Full of charm: Palm Harbor's Coastal Breeze

Click on photo to enlarge

This is a dream cottage come true, as long as your dream doesn't involve 2 x 6" walls and super insulation. Well, it's a park model RV. Go here to see the full set of photos on Palm Harbor’s Flickr pages for the Coastal Breeze. Click on Slideshow to see the full photoset full screen, in a new tab, and then press the Esc key when you are finished or close the tab. This is the same home set up for a home show and there are some embedded videos.

This home used to be sold here, at the Millersburg, OR Palm Harbor dealer. At one time this lot model was on sale for $56,858.

I’ve looked at thousands of photos of over 200 different park models over the years and while many can be cute and charming, this one takes the cake. A lot of park models can overdo the granny or precious look, and a few can look downright odd, inside and out. Others take a period of adjustment to like, but this one is in a category of its own. You can probably get this in a cedar exterior too, or at least they make a model that is similar.

The problem with living in this home, especially in an RV park, would be people stopping by and staring at it, wishing it were theirs. It would be a perfect cottage for a warm climate, with the warmer air hanging in that high ceiling the living room and kitchen area. It would also be good for taller people.

The loft area in a park model is good sleeping area for children, or storage space.  The kitchen isn’t the best layout I’ve seen (just looking at photos) and short on cabinetry but what there is of it makes it open and accessible. I’d rate the layout in the upper 20% of park models.

View from kitchen toward porch

With washer/dryer

The short video above is of a Coastal Breeze no longer at this dealer. To view this video full size you have to go to YouTube, by clicking once on the words "YouTube" near the right lower corner, then click on the full screen button in lower right.

Palm Harbor went bankrupt and was bought by Cavco early in 2011, so hopefully Cavco will keep up production of this model.  All sides of this home look good, which is rare to find in a park model cottage.

Park models, with their 2 x 4” walls, aren’t for people looking for the highest energy efficiency. It probably wouldn’t be good for Alaska or below zero winters, unless you put a small wood stove in it. But, for people looking for a 399 sq. ft. park model RV built to park model specs, this may be ideal, as long as it is a park that can accommodate the front porch. The inside might not be my favorite, but that view into the living room is special with that window and  functional porch in front. I like the bedroom too, with the window seat.

I follow the Tiny House Blog, and I’ve only seen a few homes there that evoke the charm of this Coastal Breeze park model. This home is more over-the-top than Marianne Cusato’s cottage designs which I greatly admire for their simplicity. I like that the roof has some eaves, and the porch.