From Hawaii to Anywhere: Tiny Homes Built for Island Living

Based on Hawaii’s Big Island, Paradise Tiny Homes designs units featuring pass-through windows, bar seating, and elegant mango wood accents.

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Before launching Paradise Tiny Homes in 2019, Dan Madsen ran a skate shop and printing business on Hawaii’s Big Island, while his sister, Ellie, managed properties and ran her own design studio in Montana. After the death of their mother, Barbara, Ellie returned to Hawaii, reuniting the siblings. During a road trip together, they discussed an idea Dan had: building tiny homes to help residents who lost their houses in the 2018 lower Puna eruption. Already a tiny home enthusiast, Ellie was eager to join the project.

Combining Dan’s years of construction and carpentry experience with Ellie’s design and business expertise, the duo bought a trailer and built a tiny house themselves. The teal home, featuring a curved metal roof, half-moon windows, and a long lanai, had a distinct charm that helped establish their new company.

Today, Paradise Tiny Homes offers four fully furnished models, but as Ellie explains, each project is unique — ensuring that every home they create has its own personality.

The Oasis model is a 260-square-foot, wood-framed home that celebrates curves throughout its design — from the living room’s bump-out window to the corrugated metal roof, the exposed beams beneath it, and the gentle bend of the interior staircase.

What’s the most exciting project you’ve realized to date?

Every project feels exciting because no two units are exactly alike! Even when building the same model, each home is for a different client. That keeps us energized and sparks new ideas every time. Each client usually has one or two special requests that take the design in directions we might never have explored on our own, resulting in something truly unique and creative.

For us, the most exciting project has to be our very first. It showed us what we were capable of and revealed the incredible support from the community. It was thrilling to realize we would have the chance to build more!

This project featured a curved roof with matching ceiling beams, a clear roof over the shower bump-out, awning-style pass-through kitchen windows, and a six-foot circular window at the front — all details that made it especially memorable.

This Oasis, the company’s inaugural build, features bubble windows lining the staircase that leads up to the lofted bed.

Tall, elongated windows above the mango wood kitchen shelves invite fresh breezes and natural light into the space.

What qualities make your tiny home stand apart from the rest?

Paradise Tiny Homes are designed with careful attention to flow, balancing beauty and practicality in every detail. Our homes have a distinctive signature style influenced by the islands, giving them a unique character.

We take advantage of Hawaii’s temperate climate to creatively open our units to nature. Local materials are often incorporated into our accessory trailer units (ATUs), and natural shapes and curves are a hallmark of our designs — from round windows and roofs to curved walls and even large dome skylights!

A mango wood shelf bisects the circular window at the far end of the home, creating a striking focal point.

The Ohana model offers a larger footprint than the Oasis and comes in slightly more affordably at $209K. It features a standard ceiling rather than a dual-height design, and its exterior combines metal and cedar siding in place of the board-and-batten finish.

What does your base model cost and what does that pricing include?

Pricing ranges from $100,000 to $500,00. Our units come turnkey with fixtures and furnishings included, and include appliances, a trailer, and customizations within a set price that is established at the start. Our most popular model to date is the Paradise model, which is around 300 square feet.

Inside, the home includes two lofts: an eight-by-ten-foot platform for the primary bed and an eight-by-four-foot loft at the opposite end.

Rungs integrated into the bay window wall offer easy access to the smaller loft.

What aspects of the design can a client customize?

Nearly everything can be customized. We typically offer choices for paint, tile, flooring, the roof, appliances, and toilets. Layout and furniture options are also available, allowing each home to reflect the client’s personal style.

Where do you ship?

Our tiny homes can be shipped virtually anywhere. It’s common for us to transport homes from the Big Island to neighboring islands, and we can arrange deliveries beyond Hawaii as well.

Priced at $225K, the 290-square-foot Paradise model is a larger, more versatile version of the Oasis. The loft is optional, and the roof can be configured as a continuous profile, similar to the Ohana model.

The extra space at the rear of the Paradise model was originally designed as an enclosed bedroom (as shown above) but can also be configured as a second bathroom.

Photo by Ellie Madsen