Llano Exit Strategy, or Bestie Row, brings eight friends together with tiny houses ·

26 Jan 2024, 00:00

Four couples who have been best friends for 20 years decided to build a community of tiny houses so they could all be each others' neighbors.

They bought land by the Llano river, about an hour outside of Austin, hired an architect and built four small vacation homes along with a communal space, and dubbed it the 'Llano Exit Strategy', or, 'Bestie Row'.

It's used as a space where the four couples can live, reconnect with nature and take a break from their busy lives in Austin. It is an environmentally conscious space where they can all work on minimizing their carbon footprints.

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Four couples who have been best friends for 20 years decided to build four tiny homes in a row so they could spend more time together

The four 350-square-foot homes are located on the Llano River about an hour outside Austin, Texas, where the couples live for most of the year

The vacation spot overlooks the Llano River and is a getaway from busy Austin. The couples said they see a large variety of wildlife in the area

Each tiny home is equipped with a double bed, kitchenette and a bathroom. Walls are lined with bookshelves and space for hangers

The interior of the space is lined wall-to-wall with plywood, which appears to be lightly sanded and barely finished, creating a minimalist idea for the homes

The couples have named the getaway the 'Llano Exit Strategy', but after pictures became a hit on social media, it gained a second name, Bestie Row

Fred Zipp, one of the eight members who stay on Bestie Row, said that the land 'was not really that inviting' when they purchased it, but they have made it their own

'When we first looked at it, it was not really that inviting,' Fred Zipp, a former editor at the Austin-American Stateman, told Garden and Gun magazine. He and his wife Jodi are one of the four couples involved in the project.

But once San Antonio architect Matt Garcia drew out plans for the project, everything came together.

Garcia designed four 350-square-foot cabins inspired by the nascent tiny house movement for the couples, which each include a double bed, kitchenette and bathroom.

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The roofs of the buildings also collect rainwater - preserving water in the area was a priority for the couples while creating the project.

'This is a magical place, but it's arid,' Zipp told Garden and Gun. 'We're doing what we can to reserve as much water as possible for the native trees and grasses. Fortunately, they're beautiful.'

Garcia then created a 1,500-square-foot communal cabin, which includes a large kitchen with an over-sized refrigerator, dining room, living room and guest bedroom with bunk beds.

The roof of each building is connected to a water tank, which collects water off of the 'butterfly style' roofs created to conserve water

'This is a magical place, but it's arid,' Fred Zipp said. 'We're doing what we can to reserve as much water as possible for the native trees and grasses. Fortunately, they're beautiful.'

Garcia also created a 1,500-square-foot cabin amid the four smaller ones, which is used for group dinners and entertaining guests

The cabin exteriors are lined with wrinkled metal, which contrasts with the nearly naked plywood that decorates the interior of the homes

One of the couples' main priorities with the homes was to minimize their carbon footprints. One way they do this is by collecting rain water in large tanks

The design of the cabins were inspired by the nascent tiny house, which has become popular across the country as a way to live in smaller spaces and often off the grid

This area is a place where the couples can gather for meals and entertaining, with knowledge that they can still retreat to their own space at the end of the night.

Each building has wrinkled metal exteriors while the interiors are decorated with naked, grained plywood that has lightly sanded and finished.

'We just wanted something warm feeling that would offset the coolness of the metal on the outside,' Garcia says of the industrial-to-woodsy feel.

All of the buildings were designed and situated so each couple can have a view of the Llano River without obstructing one another.

And though the Zipps and their six best friends aren't fully ready for retirement yet, 'Bestie Row' is a nice place for them to get away.

The couples do not live in the homes full-time, but spend holidays including July Fourth and Thanksgiving together in their community living space with their best friends, according to Mic.

'It's like a Disney movie out here,' Jodi Zipp told Garden and Gun. 'We have hare, bobcat, deer and all kinds of birds. As we spend more and more time here, we find more and more.'

The communal space that Garcia designed for the couples is equipped with a large kitchen with an ove-rsized fridge, dining room, living room and guest bedroom with bunk beds

And while the couples can entertain and spend time together in the communal space, they have the comfort of retreating to their own cabins at the end of the night

The couples aren't ready for full retirement yet, and only live in the cabins on Llano river part time, spending the rest of the year in their main homes

But they all get together on the Llano for holidays including July Fourth and Thanksgiving so they can spend time with one another

The cabins are arranged on the land in such away that no couple's view of the Llano River is obstructed by another piece of architecture

When the couples decided they wanted to create a living space together they had already known each other for 20 years

Jodi Zipp, one of the eight best friends who lives on Bestie Row said that it's 'like a Disney movie' and that they're always finding more in nature on the Llano River

Llano Exit Strategy, or Bestie Row, brings eight friends together with tiny houses

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