Vashon’s volatile and expensive rental market is the undoing of many an island family who wishes to live on this rural island that 11,000 call home, but the tiny house movement that is sweeping the nation is helping a few islanders combat the problem.

Juniper Rogneby, an islander of three years, lives with her husband and two young children just east of town on 5 acres. As she looked through island rental properties in a search to find a place her parents could stay while they visited, she was struck by the expense and knew she needed to figure out another plan.

Her parents live in Austin, Texas, and usually visit twice a year. One of the visits always falls during the expensive summer season.

As prices for island rentals offered through websites such as Airbnb and VRBO have climbed, and continue to, she and her husband decided in 2014 that a tiny house could be the answer to the guest accommodations problem.

“It’s so expensive to get a rental in the summer. There was no way we could keep doing it. It was getting ridiculous,” Rogneby said as she stood at the kitchen counter inside her family’s tiny house that has become a guest home.

The 192-square-foot house perched on a hill above the family’s farm is fully furnished with a functioning bathroom, kitchen and two beds, but the road to an affordable guest house was long and winding through uncharted territory.

“There’s a movement of tiny houses as a primary home, but we knew we weren’t interested in that because we have small kids and a dog. But I was looking at blogs and all kinds of things and we thought one could work as a guest house,”  Rogneby said. “We had to decide, ‘Do we start from scratch or what?’”

Many tiny home enthusiasts build their homes using a trailer as a base, so it can be towed and moved from place to place. Since the family knew their home would not be moving, they began looking at kits. Hundreds of companies specialize in providing tiny home kits that come in pieces and assemble into a shell that includes a roof, floor and windows. Tiny home kits generally sell for less than $30,000.

The Rognebys decided on a 12-by-16 foot home from Renton-based cedar house company Pan Abode. In October of 2014, the couple received the kit.

“It was just the shell and loft,” Rogneby said of how the home started. “It came as two rectangle walls. The rest was architectural drawings. Thank goodness my husband is an engineer. … I would’ve been completely lost if I had to do it myself.”

Rogneby said it “took awhile” to finish as weather and work schedules played a part in how much work could get done at once. But the home was ready for guests last summer after many finishing touches from mostly island sources.

“As soon as I realized that we were going to do this, I started getting on all the Vashon Facebook groups and asking people for furniture or anything I could use,” Rogneby said.

The red-roofed home is simple. Small furniture keeps the small space open, but comfortable. A small couch, Murphy bed — that was scored on one of the Vashon Facebook pages for free — and desk are tucked away on one side of the home. A sliding, wooden door that Rogneby reclaimed from an old barn on her property serves as the separation between the bathroom and living room.

Off the living room, an odorless composting toilet and shower occupy the small, but fully functional bathroom.

“The toilet went in in July and it’s only needed to be emptied once. It’s awesome,” Rogneby said.

A functioning kitchen is across the way, complete with a sink, oven and surprising amount of counter space and storage. A Vashon map from local business Hinge Gallery sits on the wall between two windows.

A ladder going up to a cozy loft bedroom comes down into the corner of the kitchen.

With no insulation — the Rogneby’s decided to forgo the expensive addition as the home is not usually occupied in winter — a small marine fireplace on the wall by the front door heats the home with the help of space heaters.

“We did about 80 percent of (the additions and) added a bathroom and kitchen. This is a nice way for (my parents) to be with us but not on top of us,” Rogneby said.

In all, the project cost around $35,000; the home’s shell was roughly $13,000 on its own.

The couple is only using the tiny house for family guests right now, but Rogneby said she hopes to get the home on Airbnb or VRBO after receiving feedback from family about what it’s like to stay there.

“We want to make sure everything is OK before having strangers stay in the home,” she said.

While Rogneby’s tiny house satisfies the family’s need for a stable and affordable guest home, islander Terry Behal is in the process of creating a portable tiny house for permanent living. Finances are a driving force behind his decision as he said he wishes to not have a mortgage.

“It’s the idea of instead of getting into a mortgage for 30-plus years, taking that money and investing it into other avenues,” Behal said. “Most people are leaning (toward tiny houses) to reduce costs, and that’s why we’re headed this way.”

Behal, 41, is married with a child, and said that he has tried having mortgages — owning two homes at one point  — but has gotten tired of it.

“It got to the point where it’s like, ‘Why are we doing this?’” Behal said.

He is currently renting a home on Vashon as he builds his portable tiny house with hopes to focus more on travelling and working at his own personal business.

“We’re doing a completely custom house,” Behal said. “It’ll be on a trailer, 24 feet long, 13 1/2 feet tall and 8 1/2 feet wide.”

The project is eight to 10 months from completion, Behal said, but he is not the only one working on a project of this kind.

“A lot of people now are trying to keep quiet because the government is relentless in trying to figure out the taxes and permits for tiny homes like this,” Behal said.

Indeed, tiny houses do present a gray area for governments and create special challenges when it comes to classifying them as homes, outbuildings or vehicles.

Behal said that Washington and Oregon are currently “two of the friendliest” states when it comes to tiny houses, but county officials are the ones dealing with occupancy and building permits.

The King County permitting department requires tiny house owners and builders to abide by all the current rules of regular home builders, including obtaining a building permit to ensure that water rights, fire accessibility and sewage disposal are all accounted for. A common myth that county permitting officials said they address is that people believe if their house is under a certain square footage, a permit is not needed.

“A permit is always needed, whether it’s a tiny house or a mobile home,” King County building official and Fire Marshal Chris Ricketts said. “There are accessory dwelling unit permits that are needed for a tiny house that includes kitchen, bathroom and living quarters, or accessory living quarter permits that apply to homes that are basically just a bedroom.”

Ricketts said that the county permitting department does recognize tiny houses and believes that they can be a greener, more sustainable way of living.

To see more pictures, see The Beachcomber’s print or Green editions.