“After the divorce, I decided that our house was going to be way too big for my family in a couple years. My kids were going to be out, and it would be this five-bedroom home with just me. We talked about selling it right then, but decided to hang on to it a few more years.

“I didn’t have a grand plan for what I would do or where I would go. But I did love the Hill Country, and always dreamed of living there. I’m big into nature. Before I became a teacher, I worked for environmental agencies and nonprofits. So I wanted to be where I had easier access to state parks and stuff that I really love.

“When my boyfriend, Eric Anderson, and I started dating, that was something we had in common. We talked about moving in this direction once our kids were a little older.

“Then I heard about an opening in Dripping Springs ISD, and I was offered a position at the middle school doing yearbook. When I got the job, Eric suggested that we look for an RV park and buy an RV. Since I love camping and being outdoors, that sounded great. So I came up here and went to like 12 different RV parks, and I found this beautiful little place. The way it’s laid out reminds me of a state park.

“I love that I now spend so much more time out in nature. With a small space, you live very minimalistically, and you don’t stay inside a lot. You get out. You go hiking. We cook our meals, and bring them outside to eat. We set up a projector outside for movie nights.

“I used to get the itch to go camping all the time. I’d watch the weather and try to plan things, so I could pack my stuff quickly and go on weekends. But I don’t feel the urge to do that so often now because I live only 15 minutes from Pedernales Falls State Park. If I want to go, I just go.

“It was difficult to part with the house. It was in the family so many years. It’s where I grew up and my kids grew up. But it was time for a change for us and for the kids. We wanted to shake things up, get them out of their comfort zone, and be a model for taking risks and trying new things. We just love it.”

— Laurie Adcox Haffelfinger

Both of their daughters moved into the same RV park, living in their own places. “We’re all right there in a little triangle together.”

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“As kids in Indiana, we lived in five houses. Our parents would finish remodeling one and we’d move on to the next. Growing up, five years was the longest we ever lived in one place. It got to the point where we’d be watching them go from room to room, fixing things up. And when they reached that final room we’d go, ‘They’re almost done. We’re going to move again.’ Dad was a handyman. He liked fixing stuff. He did the carpentry, and Mom would paint and decorate a little bit. They put their imprint on each home. We definitely picked up things from watching them.

“When he had time, Dad did oil paintings. Mom was artistic as well. She could draw and paint, and she was always making stuff for things like graduations and weddings. She enjoyed making gifts special and doing something unique. Like one year at Christmas, my grandfather needed a new pair of shoes. So Mom got one of those old Fisher-Price toys that looked like a shoe. It was the old woman who lived in a shoe. Well, Mom decorated it really cute and put money inside, I think, and that’s how she presented my grandfather with his Christmas present. That’s just one example of the things she would do. I guess we got a lot of our creativity from her.”

— Cara Protain and Beth McAuliffe

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“My first wife and I had a very nice home on four acres. Then she got pancreatic cancer. She died six months after she was diagnosed. It was a beautiful home. But it just wasn’t … It was not a happy time for me. I was lonely and lost. I don’t know how I came up with the idea to build a barndominium. It would have been difficult then for a married person to build a home like this. But it was perfect for me. My wife passed away 15 years ago, and I built it shortly after that. Then Cindy came along. She had been single quite a few years. It was obvious that a man hadn’t lived in her house and a woman hadn’t lived here. So she’s domesticated it somewhat, the best she can.”

“I did have my own house, and I had it fixed exactly the way I wanted. We talked about him moving in with me. But when I saw all this stuff out here in his shop I said, ‘I don’t have any room for it.’ So the best choice was for me to come here. It’s still a little hard because I feel like I’m running out of house. But it’s all good. It’s comfortable. Plus, we have a second home in Goliad. It’s an older home that I got to remodel. That house has sort of allowed me to stay here as long as I have. When we get in the car on Fridays to head down there I think, ‘I’m going to my happy place now.’”

— Cindy and Ron Fehring

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• Second time around, they have an ‘instant family’

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It’s a benefit of living with their six children — four girls and two boys — in a home that measures only 32 feet long by 12 feet wide.

“Our first house was two stories and 2,400 square feet. Many times I’d be in the kitchen, she’d be in the living room and our kids would be upstairs. So while we were all under one roof, we were kind of just acquaintances in our own home,” Toby said.

“Here, we spend so much more time together in the same actual space. The main area serves as our living room, play room, dining room, you name it. And if we go more than a week without having family night — with pillows, blankets and a kid show — somebody is having heart failure.”

So why give up what Toby described as his “American dream” cul-de-sac home for a building with just 584 square feet of living space?

Financial freedom calls

Fans of the TV program, “Tiny House Nation,” the Haymans were attracted by the prospect of financial freedom and doing more with less.

“When I was young, we were poor. None of the houses we lived in were finished. So when she and I got together, I told her I wanted a concrete driveway and a finished house. I wanted the new vehicles. I wanted what I thought was the American dream,” Toby said.

“Then all of a sudden I woke up one day and it was like, yeah, we have everything but we’re up to our ears in debt. It was kind of an uncomfortable place to be.”

Facing a 30-year mortgage and two vehicle payments — plus the challenge of clothing and feeding a growing family — the young couple were considering their options.

Having lived in the house for eight years, they decided to place it on the market. There were no early takers when Toby went on a three-week mission trip to China and Vietnam with Living Hope Church in Baytown.

What he saw there really opened his eyes.

“In Vietnam, there were some very poverty-stricken places. Kids were running around naked in these villages. What they were eating and their living quarters, it was all very humbling,” Toby said. “You kind of got this feeling like, man, how wasteful are we, at everything?”

When he returned from the trip, the real estate agent called to say that somebody had offered the full listing price for their home. But the family would need to move out within a week.

“Which was great, other than the fact that we had this two-story home full of stuff we had accumulated,” Toby said. “We didn’t realize how much stuff we had until we had to think about moving it all.”

The Haymans and their three children at the time moved in with Tamlyn’s parents, Tammy and Bobby Retzer of Baytown, before deciding on their next step.

Time to downsize

“We loved watching ‘Tiny House Nation’ to see how people were transforming these little spaces,” Tamlyn said.

“They would build these tiny homes and move them to some property. They had no mortgage, so the freedom they got was crazy,” Toby said.

“We were watching that show one day when her dad, who is a home builder, said, ‘Why don’t we just build one? Y’all can have that little spot on the side of our house. Then if you ever buy a piece of property you can move it there, and you’ll be mortgage free,’” Toby recalled.

Construction began in February, and the home on John Martin Road was ready for move-in by June.

Tamlyn’s father donated the wood flooring that came from a church he renovated. The windows used to be in a home he had worked on.

“All together, with labor costs and the appliances we bought, we put about $25,000 into this building. We were able to pay for it from the profit we made on selling the other house,” Toby said.

Tamlyn was pregnant with their fourth child when they moved in. About a year after he was born, twins entered the picture.

“They were our little surprise blessings,” she said.

The layout

The house features a main living space where they all can hang out, watch TV and eat their meals. The ground floor also includes the kitchen, an area for the washer and dryer and for storing everyone’s clothes, a bathroom with a shower, and a bedroom with bunk beds for the two boys and a crib for the twin girls.

Stairs lead to a bedroom for Tamlyn and Toby on the second level, which isn’t tall enough for them to fully stand. A tree house-style ladder in the kitchen connects to a shared sleeping space for their two older daughters.

“We will have been here two years in June. Overall, I love it,” Tamlyn said. “Toby struggles with it more because he’s bigger and needs a little more room.”

While Toby is at work as a plumber and Talyn (11) and Talee (8) attend school, Tamlyn stays at home taking care of sons Tripp (4) and Tee (21 months), and twins Tinlee and Teal (7 months). Two days a week, mom gets a little break when she drops off the children at daycare.

For Tamlyn, being mostly debt-free and getting to spend quality time raising her young children is a good trade-off for living in a very small space.

When the kids are at home, they spend a lot of time outdoors. They can play in the yard, ride bikes and scooters in their grandparents’ driveway, or spend time in the horse stalls on the 7 acres that Tamlyn’s parents own.

As youth pastors at their church, Toby and Tamlyn enjoy their roles teaching and mentoring teens.

“It’s kind of like being their second set of parents, complete with the text messages and calls,” Toby said.

“I can definitely say that living in our tiny house with six kids has taught us a lot about patience. I think that’s why the kids at church love us. It doesn’t matter what they do or what they tell us, nothing really gets us riled up or uncomfortable.”

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“We typically buy a home that needs work, live in it for a while and then flip it. We remodel it and then move on to the next one. We’ve done it about eight times now.

“We’ve been in our current house longer than we’ve ever lived in one place. It’s been eight years because we’ve been looking after my father-in-law, who passed away in December. Before that we averaged one house every year and a half. My husband is very thrifty, so he hates to spend a whole lot of money on a house.

“I’m used to doing all that kind of work. I’ve laid tile and wood floors. I’ve textured walls and painted. So I’m a little bored right now because I don’t have anything to do. We both have the itch again. I’m getting to the age where I can’t be doing all that work, but I told him I think I’ve got one more in me.”

What’s the best part?
“I do before and after pictures. I like seeing the transformation. I took this and turned it into this. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s something we enjoy doing together.”

— Jean Hawthorne

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“I had done a lot in the community with some other nonprofits. But Habitat for Humanity, I don’t know, I just love it. It’s wonderful work, providing homes for low-income families.”

How big is the need?
“There is a substantial portion of our local population who really need basic, affordable housing. We’re constantly meeting families in need.

“Right now we’re building an average of 1½ houses a year. We’d like to get that to three houses a year.

“People may not realize that we’ve built a nice little community off North Main on East Homan Avenue. We purchased a large piece of property from the Goose Creek school district years ago, and we’ve built 11 homes there and have room for three more.”

Why is Habitat so important to you?
“There was a period in my life when I was a single mother, and I was just so glad that I had so many wonderful people surrounding me to help. For many single parents who are working full time and trying to provide for their children, there is that underlying ripple of, man, if I get hurt or I get sick, how am I going to manage financially? We’re always just one step away.

“Through Habitat, we meet a lot of people who would love to change their situation and are willing to do the work to make that happen.”

— Sandy Denson

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“I grew up in this house. After we moved out, my dad’s been renting it. My wife and I have lived here about two years now. Dad gave us a pretty good deal on the rent.

“Besides our runs that we do at night, we haven’t been able to really say hi to anybody in the neighborhood. She just finished grad school for speech pathology and I’m studying engineering. It’s hard to have much of a social life when you’re going to school all the time.”

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“I’m making my way to Galveston. It might take me all year, but that’s OK. I ain’t in no hurry. Basically, I’ve got all my needs with me for camping and survival, and I’ve got my two watchdogs for company.

“I’ve been doing this on and off for most of my life. I’m fixin’ to be 56. I’ve never been married and don’t ever plan to be. I like this lifestyle.

“When I run out of what little money I’ve got, I stop and find me a job and work for a week or two so I can keep going. I’m a carpenter and I do framing, sheet rock finishing, electrical, plumbing, the whole works.

“I live where I work and I work where I live. At some point I’d like to find me a good roof over my head, something to better my life.”

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“We’re trying to compromise on a place to settle down because our jobs are on opposite corners. I’m way out in Katy and he works in Pasadena.”

“She wants to live closer to Katy and I want to be out in the country. I guess it’s the suburbs versus the middle of nowhere.”

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“I started a job three months ago, so I’m living at home again trying to save some money.”

“I just got out of real estate school and I’m studying for my final exam. I’m living back home, too.”

How does it feel to be living under your parents’ roof?
“Oh, gosh, I don’t know if I have enough time to describe how great it is. Free rent. The food is amazing. I get treated like a little queen because I’m an only child. So I love every bit of that.”

“My parents act like they don’t want me to leave.”

— Sonia Puente and Lindsey Reyes

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