Meet the family who have built not one, but two off-grid homes. Nikki Mulder and her husband, who met in the armed forces, decided to swap modern-day pressures for a life off-grid with their two young boys – a journey that Nikki has documented in detail on her Instagram profile.

Deep in the mountains of North Idaho, the family designed and built this gorgeous chalet themselves, spending the first year living with no electricity other than a small generator they used for power tools. Over time the property got some upgrades, including solar power and a backup generator, although Nikki says that having lived for so long without electricity, they use a lot less than most families would. In fact, they only had 200W worth of panels on the chalet.

Off-grid living in the North American wilderness