Shotgun Shack Redux | Construction and DIY projects | Forums

I thought I had posted this before, guess I was wrong

Two years ago, Debra and her family lived in a nearly 2000 square foot home on an acre and a half of land. Then her husband lost his job and they began to work 4 jobs between them to pay the mortgage, until one day they remembered they had a choice.

Before having their son, Debra and her husband Gary had spent 9 years living in very tiny homes in South America. Living small hadn't felt like a sacrifice, but a way to stay focused on what is important. They decided they wanted to get back to that.

They stopped working so hard, sold or gave away all of their extra stuff and began looking for the perfect tiny home.

Debra had always liked the Mississippi shotgun style homes, and one day, while browsing craigslist, they noticed an ad for a local Arkansas company custom building tiny homes for a price that could mean an end to house payments.

Six weeks and $15,000 later they had their own fully paid-off dwelling. Today, Debra, her husband and 13-year-old son live in a 320-square foot home that is not a sacrifice, but exactly what they need.

She did a follow up a couple months ago

Three years ago, the Jordan family left their 2,500-square-foot, 4-bedroom home to move into a 1-bedroom 320-square-foot prefab. They also left behind a mortgage, the four jobs they'd taken on between the 2 of them to pay it, and a lot of stress. They now have more time to focus on their family home business and on spending time with their teenage son.

When we first talked to the Jordans nearly two years ago (and dubbed their home the "Shotgun Shack redux" which promptly went viral), their son Max was living in a small loft with ceilings too low for standing. He loved his clubhouse, but Debra vowed to remodel it as soon as she had some extra money.

Thanks to a brother-in-law builder who was determined to salvage and reuse as much building materials as possible (he'd spent time doing Katrina Relief work and was impacted by the building material waste he witnessed), Debra only had to save $700 to turn Max's crawl space into a real bedroom.

They literally raising the roof with an old-fashioned barn raising, getting help from their now 14-year-old son and her sister and brother-in-law.