I gotta say…this is pretty awesome.
Back in 2015, the Brinks family decided they wanted a new start. Parents Ryan and Keli Brinks uprooted their family from Michigan and moved to a 21-acre plot of land in London, Kentucky. The Brinks’ paid $57,000 for the land and built an energy-efficient village complete with six tiny buildings.
Three of the buildings serve as homes, one for parents Ryan and Keli, and one each for their kids, Lennox and Brodie. Daughter Lennox now splits her time between home and the University of Kentucky while 16-year-old Brodie still lives on the family compound.
@lennoxbrinkstiny house tour! (again) #foryou #foryoupage #fyp #tinyhouse #youreinvited♬ original sound – lemuellsmith
Being able to live in their own tiny house while still being teenagers was part of the selling point for daughter Lennox.
“My mom showed me a brochure with a bunch of different models and was like, ‘You can pick the one you want. How could I say no to that?”
The tiny houses that the kids live in are 160-square feet each, while Ryan and Keli’s house is 280-square feet. The parents’ pad has a bathroom and a kitchen, while the kids’ houses do not.
The other buildings on the property serve as a bathroom, an office, and a barn.
Lennox said the separate bathroom situation took a little while to get used to:
“That was the scariest part in the beginning, when I’d have to go in the middle of the night.
I remember calling over to Brodie and asking him to stand on his porch and watch me while I ran to the bathroom.
But now we have lights and lamp posts, so it’s not bad.”
Most importantly, Lennox said that the living arrangement brought the family closer together.
She said,
“We always eat dinner together and we’re constantly outside. In Michigan, I don’t remember playing yard games.
On Sundays, after church, we’ll play three different yard games like corn hole. Some people might think, ‘Oh, the parents want to push the kids out and have their own space,’ but it’s the opposite.”
Lennox Brinks has quite a few videos of the family compound on her TikTok page, if you want to check them out.
I’m sure this arrangement wouldn’t be for everyone, but it sure works for the Brinks family! What do you think about this kind of living? Would your family be able to pull it off?
Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
