The Unity Wagon Is Playfulness on Wheels, a Chubby, Mobile Home With a Strong Personality

Steve Areen is an artistic individual who’s passionate about everything that has to do with creativity. He is a musician, photographer, and he also likes to build all kinds of interesting structures, as long as they are curvy. He grabbed the Internet’s attention around a decade ago when he introduced the world to his dome house, a tiny home he built with his own hands in just six weeks.

A few years ago, Areen decided to add another beautiful creation to his portfolio: a covered wagon made mostly from recycled materials. It is designed as a gypsy vardo, although the Unity Wagon is not pulled by a single horse. The curvy caravan is built on a 5 x 10 ft (1.5 x 3 m) trailer, to which he had a steel frame added.

We write about a lot of modern tiny homes packed with the smartest, most insane high-tech features, but the Unity Wagon is nothing like that. In fact, when Steve started his tiny caravan project, he just wanted something simple for his stays on the Yandoit Farm close to Melbourne Australia. It is where he spends a lot of his time lately and the Unity Wagon had to fit well in those amazing Aussie landscapes. With its cute, curvy shape, small dimensions, woody, boat-like looks, and somewhat minimalist and rustic interior design, this tiny home on wheels is the very definition of Zen.

And because it is meant to fully take advantage of its beautiful surroundings, the wagon has a design that makes the wagon open to the elements. It comes with canvas on the sides and a pulley system that makes it easy to roll the canvas all the way up when you just want to take in the scenery. There’s also a strap that pulls it back down, and also an insect screen, because, oh well, it’s Australia…An additional round window above the bed connects you even more with the outside. In the cool season, Steve uses a stove to warm up the house.

Areen doesn’t really move the house a lot, although that would be very doable. He mostly keeps it on the farm, as he wanted a little structure that he could sleep under the stars and entertain his friends in. Its name also reflects its purpose of bringing people together, as well as Australian hardwoods, as the Unity wagon is made of a combination of wood types, all attached to the steel skeleton. All the timber he used is discarded wood from a local mill, which Steve sanded and oiled piece by piece.

While the curvy shape helps with gaining several feet in both directions, the space inside the wagon is still limited and had to be cleverly organized. We’ll start with what’s missing from this tiny home, which is a toilet and shower, so you have to go with a portable system or rely on what’s outside the wagon for those specific needs.

The Unity Wagon has a compact kitchenette with a wood stove, a small sink with a lid on top, and when it’s on, you can use that space for preparing your food. A container collects the water, as Steve wanted to start simple and upgrade the tiny house on the way. There’s also enough room to fit an additional, portable cooking stove in there.

The bed in the back can be used as a single bed during the day, to save space, but it can be expanded and turned into a double one during the night. Two small benches on the sides can sit three people each and there’s a pull-out table between them. A lot of cushions make everything even cozier, and there’s enough storage space inside, with drawers under the bed and cubby-holes on the back wall, where the circular window is.

As far as electricity goes, a small solar system takes care of the lighting, including in the cubby-holes, as the round cutouts in the back also serve as lights.

Steve’s Unity Wagon cost him under $20,000.