Since sixth grade, Tessa Brusven imagined living in a tiny home just like the ones she would see on “Tiny House Nation.” Little did she know, as a 26-year-old, she would not only live in one, but would have built it herself.
Brusven was inspired at a young age by her best friend’s family, who ended up moving into a tiny home. Experiencing that firsthand, she began to realize her dream was attainable and could become a reality.
Brusven said her decision to finally make the commitment stemmed from her own curiosities and seeing it successfully lived out in real life.
“I was like, yes, I want to go this route,” she said.
With the help of close friends and family, she completed her home within two months in the summer of 2021. As a student with a full-time job, it became important for Brusven to quickly establish a place to live in Bellingham.
“It was a very expedited process,” Brusven said. “I had very little time to make it happen.”
Tessa Bursven waves to the camera from inside the foundation of her tiny home after the installment of her beautiful octagonal window in the Bellingham summer of 2021. // Photo courtesy of Tessa Brusven
Brusven reflected on the building process, which she started with no prior architectural or design experience.
“I had done some sketches before, but by the beginning of July, I didn’t have any materials. All I had at that point was some rough sketches and a builder to help me,” she said.
Ideas like Brusven’s have become popular in recent years. Since June 2017, the non-profit HomesNow! has been working on building communities of tiny homes to help end homelessness in Bellingham. This organization is made up entirely of volunteers.
“Finding the land [...] is the most difficult part of the process. The tiny home itself is the easy part,” Chairperson Doug Gustafson said in an email.
Brusven was only sure of two things when she began building her home: she needed a place for a piano to practice her music and she wanted a skylight above her sleeping loft.
“Make sure you know your priorities before the build and spend time really contemplating what you want,” Brusven said.
Beginning stages of the Bellingham tiny home, which provided the structure for the rest of the building process that summer of 2021. The project was completed in just two months. // Photo courtesy of Tessa Brusven
Building the 8.5 by 20-foot structure did not come without its struggles.
In order to design the exterior structure how she wanted, Brusven had to step up to the task of hard labor.
“Measuring and cutting all of those boards to fit together perfectly [...] — and you know I cut every one of those boards and measured every single one of them — was so exhausting and frustrating,” she said.
Brusven said with limited materials, it was important to not mess up and get as much use out of all the pieces as possible.
Tammi Laninga, an associate professor for the urban planning major at Western Washington University, said reusing materials for a tiny home can get tricky because most pieces are made for standard-sized houses.
While making sacrifices to create the tiny living space, Brusven had to adjust certain interior decorations and downsize on material items like clothing.
“If you have space to put stuff, you’re gonna put stuff in it, so having a limited space is honestly really great,” she said.
Brusven’s new lifestyle has also adjusted her awareness of conservation methods that come with owning and operating a tiny home, particularly being mindful of heat and water usage.
One of the primary appeals of owning a tiny home is directed at the rising rent prices in Bellingham.
Lininga labeled Bellingham’s situation as an affordable housing crisis.
“We need to come up with new codes for tiny homes,” she said. “Many times tiny homes are built with higher quality materials and are more energy efficient than RVs, so it’s silly that they are locked under the same zoning laws.”
She also described the city’s current code to be pretty restricting.
“The pros of tiny homes is that they are affordable [and] not very expensive,” Gustafson said.
Even with all the perks of living in a tiny home, Brusven said she sometimes misses hosting friends over, especially in the winter when the cold keeps her indoors and the smallness of the space becomes most apparent.
However, with the exception of adding an extra four feet to the entire house as a whole for some extra space, she wouldn’t change a thing.
Tessa Brusven hard at work on exterior pieces of her tiny house in Bellingham, Wash. She charred specific boards for an aesthetically pleasing artistic touch in the summer of 2021. // Photo courtesy of Tessa Brusven
Laninga encourages anyone who is interested in building their own tiny home to go into a planning office and speak with city officials.
“Planners are interested in problems people encounter so they can see what needs to be reformed,” she said.
Brusven also recommends tiny homes to others. She says believing in yourself, determination and a little help are all that’s needed to accomplish this task.
“You can do it,” she said. “I hadn’t even built a birdhouse before I decided to build my own house.”
Deven Meddaugh (she/her) is a sophomore and is a campus life reporter for The Front this quarter. She is an RA in the Edens-Higginson community and in her free time you can catch her hanging out with friends and family, playing Just Dance, re-watching her favorite movies/TV shows or writing.
