![](https://images.finegardening.com/app/uploads/2018/01/23165343/1_8-700x525.jpg)
I’ve long been a collector of little houses. As a young girl, I’d make stick forts in the woods, set up house under the baby grand piano, and imagine inhabiting the belfry of my local church. I’ve always yearned for a secret hideaway in my life—a tiny house of my own where I could write, think, and even sleep close to nature.
A pond on our property here in Vermont was in definite need of a destination point. So when a little post and beam structure built by students from a nearby technical career center came up for auction a few years ago, it seemed like just what I’d been dreaming of.
At 10’ by 12’ it was just the right size—and it even had a 12:12 pitched roof, a 45-degree angle to match the barn-like gable on our house. It would look perfect down the hill across our two-acre pond. We outbid the next highest bidder by a dollar and became the proud owners of our own little house.
Next we needed to put a roof on and clad the building. For this I turned to a local master carpenter, who installed a sheet-metal roof and clad the structure in shiplap pine, which will take on a lovely patina over time. He made screens to fit each bay of the timber frame and a custom screen door that matches the clean lines of the building.
At last, I had my dream house—a tiny, airy retreat open to the sights and sounds of nature—perfect for private reverie, a companionable chat, or a delicious afternoon nap.
Even with a little house of my own, I can still never get enough of them. The photo gallery below shows several little houses featured in Landscaping Ideas That Work. I hope they will inspire your own “little house dreams!”
![plantings on a roof](https://images.finegardening.com/app/uploads/2018/01/23165342/2_10.jpg)
![This repurposed cottage with its south-facing window serves as a rustic greenhouse](https://images.finegardening.com/app/uploads/2018/01/23165342/3_8.jpg)
![house located on a pond](https://images.finegardening.com/app/uploads/2018/01/23165343/1_8.jpg)
![a shed surrounded by beautiful plants](https://images.finegardening.com/app/uploads/2018/01/23165343/4_7.jpg)
![Climbing hydrangea vine has overtaken this tool shed](https://images.finegardening.com/app/uploads/2018/01/23165343/5_7.jpg)
![The slightly zany paint job on the garden house and bench](https://images.finegardening.com/app/uploads/2018/01/23165344/6_4.jpg)
Text adapted from “Tiny Hideaways” by Julie Moir Messervy, Vermont Magazine, Jan/Feb 2011 and “Post and Beam Bliss” on the JMMDS blog, August 2010. Photo captions from Landscaping Ideas That Work, Taunton Press, 2014.
Comments
Love this article! I love the natural look with the small houses. Here is a picture of a small house in a meadow in Somers NY. Not a functional house, but I love the meadow with the house in the distance!
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