‘Many people don’t think tiny homes make financial sense or aren’t a worthwhile investment, but when D’Arcy McNaughton and the team from Acorn Tiny Homes in Canada were tasked with building a tiny home for a financial planner, they knew they were onto something. If a financial planner is buying a tiny home, they are clearly more viable than some people give them credit for.
D’Arcy met with the single financial planner and her dog to create a tiny home that could be her part-time home and a part-time Airbnb investment. The builder thought long and hard about how to create a home that would appeal to a broad audience and ensure everyone’s comfort, and he came up with Pine Needle, the tiny home.
Pine Needle is an attractive Shou Sugi wood tiny home with standing seam steel on a three-axle trailer spanning 32 feet long by 10 feet, six inches wide. This tiny house offers 384 square feet of total space and an incredible 100 cubic feet of hidden storage space.
This beautiful tiny house on wheels was built by Canadian tiny home company Acorn Tiny Homes and was the brainchild of business owner D’Arcy McNaughton and his team. Pricing for tiny homes like Pine Needle start from CAD 180,000 or approximately USD 131,000.
Upon entering the tiny home, you’re met with a nature-inspired, comfortable interior with warm hues and materials from floor to ceiling. The textured wood grain floor works beautifully with the white walls, and the sage green cabinetry and wood bench tie the look together.
You’ll also notice a mirrored closet to the right of the entrance. Not only does the mirror offer the illusion of extra space, but this front hall closet also has radiant lines running through it. These allow clothing to defrost and enjoy appropriate ventilation while the built-in fan pulls out moisture.
In a typical tiny home, the kitchen is centrally located yet conservative. They can be cramped and crowded, but that’s not the case in Pine Needle. According to D’Arcy, this kitchen is the largest he has ever built, with over 40 square feet of counter space, an abundance of drawers and cabinets, and overhead cabinets for even more storage.
Cleverly, D’Arcy chose to paint the top cabinets white, in direct contrast to the sage green cabinets underneath. These allowed the cabinets to blend in with the white walls, making the kitchen and overall tiny home feel less ‘closed in’.
While the kitchen is predominantly about easy meal preparation, part of the counter also doubles as a dining table for at least three people. While you’re cooking up a storm, you can chat with your friends and family.
As most pet owners know, dog crates take up a lot of space. Tiny homes don’t have much space to spare, so a dog crate out in the open was going to detract from the flow and available walking room. D’Arcy came up with a solution for this – and it didn’t involve getting rid of the dog!
Instead, he incorporated the large crate into the custom kitchen peninsula. It’s built underneath the bar top surface. It takes up no extra space and gives the homeowner’s dog somewhere comfortable to sleep in the heart of the home. D’Arcy also chose to build the dog’s bowls as toe-kick storage.
The kitchen cabinetry in Pine Needle is undoubtedly a standout feature. Alongside the beautiful sage green and white color theme, they have also been complemented by gold accent knobs and handles to tie the natural and contemporary look together.
Any kitchen can be large, but they also have to be functional, and the kitchen in Pine Needle certainly is. Homeowners and Airbnb guests can make use of the deep dual sink, propane stove, and in-drawer dishwasher. This tiny home has everything a standard home has for easy and convenient meal preparation and clean-up.
Some tiny homes don’t have enough available space for a full-size fridge, but Pine Needle does. This generous kitchen boasts a full-size refrigerator with custom butcherblock waterfall framing. This framing is illuminated by gorgeous LED lighting for contemporary elegance.
As most homeowners will know, countertop appliances can make the kitchen appear crowded, even if they’re necessary and used frequently. D’Arcy solved the problem of clutter by creating an appliance garage in the kitchen cabinetry.
Behind the sleek white doors, you’ll find plenty of space for appliances like toasters and kettles. There is also a power point for convenience. When you’re not using the appliances, you can close the doors and keep them out of sight.
Winters in Canada can be brutal, and most tiny homes have basic forms of heating, like wood burners. D’Arcy knew that Pine Needle needed something more. The entire house is winterized with in-floor radiant heat. According to D’Arcy, in-floor radiant heat is standard for their premium builds.
While the stairs from the kitchen to the raised living room provide the vital function of convenient access, they are also an additional form of built-in storage. The drawers consist of four-feet-deep drawer boxes, which are accessible from the inside and outside. This innovative storage solution gives the homeowner 54 extra cubic feet of space to store seasonal goods like Christmas decorations, winter clothing, and more.
Homeowners and Airbnb guests can make a grand entrance into the tiny home’s living room via the beautiful French door. The sleek white color scheme helps it blend into the wall, and its neutrality helps it work in harmony with the hearty wood flooring.
Pine Needle looks compact and small from the outside but is deceivingly spacious inside. You can enter the living area, move through to the kitchen, walk into the bathroom, then navigate your way upstairs to the bedroom loft.
The stairs leading up to the loft bedroom from the kitchen look like ordinary stairs, but they’re not. Each step in the staircase is a functional drawer for the homeowner’s personal possessions. They’re not only functional but also aesthetic. The natural wood steps perfectly match the adjacent kitchen counters.
The loft bedroom is accessible via the storage stairs in the kitchen. While not overly large, there is ample space for a queen-size bed. The bedroom floor also boasts the same wood found in the rest of the home for a seamless look.
The loft bedroom has windows on both sides, letting in plenty of sunshine, natural light, and a gentle cross breeze during the warmer months of the year.
While the bathroom looks sleek, elegant, and sophisticated, it’s not quite ready. The client requested to install a barn door of her choice and her own wallpaper.
The bathroom in Pine Needle looks akin to those you’d find in any traditional home, with clean white walls, warm wood flooring, and a full-size tile shower with a glass cabin and a rainfall shower head. It also boasts plenty of ventilation, sleek and modern lighting, and a convenient Nature’s Head compost toilet.
The bathroom is the perfect place to store all the necessary essentials of the average tiny home. The Acorn Tiny Homes team created a special nook in the bathroom adjacent to the shower to house the tankless hot water heater, in-floor heating equipment, a pressure tank, pumps, the glycol reservoir, and more. These items can be tucked away out of sight and out of mind but within easy reach when they’re needed.
The vanity in the bathroom is perhaps one of the most unique features of this entire tiny home. It takes up no floor space thanks to the outward-jutting part of the tiny home at the front of the trailer. This design feature opens the bathroom up and provides more space for movement and comfort.
The washing machine is tucked away in its own wall nook within the bathroom, adjacent to the storage space for tiny home tech essentials. It’s a washer/dryer combo unit for convenience and space savings.
