Cereal Stays in Texas: The Giant Cereal Box Airbnb Designed by Trey Dillon

Airbnb did not start with investors, but with cereal boxes: back in 2008, its founders sold “Obama O’s” and “Cap’n McCain’s” to pay the bills. Trey Dillon, a designer from Tyler, Texas, took the anecdote literally. His two-storey habitable cereal box, a winner of the 2023 Airbnb OMG! Fund, opened in April 2026 among the pine trees of New Harmony, and his first twenty guests have all awarded it top marks. Here is what you will find inside, based on official images, and why this tiny house speaks volumes about the market for unusual accommodation.

☰Contents

1. A 7.60-metre box set within a hectare of pine trees
2. The milk carton sauna, the bowl hammock, and the milk puddle
3. Inside: four berths, a 6.70-metre mosaic, and a cereal bar
4. The Airbnb OMG! Fund: 100 projects, 10 million dollars
5. Our perspective

A 7.60-metre box set within a hectare of pine trees

The plot spans a hectare of pine woodland, just minutes from downtown Tyler. The box stands tall over two levels, reaching 25 feet (7.60 metres) in height, featuring a facade painted to resemble product packaging: the red and blue of an imaginary brand, colourful loops spilling from a bowl, and on the back, the familiar white nutritional information panel, cleverly repurposed to list the project’s credits. The murals are the work of Houston-based muralist Shelbi Nicole, with construction plans drawn up by DJS Architects from models Dillon originally cut out from real cereal boxes. Construction began in April 2025 and was completed a year later, with the help of local volunteers for the stairs, tiling, and lighting fixtures.

The milk carton sauna, the bowl hammock, and the milk puddle

Everything surrounding the box follows the same theme. The terrace forms a spilled milk puddle spreading out at the foot of the building, complete with a fire pit and a cedar bench. The sauna is tucked inside a giant milk carton emblazoned with ‘Don’t cry over spilled milk’, and a 2.40-metre bowl filled with colourful ring cushions serves as a hammock for stargazing. The double rain-head shower is tiled in waves, echoing the ripples of milk in the bowl. Custom-prototyped cereal pieces are concealed throughout, from the stair banisters to the rolling shelves.

Inside: four berths, a 6.70-metre mosaic, and a cereal bar

The box accommodates four guests: a mezzanine bedroom with a king-size bed, an extra bed, a sofa bed, a bathroom, and a light wood kitchen. A 22-foot (6.70-metre) tile mosaic, hand-laid by Dillon during the Thanksgiving holidays, runs up alongside the staircase. The heart of the home is the continuously stocked cereal bar, positioned beneath a 120-inch projection screen suspended over the void, while a cereal-shaped skylight illuminates the space. “I want people to dive back into the nostalgia of their favourite cereals and leave with one of the most memorable breakfasts of their lives,” explains 35-year-old Trey Dillon, who criticises the hospitality industry for “losing sight of breakfast” in bed and breakfasts.

The Airbnb OMG! Fund: 100 projects, 10 million dollars

In 2023, Airbnb awarded 100 “extraordinary” accommodation projects $100,000 each, totalling $10 million, with the winners tasked with building and listing them. Trey Dillon won over the jury by literally sending in a box. Three years later, his is one of the few to actually open, and it has become a category of its own on the platform: places booked as much for the object itself as for the bed. Discover the latest news on Airbnb and hotel news in the United States on La Revue des Hôtels.

Our perspective

Unusual accommodation has long been about treehouses and domes; Cereal Stays shows what happens when a designer approaches the concept with the care of a product packager. Everything is cohesive, from the milk carton to the nutritional values panel, and it is this consistency, rather than the gimmick, that earns it a 5-out-of-5 rating. The lesson applies to hotels: a place that tells a single story, right down to the shower, sells itself and markets itself. Two caveats, to conclude. The object is small, sleeping four across a hectare, which limits the economic scale of the model; and East Texas is not a destination in itself, meaning visitors must travel specifically for the box. That is undoubtedly the point.

Practical information

• Cereal Stays · New Harmony, Tyler, Texas · cerealstays.com
• Access · Tyler Pounds Regional Airport about 20 minutes away · Dallas approximately 1 hour 45 minutes by car
• Good to know · wooded property: please remain in the clearing; frequent wildlife (deer, foxes, birds)

→ All our coverage of Cereal Stays (5 articles)