Standing on his back porch and looking past a meadow of native wildflowers, Nate Reuther says his tiny home feels much farther away from the road than it seems.
That was exactly the point.
Reuther, a garden designer and wildlife enthusiast, has a 1.3-acre property in Doylestown, with a cottage and a tiny home. He moved into the tiny house two years ago and started renting out the main cottage as an Airbnb.
“I’ve always loved this place,” Reuther said. “After my divorce, I wanted to share the property and create some new memories here.”
Reuther, a New Jersey native, and his former wife were living in Dublin before they found the site in 2017. A two-bedroom, 1,200-square-foot Cape Cod, painted purple, sits near a main road and close to several historic sites in Doylestown. Nestled between a stone farmhouse and another Cape Cod, the house was in disrepair when they found it.
“When we saw this place, we didn’t have a lot of money,” he said. “We were into the tiny house idea.”
For the last eight years, Reuther has spent his spare time gutting most of the rooms, drywalling, and painting. He replaced the roof and added a new HVAC system. Upstairs, he created a bedroom with a vaulted ceiling and a cozy plant nook. He took great care to update all the lighting.
Reuther, who runs his business, Five Senses Garden Design, from the property, also focused on the garden.
“All of the garden was built” by Reuther, he said. “There was nothing here.”
Under a large pin oak tree sits a metal picnic table. A rustic door found at a salvage yard adorns the well-stocked chicken coup.
“My mom was a big gardener as was my grandmother who lived across the street,” he said. “We always had a big meal at lunch. They would sit and talk about the plants.”
Reuther, who graduated from Longwood Gardens’ Professional Horticulture program, ripped out an existing deck and centered the garden on a large fantail willow tree. He wanted to protect the roots so he made a pea gravel patio with a flagstone walkway.
For privacy from the neighbor, he added a Brazilian teak trellis and laced it with native honeysuckle vine. He added several white Annabelle hydrangea bushes and clustered them throughout the garden.
“I love the simplicity of the white and green flowers. The repetition pulls you along,” he said.
After talking to his neighbors and following the township’s regulations, he turned the main cottage into an Airbnb for use during the summer. He still lives in the purple house during the winter months.
On a windy February day, he drove to a Camping World store in Manassas, Va., and chose his tiny home, a 13-by-6-foot tractor trailer. It came fully equipped with a washer and dryer combo, full bathroom, tall windows, and plenty of storage. He had done so much work on the Cape Cod that he wanted to buy something complete.
The kitchen was outfitted with a farmhouse sink, a three-burner stove, and natural wood tones. “The kitchen is what sold it for me,” Reuther said. “I love how the kitchen dips down.”
The view from the porch embraces a meadow filled with milkweed and goldenrod, a sculpture garden, and a newly planted border.
“There are always plans,” he said. “I’m creating a mixed shrub border here. I put three birch trees in.”
He added, “It’s away from the road. It’s very peaceful.”
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