The €25k Leitrim tiny house has been updated with a cottage aesthetic

Long before tiny homes dominated our Instagram feeds or became an option for cool weekend stays, architect Dominic Stevens designed one for he and his family to live in on a plot of land in Leitrim. 

The full story is here, but in short after separating from his first wife, with nowhere to live and the sum of €25,000, Dominic decided to build his own home. With the help of some skilled friends and neighbours, the home was built in an estimated 50 days, over a period of two years, at weekends and during holidays.

The resulting home proves what could be done with clever design and an in-depth knowledge of what a house does and doesn’t need, and Dominic even made the plans publicly available should anyone want to build one of these homes for themselves.

The original home had a modern feel, with clean lines, white walls and colourful furniture. In the intervening years, Dominic explains, “in the vernacular tradition, I’ve been tinkering away at it constantly”. 

But after not living in the house during the pandemic, and with his children off to college, he and his partner Bernadette Thomas decided it needed more of an update. “The more you work away at something, the more it becomes to do with aesthetics, I suppose. We’ve developed an interest in cottagey things, and so we went on a project of panelling it.”

He began selling the mid-century furniture that had been in the home, and replacing it with finds that fitted in better with this new aesthetic. 

The largest changes were rebuilding the porch and moving the door to the kitchen, as well as wrapping the kitchen units in vinyl and adding panelling to the rooms, but it’s incredible how these relatively minor alterations have made the home feel like a completely different space. As Dominic points out, “it is really those last few centimetres that have such a huge effect on a building.”

He is pleased with his home’s new look. “I think it’s homely, and in a way that truly happens only over time,” Dominic says. “There has been more detail and rhythm added with the panelling, so the bold colours aren’t required anymore.” For us, it’s a reminder of the power of design to dictate how a space makes us feel. 

Original photography: Ros Kavanagh

This article was originally published in January 2024.