For Sale in St. Louis: A Super Tiny House

If you like your tiny homes super tiny, Mack Panu has the house for you.

Panu's home is just 160 square feet — 8.5 by 20 feet. But what it lacks in size it makes up for in style, with cedar throughout, sheep's wool insulation to cut the humidity, a gas stove and a tankless hot water heater. There's even a 46-gallon water tank and a composting toilet for your off-grid needs.

And now, as Panu prepares to leave St. Louis for Sweden, it's officially on the market. They're asking $30,000 or best offer.

To hear the 27-year-old Panu tell it, the tiny home was their "20s project."

"I went to school at Webster University, and the tiny home was part of my final project," the St. Louis city resident explains. "My degree was in sustainability, and this was something I wanted to do for myself."

When Panu began the project, in 2017, tiny  homes were hot, and they loved the idea of crafting something with a low environmental impact. "I thought it would take me a few years," Panu says. "But that's now how life goes."

Instead, in December of 2018, Panu's  house was stolen as it was parked outside of Refab — and quickly became a cause célèbre for St. Louisans tired of seeing anything that wasn't bolted down being carted away. When the house was later recovered in Jefferson County, even USA Today picked up the story.

"I was so relieved to have it back," Panu says.


Since the theft, the home has been safely parked in a fenced lot in the city. But as Panu's partner prepares to move to Sweden for grad school, Panu realized it was time to let the tiny  house go. "For a long time I've had this strong emotional tie to it," Panu says. "Then I had this full circle moment — it's time to push forward in the way I wanted, and for someone else to celebrate it and enjoy it."

One dream would be to see the City Museum acquire it, Panu says. "It's incomplete on the inside, so it can be customized for any sort of design. I have a dream of seeing it integrated there so people can interact with it and play with it."

Even so, Panu isn't picky. If they can, they'd like to see it go to a good home and are hoping to get enough to donate 10 percent of the proceeds to organizations that help queer people or help people with housing.

"I don't want to just sell this today, run off to Sweden and never think about it again," they say. "I hope there is a legacy to it."

Email Panu at [email protected] for inquiries.