A Vaulted Ceiling Highlights This Off-Grid Tiny House in Pine Hill: $375K

  |  October 2, 2023

When you want your interior to have a dramatic flair, go up—to vaulted or pitched ceilings, as explained in a recent Architectural Digest article. This week, Upstater is elevating its home views by exploring houses with raised ceilings.

Today’s house is a tiny one, coming in at just 602 square feet. And it’s fully off-grid, powered by solar panels and warmed by a large, wood-burning stove.

It was built in 1920 as a schoolhouse for children in the Pine Hill hamlet in the town of Shandaken. Although you can see that in the home’s exterior, its interior bears little resemblance to its original iteration. Here, you can see the pitched ceiling, wrapped in wood, over a cozy living area. A wall of windows overlooks an outside deck, and a window on an adjacent wall adds more daylight to supplement the bulbous paper pendant that dangles overhead.

The other half of the space includes the kitchen and custom ship stairs to the sleeping loft.

Recessed lighting glows from the wood-encased flat ceiling here. Lower cabinets are foregone, in favor of milk-crate-like wooden boxes on shelving that was custom-made from wood on the property. So cool to have a Smeg fridge here, along with a slim, stainless-steel dishwasher and a four-burner stove—propane fuels that stove, as well as supplemental heating and hot water. Speaking of energy, a whole-house EcoGen Generac back-up generator is onsite, too.

The bathroom has a good-sized shower, encased in white tile with an accent wall of snazzy blue-and-white tile and a window. A vessel sink perches on a wood ledge. That’s a regular toilet, by the way, and not the composting toilet that appears in some tiny houses: The septic system was new in 2020, along with a new well.

Head upstairs for this bird’s-eye view of the living area.

The loft bedroom’s wood-clad, peaked ceiling adds some welcomed breathing room (and standing room) in the tiny space, which is just big enough for a queen-sized bed and some storage.

This deck off the house is big enough for a conversation area, a picnic table, and grill. A firepit is also on the property.

An outdoor shower is surrounded by cedar walls for privacy.

The house sits on a half-acre lot rimmed by woods and a stone’s throw from Lower Birch Creek Forest Reserve.

There’s an even tinier “house” here, too.

Surprise: It’s a wood-burning sauna, perfect to take the chill off your bones.

The Lower Birch Creek itself runs alongside the property, too. It’s an 11-minute drive to The Village East Cafe & Market for snacks and provisions, and just five minutes to fabulous skiing at Belleayre Mountain Ski Center. If you’re looking for more space, this house can be purchased along with a three-bedroom adjacent home at 1420 Lower Birch Creek Road.

If this little abode is where you want to abide, find out more about 1463 Lower Birch Creek Road, Pine Hill, from Laura Warren with Coldwell Banker Village Green Realty.

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