When 21-year-old Ryann Green started thinking about where she was going to live after college, the Louisiana graphic design major had a dilemma. Paying rent seemed like a waste of money, but she couldn’t qualify for a mortgage. She couldn’t move back in with her parents, either, because they were moving to another state. It was her step-father, Brad, an engineer, who proposed a tiny house solution – and even offered to help with the build. Ryann loved the idea; she had some scholarship money saved up, and she reasoned that a tiny house wouldn’t feel all that tiny for someone just moving from a dorm room. She shared design duty with her mother, a calligrapher, and they decided to use Shelter Wise Cider Box plans as their jumping off point for what came to be called Atomic No. 6. Ryann’s biological father worked on the project through her last semester at school, with Ryann helping out on weekends and then joining the construction team full-time for the summer. Thanks to the whole-family effort, the house came in on time and under the $30,000 budget, and Ryann moved in last August, ready to face post-college life from the comfort of her very own tiny home.
