Living in one of Durango’s many tiny homes leads to a lifestyle that, for many, is anything but tiny.
“Now is the time to explore,” said Judy Stapes, a newcomer to Durango who moved in November into an 18-foot by 8-foot house at Animas Mountain Vista Tiny Homes on Animas View Drive.
The septuagenarian artist spent the last six years in Hawaii, where she also lived in a tiny home. Stapes shuffles through her 217-square-foot space, relocating paintings large and small as she sees fit for the moment. In an 8-foot by 8-foot loft upstairs, she has a small chair with its legs removed where she reads.
“I can't imagine going back to a bigger house,” she said. “Tiny home living works for me, especially at this stage in my life.”
The 20-site tiny home community where Stapes lives is the newest of five similar developments in La Plata County. Alex and Molly Mickel, who own Mild to Wild Rafting & Jeep Tours next door, began planning the development during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We saw a great need for it, not only just being locals in Durango for such a long time, but also with a lot of our staff needing some affordable housing,” Molly Mickel said.
On the other side of town, Erin McGrath and her husband have lived in a 290-square-foot tiny home in Escalante Village, south of Durango, since the community opened 5½ years ago.
With a tiny home comes a tinier amount of yard work, tinier home maintenance, a tinier cost of living and thus a tinier amount of time spent working. McGrath, a social worker, reduced her hours to part time after the couple sold their home in Three Springs.
That gives her more time for rafting, skiing and biking – “all the Durango things.”
Tiny homes can cost as little as $30,000 to build or well over $100,000.
Stapes paid $70,000 for hers and pays $750 per month in lot rent. Those rates are typical for the county’s tiny home communities – and far cheaper than the median single-family home in La Plata County, which costs $719,000.
That was the driving factor for Sassy Kelly, a graduate student who works at a local climbing gym. She bought her $70,000 tiny home in Island Cove Park, a mobile and tiny home community off Florida Road, a year ago.
She was trying to make Durango affordable, and buying a traditional home was more or less out of the question. Kelly described the “typical Durango Tango” – the constellation of school and various jobs she does to piece together a steady income.
Her neighbors, Dakotah Andreatta and Alley Hecker, were the first residents in what would become Island Cove’s “Tiny Town” eight years ago, when they moved in among giants in what was then Island Cove Mobile Home Park.
“The affordability allows us to work less and focus more on the sweet life,” Andreatta said, sitting on the porch with his wife.
Inside, their 150-square-foot home is densely packed with books, space-efficient storage and decorations. Behind the door is the gear closet; a loft holds their bed; and a single induction burner on the counter serves as the kitchen.
The tiny home lifestyle was a form of liberation for the couple, who wanted to own their own space. The book “Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter” inspired a shift.
“We wanted our own space. Renting in Durango...” Andreatta began, “... Gets expensive, and you can’t put your own art on the walls,” Hecker finished.
Downsizing offers freedom from accumulation, tiny home residents say.
“It's always an opportunity to … pare down your belongings to the essentials – the things that truly bring you joy,” Hecker said.
Many tiny home dwellers rent storage units. McGrath and her husband keep some belongings in a camper van – though the lack of storage keeps their organizational habits sharp.
Still, what they lack in floor space, tiny home residents say they make up for in community and location.
At Island Cove, tiny home neighbors gather in summer for bonfires and movie nights. At Escalante, McGrath said the 24-unit community often hosts potlucks. And at Animas Mountain Vista, Stapes said the year-old intergenerational community is highly supportive.
All three communities are located near or along the Animas River – a boon to the adventurers who live in them.
“We would never be able to afford riverfront property,” McGrath said, gazing at the river trail that separates her from the Animas. “That’s probably the biggest plus.”
rschafir@durangoherald.com
