Adventurous Woman’s Remote Off-Grid Tiny House In Australia

moving to a new place is always a challenge when that shift also involves moving into a tiny house in a new community a rural landscape and going off the grid that challenge is slightly more significant and today we're about to meet an inspiring woman who took that challenge and tackled it head on [Music] hi Janelle how are you hi rice it's lovely to meet you and what a gorgeous spot you've got here yeah it's beautiful and it's full moon tonight so it feels extra special to have you here oh well it's lovely to be here can you tell me how it is that you came to be living in this beautiful tiny house yeah so I had something change in my personal life when I was living in Cairns and I felt like a new chapter so I headed south and did some house sitting in various places and ended up doing a house sitting Byron and that led me to having a conversation with the tiny home builder there and then over the course of about 18 months I went through a bunch of different designs with a couple of different Builders and ended up building this one on the sunny coast and my girlfriend Sarah who owns the property invited me to live on her Farm fantastic and what a gorgeous parking spot it is I mean you've got views here that just stretch right the way into the hinterland yeah so that's heading towards Kenilworth Bluff over there beautiful amazing views and it's really cool that you get to share the farm with your friend as well yeah so her and her husband and three kids live here and collectively we've got two dogs about 15 chickens a cat and we sometimes have cattle and horses coming and going and it's an evolving biodynamic permaculture themed Farm that's just in the beginning stages and Sarah is in the process of putting in big veggie beds for veggie boxes and yeah it's got a big big Vision that's amazing and how great as well do you get to live in this nice little micro Community yeah it's beautiful so it's a private road and there's six different Farms which has created quite a close time yeah and what size is the tiny house here it's 7.2 long by 2.4 wide and then there's a three meter deck on the south and a two meter deck on the east Great and can you tell me about the design of the home yeah so I really love living outdoors and I have lived up North for a long time and so a deck was really important for me I had a four-person sauna initially which I built the deck around and I've sadly let that go so now the deck feels extra spacious I've got my ice box instead for cold plunges I love that I have it and I would also love to be using it more yeah fair enough to there's always time for it yeah when I got the blinds put in on the deck it created an additional room really yeah especially here in Queensland you have so much fantastic weather and it's so nice and hot so creating this outdoor living space is essential isn't it yeah it's magic yeah and it helps having a dog and just having people stay to have this spaciousness and you've got the breakfast bar here as well well I do so it's not really being used as a breakfast bar at the moment because I have this stunning View and I figure why put stools in and face inside so it's become a pretty ledge at present but I do think in time with the screen that can be lifted out it may be a space where food can be passed to and from and maybe a bigger table set up and yeah I have been entertaining with 10 to 12 people on the deck and even in the summer on the grass under the stars so it is always evolving and I feel like the way I set it up and the multiple angles I thought about the design I knew I could pick and choose throughout the different chapters how I would use the space absolutely yeah great to have that freedom yeah and I love what you've done here with the tiny house as well the materials are really beautiful I especially love all of this gorgeous warm Timber yeah I really love timber I love the warmth and the softness of wood but I also didn't want a heap of upkeep so I've just put it on the southern side we which is really quite protected by the deck and a little bit on the East and there's quite a lot of upkeep that's needed on the Eastern side just due to weathering so I kept it pretty simple and lots of Windows here as well keeping the house beautifully connected to the outdoors yeah that was such a process in the constant evolving design because I wanted a lot of airflow so that I didn't need aircon or Heating and I also was trying to figure out whether I wanted two doors and you know visitors staying in a clinic space for my naturopathy and as all tiny homes are a constant compromise I feel but I'm happy with the amount of light yeah so you work from home as well yeah so I sometimes see clients a lot on zoom and then a little bit on the deck and then I also have a clinic elsewhere and can you tell me a bit about your naturopathy practice Yeah so I've been a naturopath for about 13 years and I run Retreats and also consultations with clients and I just think the tiny home which is called seedling which is an offshoot of my business name Seeds of Health I feel like there's this Simplicity that a tiny home offers which can be replicated in the way that I practice because I really believe in the wisdom of the body and the wisdom of Nature and pairing everything back so that you're confronted with I guess the truth of the situation I love that philosophy because you're so right we do not lean into nature and Nature's Simplicity and afterwards not at all and you're totally Off the Grid with this home as well I am so I've got a 10 000 liter water tank and solar and I yeah definitely went through a few clunky phases in the beginning but that's all been sorted now and I feel even more connected to the I guess the Ebbs and flows of nature by not being reliant on anything outside of this rectangle and you've got the outdoor shower here as well I always love to see those yeah I actually only shower Outdoors now why wouldn't you I know so I have a shower inside and I think until I got the tin up around the shower I just felt a bit exposed but yeah now I just always want to shower outside it's very freeing oh you just can't beat an outdoor shower I know well your home is absolutely gorgeous I especially love this wonderful outdoor space you've created but I am very excited to see the inside can we check it out for sure come on in thank you very much hey this is beautiful I especially love all of the timber in here it's just such a welcoming space to walk into yeah it adds it adds warmth doesn't it doesn't it I decided to leave all the VJ paneling natural which was a tricky decision because I did paint it myself and I was like anaring what do I paint white and what do I leave natural and I actually love the warmth that's stayed with the natural Timber and the layout in here is gorgeous as well it's very open and spacious yeah I often find when people visit they comment on how big it feels inside despite the second Loft initially I had the couch facing the door as I entered because I had a desk on the wall and I feel since I've moved the couch it's opened the whole kitchen space up and it was actually just a paper collecting space I didn't use it and now your paper collecting space has moved into the Loft it has yeah I am not collecting paper up there as yet I'm actually really enjoying my new office space in this Fair Loft I completely understand because it really is nice to have that separation and a dedicated space where you can work inside a tiny house is just so important you've got the futon up there as well yeah I do I wanted a space for visitors that wasn't in the entrance so I didn't want them sleeping on the couch with bags and people coming and going and so I love having an additional space for visitors or even myself if my folks come and stay I'll give them the main bed if they're just here for a night and I'll move over to the spare Loft and that was actually a score at the op shop so I was stoked to find something that was super small that also offered practicality because when I was looking at a lot of small couches they were even just too large for the amount of time that I would use it yeah same with the bookshelf up there I couldn't find something streamlined enough so my mum and I just pulled that together with some Timber that we found at the reclaimed yard good job you've made a nice feature of it yeah it's practical yeah it sure is and always important to have more storage for books I agree and your kitchen you have got a huge amount of prep space here yeah I do I really love cooking and I felt like bench space was really important to me so I tried to separate it somewhat fluidly between the sink and the gas cooked up and yeah I'm happy with how it's turned out and this little space on the end with a stool underneath is I had the idea of maybe being a little convenient workspace too but it really just gets used as a extra chopping space fair enough to and especially with your profession I know food and nutrition is obviously very important to you so the kitchen must have been an essential design element in this home it was yeah and I remember the Builder telling me multiple times that I think you have too much bench space I'm like I don't I'm sure and you've got loads of storage in here as well yeah I love the storage aspect so I've got my little herbal dispensary tucked under the stool and then I've got yet plenty of space for slow cooker pots a whole whole bunch of beautiful Dry Goods in the pantry and like a stash of camping gear in the end and I really like what you've done with the storage baskets up there too because it just adds a really nice visual element it actually looks really good the way that you've built those in yeah thank you that was a hilarious chapter the number of times that I am Denard between multiple baskets and what would like easefully fit in the space on the eye and what was practical yeah so I am stoked with the end result and that's your wardrobe is it part of the Wardrobe yeah and then I have some hanging space next to the fridge and then I've got jumpers and things under the couch and a few storage buckets and you've got a full-size fridge and a good sized cooker too I really love cooking so I love the four burner and I originally had the fridge and also the couch and my bed were the three items that I kind of built the tiny home around and yeah having a big fridge particularly in the summer in Queensland and just being able to put ferments or ripe fruit or just anything or when visitors stay having a lot of space in the fridge is practical I completely agree and over here it's so neat what you've done with the map on the wall I really love this map so I feel like I've had limited space where I can put artwork in the tiny and I love travel I'm an avid traveler so I felt like this was a practical kind of visual that I could refer to with my joy of travel as well as having a little piece of art yeah I love that such a nice Memento yeah and then your bathroom is down the end there can we take a look at that yeah for sure all right oh this is a lovely design having the Louvre window there is such a nice touch hey it keeps the bathroom really connected to the outside yeah true and also I love the airflow just for a wet space yeah this is definitely one of my favorite rooms in the house I think it's the mirror that I bought from North Queensland that was framed by a friend and yeah just the timber features and the coziness and the plants I just really love this space yeah the hexagon shapes really nice yeah it is yeah I found it under an old farmhouse that I used to live in really and I've repurposed it and framed it lovely yeah and you've got a shub in here I love seeing these in tiny houses I've never heard it called that what do you calling uh just a a shower bath a shower bath oh a shub is a much better word for it I agree yeah yeah no that's a really nice feature beautiful color on the wall as well yeah I like the softness of the color and I'm a ocean lover so I feel like it adds a tone of that for sure and you've got the composting toilet here as well I do yeah I love that I'm off grid I love that feature but been through a few different chapters with different external weather events right yeah I feel like I'm getting the hang of it now though yeah and you've got the washer here as well I do I really love not having to go to a laundromat so that's kind of a non-negotiable for me it just makes the home feel totally self-sufficient I absolutely agree and a nice big vanity space here too yeah it's practical I guess it became that big because of the washing machine and then the cupboard it can easily fill so I just need to stay on top of the pudding away of goods yeah all spaces can though yeah yes it's a practice if you build it the things will come yeah very true and upstairs is your sleeping Loft can we check that out yeah for sure let's go thank you oh what a cozy space this is I'm a big fan of the Live Edge headboard behind the bed yeah I love it I'm the same friend who framed my hexagonal mirror made the bed frame and I owned it before I even thought about building a tiny but I wanted a really low bed so it was neat that it fitted into a loft space and I didn't have to chop any legs off and I like that you've kept the Loft up here simple and comfortable yeah I really feel like the headboard a little bit lost with the VJ paneling but the timber is what I'm all about so yeah yeah I wanted the bed to sort of be the feature and you've got the Skylight up there as well which is always a nice Loft feature definitely the first night I slept in the tiny I saw a shooting star that was a bit special and I do love having not only the airflow but also the ability to see like the full moon last night and stars and even just to hear the pitter patter of rain yeah it's beautiful and between the Skylight and the side window you've got a good amount of cross ventilation up here yeah between the kitchen windows and the side windows I feel like there's plenty of cross Breeze definitely and so how long have you been living here now two and a half years just over that great and how's the tiny house working out for you I'm loving it now it did take a little bit of settling in not to the tiny home living just the position of the tiny home moving to a new community moving quite a way out from the coast and yeah it's had its challenges yeah what would you say the greatest aspect of that challenge was I think just isolation on so many levels possibly timed with the global aspect as well as moving away from a community that I knew but I really feel like in the last eight months there's been a real strength of community build around me so I think it was possibly just time as well I think so often when we talk about home and the concept of home we can get lost talking about the material aspect of it and the walls that we build around ourselves but such a big part of home is the people totally I couldn't agree more yeah so I've got some beautiful neighbors all around me but I feel like I was searching for that larger Community yeah yeah and now you found it yeah I really feel settled here I labeled it seedling as I mentioned and I felt like that had so many reasons not only did it tie to my business and I felt that my clients may use the space but more to the point it was a fresh new start for me and I feel like it's come with so many challenges but now that I'm over that challenging hump it represents a whole lot of strength and also creativity and the process that I went through with various Builders to try and nut out a functional space that had a warmth to it but also something that spoke to my personality yeah so I'm stoked with the end result and can we talk about the cost that was involved in building this home it came to about 120 when I finished and I've added things like a second solar battery and various things over time so you've been living here for a couple of years now you're well settled into the land what does the future hold for you now interestingly my partner's moving in next week so that'll be an adjustment mainly sorting out storage and things like that but it feels really exciting absolutely that'll be a big change won't it I think just so thing is is probably the main thing everything else will be somewhat easeful yeah absolutely that'll be exciting to see how that works out yeah for sure well you've just built yourself such a beautiful home here I am so excited to see the way that the space will now change as your partner moves into the space as well and to see what you do here on the land is going to be very exciting thank you so much for sharing it with me thanks Bryce Bryce my pleasure this is such a special place that Janelle has created for herself but I love that building this tiny house came with a realization that home isn't just the house it's the people it's the place so much more goes into making a Space feel like home and you can really tell that she has beautifully understood that and created now a wonderful place for her to be in life [Music] thank you

Channel: Living Big In A Tiny House

Views: 570,311

Keywords: tiny house, tiny home, off grid, tiny house tour, architecture, home design, living big in a tiny house, small spaces, small home living, permaculture, farm

Id: 2hVtHQdEry0

Length: 17min 35sec (1055 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 11 2023