Not quite a tiny house. 

Not quite a cabin.

When people hear the words tiny house, they often imagine a modern structure built from scratch on a trailer or a perfectly flat piece of land.

Ours is neither.

The tiny house we're building on our farm is growing around something that was already here long before we arrived: an old beekeeping hut.

It may not be the most conventional starting point, but it feels like the right one.

Instead of demolishing the small building and starting over, we decided to make it part of the future house itself.

What began as a place for bees will eventually become part of a home.

Building Around the Past

The original hut measures just 3 × 3 metres (about 10 × 10 feet).

Small enough to overlook.

Yet it carries years of history and memories tied to this land.

As the project evolved, I realised I didn't want to erase that history. I wanted to build around it.

So rather than becoming rubble, the old structure will become the bathroom at the centre of the tiny house.

A small section will remain accessible from the outside, preserving a connection to its original purpose.

Everything else will be incorporated into the new building.

A House Designed Around Practicality

The finished structure will measure approximately 3.5 × 8 metres (11.5 × 26 feet).

That might sound spacious until you remember that a 3 × 3 metre building already occupies part of the interior.

Every design decision became a balancing act between comfort and practicality.

The kitchen, for example, will sit directly beside the bathroom wall.

Not because it looks better on a drawing, but because it keeps the plumbing simple. Water supply and drainage can follow the shortest possible route, reducing both cost and complexity.

When you're working with a small building, every metre of pipe matters.

One Room That Does Everything

Outside the bathroom area, the rest of the house will function as one open living space.

Kitchen.

Living room.

Dining area.

Bedroom.

All in a single room.

At first that sounds restrictive.

But small spaces often work best when they remain flexible.

A sofa will provide a place to relax during the day while enjoying the view across the lake. At night, the room will easily transform into a sleeping space, making the most of every square metre. 

In a tiny house, furniture often needs to work as hard as the people using it.

Designing Around the View

If there is one feature we refused to compromise on, it is the view.

The eastern wall facing the lake will be almost entirely glass.

At 3.5 metres (11.5 feet) wide, it will become the visual centrepiece of the house.

The goal isn't simply to bring in more daylight.

It's to make the landscape feel like part of the interior.

When the house itself is small, the world outside becomes an extension of the living space.

The changing seasons.

The morning light.

The water.

The hills beyond.

All of it becomes part of everyday life.

A Fireplace in the Corner

Space inside the house is limited, but one feature we never wanted to give up was a fireplace.

There's something deeply comforting about a fire on a cold evening, especially in a small space. Beyond providing heat, it creates a sense of warmth and atmosphere that is difficult to achieve in any other way.

On winter weekends, I can already imagine sitting beside the fire, looking out across the lake while the weather changes outside. In a tiny house, even the smallest details can have a big impact on how a space feels, and I suspect the fireplace will become one of those details.

Water From the Sky

Like many parts of the farm, the house is being designed with self-sufficiency in mind.

Rather than relying entirely on external infrastructure, we hope to collect and store rainwater for everyday use.

Electricity may eventually come from the grid if we can navigate the approval process. I love the idea of being completely off-grid, and part of me still hopes it might be possible. 

But the vision for this tiny farm keeps growing. Hydroponic systems, food preservation, water circulation, and other future projects may eventually require more energy than a small solar system can reliably provide.

If we receive approval, connecting to the grid would give us more room to grow. 

Water, however, will begin much closer to home. Quite literally falling from the sky onto the roof.

Looking Beyond the House

The tiny house may be the first structure taking shape on the farm, but it was never meant to stand alone.

From the beginning, I've viewed it as one part of a much larger system. Over time, it will connect directly to the greenhouse, the garden, the orchard, and many of the food-growing projects planned for the years ahead.

The goal isn't simply to build a house beside a lake.

The goal is to create a small, productive farm where different elements support one another. Rainwater collected from the roof can help irrigate crops. The greenhouse can extend the growing season. The garden and orchard can provide food. Each piece becomes part of something larger.

The details will undoubtedly change as the project evolves. Some ideas will work better than expected, while others will need to be adapted along the way.

For now, that's perfectly fine.

I don't need every answer before I begin.

I only need the next step.

And while the house continues to take shape, we're already working on the farm's future water system.

Because before the garden can grow, the greenhouse can flourish, or the orchard can mature, there needs to be a way to capture and store one of the farm's most important resources.