Did you know my mom has a vintage tiny house in her backyard in Germany?
As someone who is into green living, I’m totally intrigued by the tiny house movement and binge watch Tiny House, Big Living and Tiny House Hunters.
And when I was writing this post, it suddenly dawned on me that we effectively had a tiny house in our backyard the whole time I was growing up.
Vintage Tiny House in My Mother’s Garden
My father, an architect and lover of old buildings, bought the frame of this antique farmhouse 30+ years ago and had it rebuild in our backyard and filled in with brick.
The frame is held together with only wooden dowels — I think nails were not used much or too expensive when this house was first built 100+ years ago.
My parents owned an antique store back then and filled the eat-in kitchen, the powder room, and the little bedroom upstairs with vintage treasures.
I’ve shown you the outside of this antique tiny house over the years when I’ve written about our trips to visit my family and friends in Germany and my mom’s cottage garden, but I’ve never shown you the inside.
That’s changing today!
On our visit this summer, I made a point to photograph the inside of this charming little house.
Come on in and I’ll show you around!
The kitchen is filled with a little desk, a table, seats for six…
…an ornate oven, a cupboard, a beautiful little enamel range — and an endless supply of small decor items.
My parents were collectors of so many things (I wrote a whole post on my mom’s collection of bronzed baby shoes and weights), and I have inherited the hoarding gene from them – we all can’t pass up a vintage treasure.
I decorate just like them — we overdo it with little knickknacks. It’s hard for me to not want to display all my things at the same time.
How pretty are all those antique dishes?
I love this movable light fixture — you can easily move it up and down with the weight in the middle.
Next to the stairs is the powder room. My dad had a wonderful sense of humor and he designed it to look like an outhouse – but there is a regular toilet under the cover.
Upstairs you can find a bed, a desk, a table with a sofa and chairs, and old machines people used back then, like these washing machines.
A lot of the little windows are stained glass gems my parents bought and integrated into this house.
Landon saw these antique glasses on the desk and tried them out.
This would make a cute AirBnB, right?
Landon was curious what was under there – he hadn’t seen an antique sewing machine before.
When we visited, my mom invited a lot of her friends to a concert in the garden.
It has a fun day listening to friends of ours who are talented musicians, and we all were thinking of my father a lot, who passed away suddenly five years ago on that day.
We loaded up on yummy German food and cake, the kids were running around, and we had a lovely time enjoying the garden.
I hope you enjoyed the tour of the vintage tiny farmhouse in our backyard!
In all these years, I’ve never stayed in it while I was visiting, but now I kind of want to on my next visit.
It would be fun to live like people a hundred years ago and use that old oven and stove, and all those antique dishes.
I think I’ll skip using the ancient washing machine, though.
Judy says
Utterly charming! You are very lucky.
Dagmar Bleasdale says
Yes, I am, Judy!
Matt Thresher says
You are truly blessed. Thank you for sharing with the world your thoughts and ideas. We all have dreams, some of us, just are lucky to live them. . Thank you again for sharing. Matt, in Florida USA.
Diena Cameron says
Hello Dagmar, i just discovered your blog on Pinterest, where i read with great interest, how you and a friend made the beautiful artwork of the Old Bookpages Pumpkin art. BUt the reason i came across it to begin with was, i had clicked on your image of “Decorating With neutral colors for fall” or something to that effect, and realized that that was an old post from 2015 but could be today with everyone turning to neutral colors for decorating their whole homes. I loved your mantal and the creams and browns were so warm and soft. Well thats when i saw the Beautiful Art work of the pumpkin, so i clicked over to see how it was made, so easy yet i know mine would probably not come quite like yours and your friends did. Seems there might be a couple more steps to it, it looks like it might have Shading around the edges ??? I’m really eager to learn the little secrets To a beautiful piece of art (If there are any you can share ) Thanks so much for reading, i really enjoyed yours (I even saw your mother’s ” Tiny house in her gorgeous backyard ” i could live in that tiny house so easy !! .)
Dagmar Bleasdale says
My friend Kelly made the original painting and she is much better artist than me :) So yes, she did some shading and painting on that piece. Glad you found my little blog!
Rita C at Panoply says
Dagmar, what a fascinating tiny house and history! Quite apart from the trendy ones surfacing today, your parents had this authentic gem for years – ahead of the curve! I love especially all the stained, leaded glass panels incorporated into the windows. It’s beautiful!
Diana says
What an absolute treat to take a tour of your parents sweet cottage. It reminds me of the half-timbered house we lived in in England for a couple of years. I think if I toured the cottage myself, I’d never want to leave! Thanks for sharing the tour with us all at Vintage Charm. Posting on Facebook :)
Tonita says
I could live in your moms tiny cottage forever. It is so sweet. I have a 8’x 18′ tiny home on wheels and I recently bought a 100 plus year old farmhouse that is 570 sq feet. I am so inspired by how you father made the bathroom in that cottage. I have a teeny tiny bathroom in my farmhouse that I am going to redo and want to ask you if you know where the toilet tank is located? Is that a faux wood wall behind where you would use the toilet? Is there an old claw foot tub in there or just a toilet and sink? I just love that cottage. Thanks for sharing it.
BonBon says
Wow this is amazing. You parents did a wonderful job decorating the tiny house. Thanks for sharing at Inspire Me Monday link party. I hope to see you there next week http://www.farmhouse40.com/inspire-me-monday-103
[email protected] says
How absolutely charming! Thank you for sharing this. I would for you to link it to our Monday Social party!
Sandi Magle says
Oh Dagmar, this was so adorable. My great-aunt in Lokken, Denmark had beds exactly like that one, in the ‘Sommer Hus’ for the summer renters. We were swallowed in feather comforter’s and had coffee boiled on an enamel stove similar. It was magical for two teen girl’s to have a ‘bitte hus’ all to themselves. And I so love the scrubbed raw, I call it furniture. Where the polish on the wood, basically comes from years of scrubbing. My aunt, tossed sand on the wood floors, when she scrubbed them. When it was dried, the sand was swept out, and the floors were smooth. She didn’t speak even a bit of English, so I don’t know why it was done that way. Love your post, I hear the music in the background, Sandi
Tania says
How cool, thanks for the tour! I can’t believe how beautiful the gardens are!
Tania
Christine Vandormolen says
Super toll Dagmar, da wuerde ich es mir doch gleich drin bequem machen…lol