A Tiny House With a Big Heart: How One Builder Crafted a Mobile Home for Accessibility and Adventure

With its whimsical curves and charming details, the 22-foot ‘Beatle’ tiny house from Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses is clearly one-of-a-kind. And the story behind it is just as compelling.

In 2019, Janna, a woman from Finland, contacted the company to inquire about a unique build. She had seen other tiny houses and wanted something she could live in but also use as a prop for films she was involved in. The tiny home needed to be small and mobile enough for easy transportation between Mexico’s Nayarit region and other areas in the southwest United States. Construction was quickly underway in winter/spring of 2020 – at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Travel restrictions caused by COVID-19 meant that Janna couldn’t travel to the United States to collect her tiny house. It remained with Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses until 2022, before it was delivered to a friend of Janna’s in Utah and finally made its way to Janna.

The Beatle is a uniquely shaped tiny house that can’t help but catch your eye. It’s whimsical and beautiful, with a domed roof and gorgeous detailing throughout. However, its accessibility is also noteworthy.

Janna has a health condition similar to muscular dystrophy. She uses a cane to walk and has overall limited mobility. This meant that while Janna wanted her tiny house to have a particular aesthetic, it also needed to accommodate her mobility needs.

Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses designed a fixed downstairs sleeping arrangement, created a convenient entrance via a fold-down deck, and even set the bed at an ideal height for getting in and out of.

According to Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses, The Beatle has “oodles and oodles of miniature details throughout”. Because of the complex roof shape, generous 22-foot trailer, and every wonderful feature in between, a similar build would cost around $85,000.

This whimsical 22-foot-long tiny house is owned by Finnish woman Janna, who would be transporting it to and from Mexico and the southwest United States.

Janna asked Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses to construct the tiny home. It needed to be large enough to have a fixed downstairs sleeping arrangement.

To accommodate Janna’s mobility needs, The Beatle tiny house has a fold-down deck made from welded aluminum tubing and cedar decking boards. A ramp was fabricated from the same materials. When in use, the ramp hooks onto the deck and tucks away underneath the trailer when traveling.

The unique exterior is certainly noteworthy. It features cedar rustic channel exterior siding with an aqua stain. The roof is also unique in that it’s an 18-inch-wide aluminum coil to conform to the home’s curves. A 50-gallon freshwater and 50-gallon greywater tank are mounted underneath the trailer.

While the tiny house isn’t currently set up for off-the-grid living, the electricity system and closet area have been future-proofed for solar equipment.

Entrance to the property is granted through a beautiful set of French doors from Alder. They are made to look like the heavy wooden doors commonly found in Mexico. A gorgeous decorative tile area at the entrance also functions as a mudroom.

As you enter through the stunning front door, you’ll find the closet storage straight ahead, the bathroom on the right, and the kitchen on the left.

The kitchen has been beautifully designed to accommodate everyday life in Mexico. There is plenty of space under the sink to store five-gallon water jugs for drinking water. Rather than have a large fridge and limited storage space, Janna opted for a small fridge and more storage space.

But it’s certainly not the storage space that stands out in the kitchen—it’s the beautiful countertops. They feature live-edge honey locust wood, which pairs beautifully with the white oak open shelves.

The natural interior is calming and modern yet rich in charm and character. The walls are eight-inch shiplap, and the ceiling is four-inch pine tongue and groove. Your eyes are also drawn to the beautiful easy-care flooring, which is a wide plank white oak with a striking white tint stain.

As Janna requested, Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses built all cabinetry as custom. There are drawers, open shelves – some with custom brackets, and a double pull-out pantry. Janna’s kitchen is undoubtedly well-equipped!

The rich wood ties in beautifully with the light-coloured cabinetry. The red fridge makes the space ’pop’.

The pull-out pantry has plenty of space for all Janna’s kitchen essentials. When pulled out, it also adds a distinction between the living and kitchen areas.

The dining table facing a gorgeous window was made using honey locust wood. With a steel bracket holding it up, there is plenty of leg space underneath.

The rear of the tiny house is the sleeping area, which has been well thought out with Janna’s input. The bed platform has enough space for a full-size mattress. It also has excellent storage courtesy of a headboard with a hinged top. There is even storage underneath the bed, with two pull-out drawers for bulky items.

Because of Janna’s mobility challenges, Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses made sure the bed platform was at her preferred height. There is also a slide-out shelf with locking slides to help Janna put on and take off her shoes.

The hobbit-like round window on the back wall is the final touch this space needs to make it feel truly unique.

Blink and you’ll miss it. Hidden above the barn door is a caretaker’s sleeping quarters. It’s accessible from inside and outside the tiny house. Short arch-top French doors open to the outside, and you can use a telescoping ladder to access it from the inside. As the roof is domed, the loft has a very unique feeling.

Here, you’ll also find the dining area with the gorgeous dining table and wood stove. Alongside being where you can enjoy a meal, it’s also a practical office and living area.

It’s the small details that really give this tiny home life. This gorgeous blue shelving unit is the perfect size for trinkets, knick-knacks, books, plants, and more.

Janna chose a cream-colored Hobbit stove as her heat source. Rocky Mountain Tiny Homes installed it in an alcove with teal handmade Zia tiles. While installing a metal heat shield for the stove pipe is standard practice, the tiny house company opted for a non-combustible backing board topped with clay plaster paint for a more charming and rustic look.

The bathroom is accessible at the front of the trailer through a fresh white sliding barn door. While simple, it stands out with its stark white walls and gorgeous wood features. It has a wall cabinet made from barn wood, where the water heater and water pump are stored. There is also a simple compost toilet, a small hand sink, and a curbless shower area for mobility.

Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses considered every detail when designing for Janna’s mobility needs—even in the bathroom. They installed shower shelves at just the right height so she could comfortably rest her elbows while bathing. A sleek linear floor drain adds both function and style to the curbless shower.

The walls and floors have been waterproofed with Kerdi membrane before being finished with sealed plaster.