Incredible Salvaged Off-Grid Tiny House On Permaculture Farm

tiny houses and permaculture often go hand in hand as families come together to share and look after the land today we're about to visit one family who have built a beautiful tiny house on a permaculture property that can only be described as my version of paradise [Music] give a Marie Bryce nice to meet you mate you too and how wonderful to see your home this just looks amazing thank you tell me a little bit about what actually inspired you to build a tiny house something else oh well I saw the concept there was a guy in a workshop where I was renting a space building a tiny house and I thought it was interesting but kind of like why would you not just get a caravan and then circumstances unfolded where we needed to get out of our house and it was the choice between like going back into the rental market which I really didn't want to do or finding some solution and that's when the penny dropped about why it would build a tiny house so tell me about the construction of this house well it's it's built on a two ton trailer when I started looking into prices of trailers I just couldn't afford what they're asking so it ended up just being a four meter car trailer it's a wooden frame a lot of recycled stuff just out of necessity and it also to my interest and passion for upcycling and being thrifty and innovative it was like a you know sometimes sometimes you build up to something like you might be like I'm scared of heights so I'm gonna go skydiving it was it was like doing that every day because built a house so everything was new so to be like okay today I'm gonna you know build a window frame and okay now today I'm gonna install it or today I'm gonna do the plumbing and it was it was like this marathon of threshold crossing and initiations so it was stimulating exciting intense exhausting but you know what the most satisfying thing I've ever done I think this house just looks so incredibly unique tell me a little bit about the design concept when when you came to actually you've got your trailer how did you actually go from there when it comes to constructing this well I guess it's like okay what what's this house got to do for us because we're a family of three we've got a six-year-old daughter she was I think four we've been in here for two years so she she would mean three when I started designing you know it was like starting off what we needed to do where we're on a farm it needs to be very practical and then once I designed it we did all in Sketchup and that sort of thing and once I was sort of looking at I was like it kind of looks like a boat so tied in a bit of a nautical theme like there's there's little portal windows so it's four meters long but it looks a bit higher than ordinary it is yeah it's four and a half meters high right so which I think it's about 20 centimeters above the road limit but if we do want to move it we can take out like that wedge and fold the ceiling down so I've built it with hinges at the back so it can do that we need to it'll be a pain but it's possible in this tiny house it's totally off the grid as well isn't it it's almost totally off the grid I ended up getting a good pair of batteries and running at 24 volt and it runs everything except the fridge and the occasional appliance like toasters so we've got it we've got a cord that runs from it from the shed but you know when the power goes off we have lights and and I can plug in the aquaponics and that's the thing gotcha and I can see you're collecting rainwater here we collect yet all the water we need we tend to use it just for washing some gardening the grey water feeds into a garden system it is amazing how much water you can actually catch and we get good rainfall here too living the dream yeah and the spot that you've chosen for this house as well and the way that you've built these gorgeous gardens around it it's just perfect isn't it yeah so we're a community of three families and we all hold as a kind of a central tenant the importance of having access to local food that we we've grown that we know what's gone into soil we know we're in touch with the seasons and you know like if it's been raining a lot or not enough and how that impacts our food and everything has a richer story and taste better because we have that connection to it and especially nowadays like we are exploring ways of coming off this fossil fuel addiction you know where in the past it's been very possible to to get a you know a big chunk of land like 100 acres get your tractor get your pesticides but you know it hasn't been good for our health it hasn't been good for the health of the land whereas with permaculture you know it's a lot more down to earth and you need people power and we learn to work together and to and to prosper you know you know in a way that's more connected more more in touch with realities so living in community for the first couple of years was quite challenging for me because we're all trying to do everything together and it was almost like marrying each other because we all had young kids at that time and now I can create a point where we're starting to really complement each other and we're doing the things that we love but not trying to do everything and and I also I think we're not trying to be totally off-grid but you know we're taking that the small steps that we can really to look a little more consciously yeah what becomes obvious is that we're not used to well in my case I'm not really used to cooperating so intimately with other people so the first thing to get over was like or to learn was a lot of compromise and so you can often you can keep the communication channels open you can often come up with a solution to have everyone's needs met that an individual might have thought of and I like to think of it in terms of games like how can we find a winning game where we all we all get our needs met and be a bit like if it as well like none of us are experts in anything so a lot of its just being a bit playful and you know having the courage to just try things out and be okay with mistakes and learn learn from them seeing see them as opportunities rather than if something's gone wrong and I think we're all up to that it is good hmm well I am very intrigued to see what you've done on the inside can we have a look sure come on right thank you this is beautiful I love how walking in immediately there's stuff that's just kind of happening on the levels in here isn't there yeah like I mean we've got that we call that the catwalk which is utilizing the head space over the couch and yeah that creates a second story effectively that you can stand up in which I think's rare when you're talking mezzanine so you know it's a good put to use that and then you know we've got there are all levels happening here including the spices on the roof so tell me about the design of the kitchen well it's got a few little tricks that we've tried to bring in to utilize the space for example the old bread board over the sink and then a really important part is this pullout shelf here right that's just ready to go whenever you've got shopping or or especially when you've got dishes you know it's pile in there and then when it's clean we put it back and so it's always free we've got the dish rack storage so there's no double handling you just wash the dishes pop them there and they're done and we try and do that with everything basically like once it's washed it goes where it dries and then it's just ready for use and then we've got the wood stove I mean that corner that's got an oven in it and that's what we use for cooking on the bit on the top and oven space heating and water heating you know with Simon in the summer we use an outdoor oven very multifunctional and it fits perfectly into that space as well doesn't it yeah it was literally made for that space you know we had that space there and I measured it up and made sure that it fits like we've got one of these baking dishes here so that but like if you'd have a roast chicken or something that that that's what it was made around so you actually made the oven in this space yeah I did yeah welded that up that was actually made from a lot of the metal that was leftover from the trailer because it was a heavy-duty trailer with that checker plate scuffle on the bottom and I cut all that out and then I used that for for making the oven and then you've got your seating and dining space here as well yeah that's modular so we've got three cubes basically there are boxes and we keep our sort of that unopened stuff like flour and cans and stuff in there and then we've got the open stuff you know ice cream cones just essential and then down here got a toaster and a rice cooker when you're living in a small space it must be very very hard to feel cramped when you look out on this sort of expensive beautiful valley and those imposing mountains in the background absolutely yeah you can feel small looking at them but this space doesn't feel small yeah so what do we have around the corner there so it's the bathroom right is that a wooden tub it is yeah it's inspired by a Japanese offer Oh hot tub so the idea being that it's kind of short and deep and I imagine myself up to my neck in hot water in that one yeah a bit and this is made out of wood how did you actually do that well I initially just made the box and then glued it and screwed it and then got some epoxy and really worked in on the joins heavily with that and a few layers of that and then just layers and layers of polyurethane a bit like a boat I guess it's pretty cool and this curtain turns this into the dressing room very nice oh it cuts it up from the main room and you've got a little bit of storage here as well as a step to get in for particularly for Gracie have you actually tried out the bathtub yet no I haven't tried out the bathtub I think probably because we've got a fire tub outside which we use so at the moment it's just a glorified shower cubicle and in the Nook around the corner yeah so this is we're now over the towbar area and this is designed to be a study and then it also acts as a step up to Grace's room and we've got a bookshelf there that doubles as a staircase to get into the trapdoor that's Gracie's entrance what a clever idea so she's got the main entrance there but her own little secret way of getting into them exactly she must love that yeah yeah it's that little thing it's like kids love secrets yeah yeah and what a cool idea as well because this does just act like a little private area for her to have a little bit more space in the home as well to herself doesn't it yeah well she's got it she's got a small space you know and I tried to incorporate just an area where she can just hang out and have her own space and speaking of the loft areas let's have a look at your loft sure so it's a bit different to a normal letter you've just got a walk with your left foot here and your right foot there you just climb up the wall basically what an unusual way of getting into the loft well I just didn't know where I was gonna store the ladder you know it's not a big space so I'm Dennard over for ages and then I think I came across that might have been Jay Shafer had a had a similar idea and I thought yeah that's the way to do it VIX wasn't convinced and I just did it and I went do you go fix try that and she was like yeah that's good perfect thank goodness and you're totally right about having this Mizanin area here in the loft as well because we can both stand perfectly uncomfortable in this area but when you think about like a bedrooms only a bed and some floor space what we've done is we've inhabited under the bed with the kitchen you know yeah and we've got the floor space which is stolen from the head space above the couch so you know it's just playing Tetris with spaces that you don't need and then this is Gracie's room and here is it yes it is this is such a cute little space yeah it's like a little cubby house the doors here and there soundtrue so we can close that and put Gracie to bed and watch a movie or whatever and then on the other side there's a door that opens out on to what will be the deck I mentioned before it's a little bit like a boat so that'll be like the prow of a ship oh yeah and then and then you've got these little portal window continuing that maritime theme so she's got four directions for a good air fly through here Vickers came up with this idea you know instead of a clothes basket it's a clothes bag so it pretty much just shrinks when it's empty and then and then expands until it's washing times so they were really clever and then her storage is just under this little area she must love this little room yeah she does it's her room kids need a space to call their own and then you Loft is over here yeah and then you've got all your clothing storage up here as well yeah bit of Maria condo sort of rolling up the clothes continuing a bit of the whole tree aesthetic they're very inspired by the wabi-sabi design principle which you know you utilizes a lot of natural shapes I've just tried to bring that in with some of the curvy bits of wood and stuff like that so up here as well this is where you've got your hot water heater yeah so that's a up cycled hot water system it's solar so I've got the heat collector just on the awning that's out on the north side there at the front of the living space and yeah it works really well so you've got your hot water heater up here you've got the solar collector outside your solar panels composting toilet should we go check all that stuff out yeah let's go all right this garden is just lovely yeah we love it so first of all this deck is a fold out extension from the building so if it was moved we could fold it up and then the next thing is it's got a built-in wicking beds which utilize the grey water that comes out of the kitchen sink and it goes through a worm bed and into a filtration system and then comes out and the plants can use it so we never need to water these would just pick out all their herbs for dinner and come back in and use them in a meal and then we've got a aquaponics system over there excellent can you show me the a component oh yeah so this is it utilising some more of the hard garbage throw out stuff from the local tip shop yeah all these all these old tubs yeah they're brilliant we love bathtubs around here you can't get enough of them yeah so so basically what you've got is a fish tank down here our aqua plank says trout in it and they are pulling into the water and then the waters getting pumped up to these grow beds continuously and then they are there's a device called the bell siphon which which cyclically fills and empties a tank and so then that fills up the tubs and the plants use up all of the nutrients and there's a bacterial culture in there transforming the ammonia from the fish into usable nitrates for the plants so that cleans the water and then it goes back down on the fish from here across weaves that have moved into the market garden area where we grow a lot of our own food and then also food for sale so over here we've got a what's called a mandala system which incorporates chickens fruit trees perennial crops and seasonal crops all in a moving succession all kind of dynamic and yeah it's all about you know moving the nutrients where you need it when you need it without kind of having them bring stuff in and take stuff out you know it's all just using what's there and so what about the toilet here so got an outdoor composting toilet and it's housed over here underneath the solar panels glory so just a simple bucket composting system yeah it's as simple as you get and being here on a permaculture farm I'm sure you've got no end of uses for the compost absolutely I'm all the better yeah I would never dream of trying to get rid of it yeah just transform it into a state that it's usable so does the humanure get added to your existing compost it up or do you have a different composting system for your human your yeah we have an exclusive system for the human urine and then that'll be used on the fruit trees when it's ready great yeah nice and simple so how long have you actually been living here now in total I've been into Tony house for two years and how's it all working out for you yeah we've loved it and we've just started to find that that living here is giving us you know more energy more time because we're not servicing a house we're not servicing alone we're just setting up systems that now feed us you know and they they require minimal input you know and that's all just taken care of itself and what about the cost of setting all this up so when we moved in two years ago the total cost was $13,000 so I had a lot of time to build but not a lot of money was coming in but it it just trickled in and we never got into debt never had to borrow and it and just at the end of the year after building a house it kind of had the same bank balance as at the beginning and and I think that had a lot to do with how the build unfolded because you know if you don't if someone gives you a bunch of wood and it's full of nails and and you've got a lot of time not a lot of money you'll sit and pull the nails out but I think it was really good for the for the build to not actually have much money because it it made me look for otherwise you just like how can I save money I like the idea that thrift can lead to thriving as well you know just by being resourceful and using what's on hand and and keeping it simple keeping it local yeah and what about the cost of actually being here on the land well the normal rates I guess we are servicing alone to buy in to the land as well so that I guess we're paying what you'd normally pay in the rental situation except it's not it's not just down the trainers it's an investment or an investment it certainly is this is an incredible property a beautiful house and a wonderful wonderful setup for your family thank you so much for sharing your home with me so surprised this tiny house is a truly remarkable home so much thought has gone into its design so much effort has gone into the clever sourcing of materials and one of the things that I like most about this space is the way that it's really designed to work with the outside world because in the end it's out there that we live our lives but at the end of the long day what an incredible place to come home to [Music] you

Channel: Living Big In A Tiny House

Views: 2,317,729

Keywords: Tiny House, Tiny Home, Salvaged Tiny House, Salvaged Materials, Reclaimed, Recycled, Living Big in a Tiny House, Off The Grid, Off The Grid Tiny House, Tiny House Permaculture, Permaculture Farm, Peace Farm, Permaculture Principles, Homestead, Tiny Homestead, Tiny House Family, Tiny House Living, Tiny House Homesteading

Id: AbUkLeBUmxI

Length: 19min 37sec (1177 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 15 2018