details.

That’s the main takeaway from this story, aside from the fact that Cindy is a wonderful woman with very wise words of advice like “don’t let people discourage you [from tiny living], go with your gut!” The market of tiny living has grown and evolved considerably over the past two decades, and this means that today, we can have half-measures of things we love so the transition won’t feel like a huge, painful compromise.

In Cindy’s case, these half-measures are getting a tiny with house-like in proportions in exchange for towability, and buying an “off the rack” tiny that still feels like it was built just for her. If you think of other custom tiny house units we’ve covered before, you’ll see that Cindy got one heck of a deal for Sunflower. The final cost was only $45,000, including upgrades, so it all worked out fine for Cindy, who had started out with a budget set of $40,000.

Transitioning to tiny living is the kind of decision that can’t – or shouldn’t – be taken lightly, or be rushed in any way. Stories like Cindy’s serve to highlight the many benefits of downsizing, even when they come at the expense of the much-coveted freedom to move with your house in tow. They also show the kind of possibilities now available for tiny-dwellers, from house models to tiny house communities, and monetizing on this lifestyle.

More importantly, Cindy’s story shows that you can have the tiny of your dreams if you’re willing to do your research beforehand, and then take a risk to follow your dreams.