Elinor McDouall sits on the deck of her completed tiny house project. Photo / Bevan Conley
Elinor McDouall sits on the deck of her completed tiny house project. Photo / Bevan Conley
Architect Elinor Harvey McDouall's "instagrammable" luxury boathouse accommodation in Whanganui is finished and ready for occupants.
"It's really gorgeous here at night," McDouall said.
People will be able to tour the 52 Putiki Dr property from 1pm-3pm on April 4, for the cost of a donation to Women's Refuge.
TheIona Tiny House is set in a sturdy native garden that drops down to the Whanganui River edge. It will be marketed by Canopy Camping Escapes, which also offers cottages, cabins and glamping tents.
It will be priced at $295 a night. The price is high, but the place is aimed at a different kind of visitor.
McDouall had intended it for the international tourist market - for the kind of visitor who would book a one-on-one hunting trip up the Whanganui River, or an individual waka ama tour.
"It could change the way Whanganui is seen in the tourism industry and get people to stay longer and enjoy the eccentricities, the great things about heritage, the connection with the iwi and the river."
The house has a open plan living room and kitchen. Photo / Bevan Conley
Iona has been a dream project for the architect, who worked with Masterbuilt, Emmetts, Bullocks, Wanganui Plumbing, The Door Shoppe and Adrian Barnes Electricians. The group often had to put their heads together to solve problems.
"It's been so fun and so wonderful, working with the people I was working with."
McDouall, of Drawingroom Architecture & Interiors, is pleased the proportions of the house worked the way she envisaged. She had intended to enter it in the New Zealand Architecture Awards, but they have been cancelled this year.
The project has been very expensive.
"I don't want to tell Whanganui what it cost, because it's excessive."
She scrounged building material from all over Whanganui, and beyond. The boat's propeller is from the Adventurer II, timber is mostly from Jurgens Demolition, furniture from Hayward's Auctions and deck timber from Whanganui's former Majestic Theatre.
A kauri boat hull forms one side of the tiny house. Photo / Bevan Conley
She bought the hull of the kauri boat Iona on Trade Me in 2015, and it now sits on its side, resting on steel beams, with 8m piles driven into the ground.
It has a double and single bed, bathroom, open plan kitchen and living room, deck and outdoor electric hot tub. The whole thing is only 3.1m wide.
It's fully consented and will have a code of compliance in a week, after its tiny woodburner is installed.
Photo Gallery
Image 1 of 11: Elinor McDouall's tiny boat house on Putiki Drive, Whanganui. Tuesday, March 17, 2020 Whanganui Chronicle photograph by Bevan Conley.
