Sauvie Island, Oregon.

This tiny, 540-square-foot house is in its fourth incarnation. In the early in 1940s, it was hastily erected to provide shelter to shipyard workers in Portland, Oregon, in a settlement called Vanport Village. In 1948, floods swept through Vanport and this structure was floated down the Columbia River to an island called Sauvie, where it became a station for hunters to check their geese with authorities. Finally, in 2008, it was purchased by interior designer Jessica Helgerson and her husband, who renovated it extensively without changing the footprint.

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Today, it sits on a five-acre site, accompanied by a 1,200-square-foot greenhouse, where the couple and their children grow vegetables and berries, as well as raise chickens, keep bees, and make cheese from neighboring cows and goats. Photos by Lincoln Barbour.

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