Penelope Bergen has big love for her tiny house in Alice Springs, but she’s now looking to pass it on to someone else.
Bergen built her little home, measuring just 6m by 2.5m, four years ago with the help of a builder and “kind and generous” friends.
The outside of the tiny house for sale in Alice Springs. Picture: Justin Kennedy/ News Corp
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But a move to Sydney to study means the PhD candidate is now selling her pint-size property for $75,000.
“It’s the width and length of a standard caravan, but it’s a house with a pitch roof and a bed in the loft,” she says.
“It looks like a little country church on wheels.”
The outdoor entertaining area. Picture: Justin Kennedy/ News Corp
After living in Alice Springs for five years Bergen says she was fed up with landlords, but couldn’t afford a mortgage. So why not build a tiny house for her and her dog Corny?
“I designed it around the needs of a single person and used the spaces the best I could to fill every nook and cranny,” she says.
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A Melbourne builder created a custom-made three axle trailer and put up the lightweight frame, but much of the building fell to Bergen and her friends.
The bathroom. Picture: Justin Kennedy / News Corp
“I think actually the hardest thing to do was the ceiling in the kitchen and the tiling in the bathroom,” she says. “But (the home) is quirky and full of lots of love and care and friendship.”
A living room takes up half of the floorplan with a bathroom and galley kitchen sharing the rest of the space. A set of stair-shelves leads up to the loft bedroom.
These storage shelves double as stairs to the bedroom. Picture: Justin Kennedy/ News Corp
“The cladding on the outside is recycled plastic but looks like wood,” Bergen says. “It’s completely insulated so it’s really cosy especially in winter and it’s got ply walls.”
Bergen initially put her home in a paddock owned by a friend of a friend and added a deck and water tank.
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During the time she has lived there, she says she fell more in love with tiny house living.
A look at the kitchen. Picture: Justin Kennedy/ News Corp
“It made me socialise more,” she says.
“I had a lot of friends worried I was isolating myself, but because it’s a small house you tend to go out more and people are curious to come see it.
“And you have hardly any bills to pay. “
This article was first published in the NT News