Tiny Homes In Ireland
As the fascination around Tiny Homes continues to grow at pace, DIY enthusiasts all over the country are converting all types of interesting buildings into dwellings.
MAHAH recently caught up with Jamie Duff from County Meath who converted a Horse Box into a Tiny Home that he rents out to AirBnB guests. We began by asking where the idea stemmed from.
“The idea for the horse box came from my fascination in tiny homes which really stemmed from when myself and my girlfriend converted a van into a camper van. We travelled around Europe in this self made camper van for just under a year and as we were travelling, I got this idea to convert a Horse Truck into a tiny home. So, when we returned home, we ended up selling the van and then I bought the horse truck to begin my next project. My family run a small equestrian centre in Ashbourne and so I thought that it would be fitting to build a tiny home from a Horse Truck and to keep it on the centre grounds!”
“I bought the Horse truck in October 2022 and after buying it, had the big challenge of stripping the entire inside before building it back up again. This was very time consuming and I kept encountering tons of problems, like rust on the walls, leaks from the roof that needed to be sealed up, old windows that needed replacing etc. There’s a great quote from a book called ‘The Boy, the mole, the fox and the horse’ that I always referred back to when building this tiny home. ““I can’t see a way through, ‘ said the boy. Can you see your next step? “Yes”. ” Just take that, said the horse.” and so I just took the project one step at a time until, 9 months later, I could finally see the finish line”.
Jamie’s Horsebox boasts an outdoor jacuzzi, bar, full kitchen, fire pit, BBQ, and more. However, with such a tiny space to work within, how did he manage to squeeze everything in?
Jamie says “ Working with such a small space you need to make use of every inch. So, one of the most important things in any tiny home build is planning. You need to plan meticulously and also make certain aspects of the home have more than one function, for instance, the U-shaped couch at the back of the truck converts into a king sized bed. I would say i did about 95% of the entire build myself. At the end of the project, mainly working on the outside decking, I got friends and family to help out as I needed to get the truck finished within a certain deadline”.
So what is the fascination with Tiny Homes in Ireland?
Jamie again “I believe Tiny homes are especially important at the moment because the price of housing/living has gone through the roof. People are now looking at alternative/cheaper ways of living”.
So what’s next for the talented DIY enthusiast?
“In the future I would love to convert another horse truck into a tiny home or possibly even a small cottage and renovate that! I’m super proud of what I created and at times in disbelief that I built most of it myself! I would certainly take on another project like this again”.
Jamie’s truck is available to rent on Airbnb so you can experience what it’s like living in a tiny home before diving into a tiny home project of your own!
You will find full details of Jamie’s Airbnb HERE
We at MAHAH love to uncover fascinating, individual homes around the world. If you have an interesting property you would like featured, send the details to – hello@mahah.ie