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Klein Wonan Magazine
A TINY BUNGALOW AS LIGHT AS A CARAVAN
Posted by Raymond Kool | Apr 19, 2025 | Outdoor Living
Patrick and Yuri often change their place of residence and existence. They prefer to live small, but without limitations. For their nomadic existence, they were looking for a tiny house with the driving characteristics of a caravan. A long search yields nothing, so the couple decides to become the manufacturer of their mobile home themselves. They design a construction kit that meets all their wishes, including as cheap as possible. "By doing the assembly ourselves, we saved a lot and, once finished including furnishings and upholstery, we came in well under 30,000 euros."
A kind of nomadic existence. That is how Yuri Meijer and Patrick Overduin describe their lives so far. "Not so much in terms of travelling around every day, but more in the sense of changing lives and environments quite often. The years are short, so you shouldn't keep doing the same thing for too long. Taking on new challenges often also brings a new living environment," says Patrick, who currently lives with his partner Yuri against his will in a gigantic villa on sunny Corfu. "The only reason for us was that this size was interesting as a holiday accommodation, which could cover some of the expenses. So was it really the wish? No, but sometimes you have to make do with what comes along."
SUMMER PALACE
During the rental periods of their villa Elvis, Patrick and Yuri stay with their dogs in nature on their own land in what they call their summer palace. "This is of course joking, because it was nothing more than a large wooden veranda with a caravan as a bedroom behind it," Yuri explains. "So in every way the opposite of the villa, but nicely withdrawn from view and wonderfully free in nature. Fully equipped, with a vegetable garden and dogs that can run around freely all day. A kind of small house on the prairie, so to speak. Our summer palace is actually much more than what we were initially looking for here on the island: freedom, enjoyment and comfortable simplicity. And living small is relative, because in this climate we mostly live outside, you don't really need much."
Villa Elvis is a huge house.
NO BIGGER CARAVEN
The caravan also always comes along on holidays, but that was not always a good thing. "When you are sitting there in the summer and experience the limitations of living in the caravan, your thoughts start to wander again: what are you missing, what could be nicer, more fun or better. For us, the answer was not so much luxury, but we missed space. Space to turn around, to store things, we just missed a decently sized bed and last but not least : a new project!" A larger caravan seems like a logical solution, but not for the enterprising duo. "Yury comes from the caravan business. We have had all sorts of things because of that and were therefore able to quickly decide that a larger caravan was not going to work for him. Too expensive, but they are also furnished with things that we do not need but do take up space," says Patrick.
HUGH WEIGHTS
The couple is looking for a tiny house . "That concept has a lot to offer, but somewhere there is also a fixed idea that a tiny house should also look like a house. That may be logical, but we had something completely different in mind. Much more slender, sleek and much more open. Tiny houses on wheels are simply very large structures with enormous weights, which never drive comfortably behind a normal car. So using a tiny house to actually travel with was out of the question for us. We actually just needed a freely placeable box, which we could place as living space behind our veranda, but which could also be taken along behind the car to serve as a caravan or, in the case of moving further, as a trailer."
Patrick and Yuri's summer palace is in a lovely location.
MODERNIST DESIGN
So Yuri and Patrick make a wish list and start designing themselves. "We wanted something that would match our villa Elvis, but also clearly distinguish itself from the traditional wooden tiny houses . A mid -century modernist design, which you often see in America. Sleek bungalows with lots of outdoor experience. We kept the design as sleek and expansive as possible, with of course the enormous windows at the back. And the finishing touch was that the entire structure could be lifted from its mobile chassis in one piece and thus be placed freely on a surface, so that the chassis could be used for other cabins or purposes. That's how our Caboodle was born. We prefer not to call it a tiny house, but a mini bungalow, with which you can do just about anything that is possible with a mobile cabin. It is easy to place on any surface, easy and quick to move like a caravan, can be driven behind a normal car, is legal on public roads, spacious and accessible and for the lowest possible investment."
The construction kit from the Netherlands
CONSTRUCTION KIT
For the materials for their Caboodle, the two do not rely on the unpredictable Greek market. They choose their home country as a supplier and for self-assembly. They also design their house as a kit, so that it can easily be shipped to Corfu. "So in the end, we have now become the manufacturer ourselves, with every detail custom-made and specially conceived, designed and made for the Caboodle. After the design was clear and thought out for ourselves, we hired an engineer for the final CAD production drawings and associated force calculations of the cabin structure. The chassis was purchased from a well-known trailer manufacturer and the platform was adapted in detail and based on the construction drawings, so that once here on Corfu everything would fit 1 on 1 and would be easy to screw together.
LOOSE LIVING FURNISHINGS
For the sheet metal, Patrick and Yuri opted for specially coated caravan aluminium. The decorative and finishing mouldings also come from the caravan industry. "The insulated floorboards were also ordered ready-made to size. Initially, we wanted glass for the windows, but because it will be driven anyway and it will probably have other functions, we decided to replace it with extremely strong and clear PMMA HQ plastic," Yuri explains. "The design of maximum accessibility at the back of 2.4 by 2 metres means that almost anything can be pushed in. By only installing a fixed bed and a small toilet at the front and providing the rest of the space with normal loose living furniture, there is still a freely usable space of over 25 cubic metres if desired! With a remaining load capacity on the chassis of 1600 kilos, a small car can still be used, so to speak."
KITCHEN AND BATHROOM
Because the Greek islanders have their kitchen and bathroom on the veranda, you won't find them in their tiny bungalow. "That saves a lot of space in this case. We get water from our own source and we have a supply in a reservoir, which is also filled with rainwater. The roof of the Caboodle is covered with solar panels with its own inverters and batteries in the cabin, so that everything works always and everywhere. The water pump is also supplied with this. The drainage goes to the tank of the villa and there is a built-in chemical toilet," says Patrick.
AFFORDABLE
The desire to keep their house as affordable as possible has been partly achieved, according to the two adventurers. "Look, it could have been a lot cheaper. We could also have just placed the superstructure and finished it with simpler and cheaper materials. Then it would have become a very nice bungalow among the olive trees. Then it might have cost a little more than 10,000 euros. But we wanted something striking and also mobile, so we designed and had a lot of extras made. By doing the assembly ourselves, we also saved a lot and, now that it was finished, furnished and upholstered, we ended up well under 30,000 euros. With this, considering the appearance and the possibilities, we are more than satisfied. Now that we see it in real life, we have to say that this has worked out better than hoped and there is a very impressive mobile t iny bungalow.''
SUCCESSOR CABOODLE
The result has made Patrick and Yuri so enthusiastic that they are already planning a successor to their Caboodle. "This will be a more traditional version with a plank finish and conventional frames and doors and more focused on a semi-permanent location. This is intended as a prototype 2.0 to show the possibilities of the design in different variations. If there are people who know someone who would like something like this, they can send us a message at info@elviscorfu.com . Then we could build the cabin to the desired specifications and at a very attractive price," says Yuri.