Japanese Meets Scandinavian Design In Zen Inspired Tiny House

without a doubt when we make the decision to downsize our homes we can really increase the quality not only of the home but also of the lives of the people that live within it and that's exactly the case with this next tiny house that we're about to visit where one young woman has built a beautiful home for both herself and her two boys [Music] hi leah how are you hey bryce nice to meet you great to meet you and i'm very excited to see your tiny house yes now this tiny home was actually inspired by the zen tiny house wasn't it yes and built by the same builder so can you tell me a little bit about how that journey happened and how you came to be living in a tiny house well i actually feel that tiny house living found me so i was in this phase of my life where i was doing this really big declutter of my external world and my internal world just kept having this vision of a cabin in the woods or cabin surrounded by nature and i didn't know how to make that happen i didn't have the resources at the time then one day i was watching youtube and i came across the zen tiny house it kind of recommended that i watch it and so i did and i thought this is like the cabin then a few days later i was having coffee with a friend and he said i'll contact sam he builds tiny houses in baron bay it turns out that he built the sen dining house so it was a bit of like divine intervention so after a separation i was in this situation where i didn't have many options and the financial pressure was real so i really had to come up with a creative solution to really you know move forward with my life and i knew what i didn't want but i wasn't as clear about what i did want and so i could have got super busy trying to figure that out but actually i went into a lot of stillness and in that space this tiny house living emerged from that space so what was it that really attracted you to the idea of living in a tiny house i liked the idea of living simply and just having what i need and another reason for going tiny is to reduce my living costs so i would say my living costs overall i think i'm saving about 50 of what i was compared to when i was renting also being more connected to nature so being able to take my home into a spot in nature that was a really big inspiration to go tiny and to that end you've found a really interesting parking spot here can you tell me a little bit about the land yeah it's a friend of a friend's property so i actually had a bit of trouble finding a spot because my tiny house is quite tall and it's actually oversized but i was fortunate that this piece of land here is flat and yeah i'm really grateful that someone said yes to having me in this beautiful spot so what size is the tiny house so it's three metres wide and it's seven and a half meters long and it's 4.6 meters high and what are you doing for power and services in this house so i'm connected to the mains house power and water they do have solar power and so i just hook in and away i go nice and simple and can you tell me a little bit about the style of the tiny house and why you chose this design well it really is based on the zen house it's japanese and scandinavian inspired but i really i was inspired by nadia and kester's take on how they did their tiny home then i've just added a few modifications and you actually live here with your two boys don't you yes i do so i've got a seven and a nine year old and they come to me on the weekends and the school holidays they have a really big home in brisbane then they come here and have that nice contrast and it's kind of they want to be in the same room with me anyway and so this is like one big room very cool well i really love the exterior of the house i think the zen is definitely a design which has inspired lots of people and i am very excited to see the inside and see what changes you've made can we check it out yeah absolutely thank you oh this is just lovely in here especially walking into this space it just makes the home feel so welcoming doesn't it yeah absolutely you've got this wonderful big lounge area really comfortable looking sofa and already i can see a tremendous amount of storage has been built into this space yes i'm not short of storage so there is storage all through that space there all through the stairs and yeah i'm not short of storage in this home and then you've got this lovely big feature window here as well yes so i really love having a lot of windows it really creates more a feeling of more spaciousness in the home and i've got two big gas lift windows with rolling fly screen so every window has a fly screen because in a tropical climate we want to keep the bugs out i also have a bookshelf up in that space because it was just kind of sitting there and i thought oh yeah well let's just put another storage solution into that kind of negative space absolutely that's a very very clever use of the space there and then one big addition which you have made to this design is of course the second sleeping loft can you tell me about this yeah so this is the boys sleeping loft and they love it up there it's like a little man cave and this ladder actually detaches and hooks up through here so when they're not here i've got like more spaciousness to dance and live absolutely very clever and it really is wonderful how you've created this very separate space for the boys because they've got a bit of privacy and climbing up into there must really feel like climbing into a treehouse fort or something yes they love it it feels like a nest and then with your kitchen area here and again built into the stairs and everywhere here i just see so much storage in this house yes i like to cook and so this kind of takes up most of the house really so this space from here to the wall is three meters by three meters so i've put everything that a normal kitchen would have just a little bit more compressed so this has a dishwasher it actually has a washing machine it's actually a kitchen and laundry really in that three by three meter space great size fridge that you've got here yeah this is a full-size fridge i found the quietest fridge i could because i feel that's really important in a small space you don't want to hear like the hum of a fridge and then i really like what you've done over here with the storage and all of these jars and you've really made quite a feature of that haven't you yeah it's custom built for my jars because that's a really big value of mine to reduce my plastic footprint so i go to a bulk food place and stock up my jars and like that's one thing that i really love about this space that i'm able to have that and it's displayed also a lot of storage built into the cabinetry as well yeah exactly so this is my main pantry here so that pulls out and then it can be part of the kitchen so i really enjoy using that and then all of these drawers are soft closed drawers so that's just another luxury piece i also wanted to show you i do have drawers in the kickers so that's just more storage so i have that here and also down here great very very clever using that space isn't it yeah it's great for those kind of tray items and then you've got another one of these wonderful gas sprung windows over here and that really connects the kitchen to the outdoors doesn't it yes because i do spend a lot of time at the sink and so i can really connect with nature and there's chickens that walk around out there and i throw out my scraps to them and it's kind of being you know in tune with nature a little bit more than say you would in a normal house really nice big deep sink as well this is another really important addition in a functional kitchen yes that stone it actually weighs a lot but it's worth it because it doesn't scratch i really love that and then this tap pulls out so i can fill up buckets and so it's like a laundry and kitchen in one in this space and then over here we have your bathroom yes this is my favorite part of the tiny house i can certainly see why you've done an incredible job of being able to fit the bath into this room yeah so that's a standard sized bath once again it's just everything is compressed and yeah i've got the nature's head composting toilet and it's got everything i need in this space and the bathroom it is quite a compact design but you really have comfortably been able to fit everything into this and it really does feel like a little bit of a sanctuary space in here doesn't it yeah that's you know it's self-care is really important to me so to have lovely bath and i can look out into nature because that window is really large and it opens right out wonderful and then i really like the design of this mirror and then lovely vanity as well i really like the base in there yeah that's an artisan concrete basin so as much as possible i really try to support the local artisans it's definitely nice being able to do that isn't it and especially in a tiny house where these are things which you see all of the time because you are in such a small space so being able to bring in artisan elements like this is just a really nice touch yeah it really makes a difference really elevates the experience of living in a tiny house i feel and then above us here we've got your sleeping loft and really really nice stair design in order to access that yeah everything has storage so there's storage here and this is my wardrobe with all my edited clothes and these drawers have more clothes here so they're my clothes and also the boys so i've spent a lot of time editing the clothes and figuring out the best storage for them and this is marie condo inspired how i folded this and i've just spied the projector up there as well can you tell me about that yeah so i like to have friday night movie nights with my boys and we just found that this space was the best space for it it projects nicely onto that white wall there and we can sit up on the soft bed and have a nice movie on a friday lovely well should we go up into the loft and take a look yeah let's go all right thank you this loft design is really nice it actually feels incredibly spacious up here yeah with the light the beautiful natural light coming through the skylight and also because it is at three metres wide it just creates that extra spaciousness it really is amazing what a difference that does make i love what you've done up here with the plant as well yeah thank you i really like to have living things in my space the pegboard that makes a really wonderful feature up here yeah thank you because this is my study kind of work area and so it just has everything i need within arm's reach great yeah it's just another good use of space i feel so i can just sit here and kind of look out onto the rest of the tiny house it's lovely as well that you've included all of the storage space where you're featuring a few really special elements too yeah i really tried to make this space mine and to really feel like i'm creating a feeling of like calm and softness and like a feminine energy so the downstairs has a very different feeling to up here so it's kind of my my sacred cave beautiful i really like that sentiment and especially in a sleeping loft as well it's so important to create that sense of calm and make it a space which can feel like a little bit of retreat and a little bit of separation from the rest of the house because especially when you're sharing the tiny house with two young boys as well having the space which is your own must be really important yeah it's an important part of living in a small space i feel to have our separate areas that we really feel really at home in and so how long have you been living in the tiny house now i've been living here for 12 months so it took six months to build and i moved here in march how have you found adapting to life in the tiny house i found it really smooth sailing and yeah the adjustment wasn't huge moving into a space like this and reducing my living costs i'm more creative actually it's opened up so much creative energy in me and i've been able to start my own business and rather than just going back into a job because i was a stay-at-home mom for seven years so it's actually hard to like just get back into the workforce but now i have more spaciousness and more creative inspiration to go out and do what i really love so it's been like an external and an internal kind of upgrade i suppose in the way i live and so this has really created a beautiful sanctuary where i can you know really bring my gifts to the world and i'm like so grateful for that and you're living here with your two young boys part-time how have they adapted to living in the tiny house it's been really smooth sailing i make a really big point of giving them more experiences and less stuff so that's a big like philosophy around why i went tiny so we do our homely things and then we go out and have adventures and when you were visualizing this tiny house you had this idyllic concept of a little cabin in the woods is it living up to that expectation very much i would like to be a little bit kind of higher in the hills and a little bit um just a bit more privacy but i'm still very connected to nature here and it's ten minutes from the beach and it's it is a really good location and can we talk a little bit about the cost that was involved in building this home yeah so i had this all done by professionals and it cost 130 000 that's not including the appliances so i did everything with like the highest quality materials as well and i think you can really see that in this home as well everywhere you look you can really see the craftsmanship and a lot of the high quality things that you've used to fit it out yeah exactly so it turned out that my builder was a real artisan and he also had an eye for really high quality things and it was a really good match and having lived in this home now for 12 months if there was anything that you would change about the design what would it be i wouldn't change anything i'm just saving up to do a few more extra things like building a decking and getting my own solar and these kinds of things so it's more adding on so the bigger vision is that when my boys are teenagers is to build them their own tiny houses and then have a shared space in the middle with a fire pit and i've got a big vision it's just you know one step at a time so building a family community out of tiny houses i really love that idea and what a great way to keep the family together maintain independence and really what a gift for your children for the future yeah absolutely i'm excited about it you know like working towards that vision absolutely well i'm excited about that vision for you and i'm excited about this home that you've created here i think this is a really beautiful space for you and your children thank you so much for sharing it with me thanks bryce leah really has created such a beautiful and special home here for both her and her young boys i think what's really special about her story is that here she's created a true sanctuary space for herself she's found a space which not only provides her with a beautiful home but also empowers her to be able to do things in the world that she's passionate about and truly who can ask more from a home than that [Music] you

Channel: Living Big In A Tiny House

Views: 2,143,354

Keywords: living big in a tiny house, tiny house, tiny house tour, small house, small spaces, small space design, tiny house design, zen tiny house, tiny house australia, tiny house queensland, tiny house life, tiny house 2020, her tiny nest, tiny home, small house tour, alternative living, family tiny house

Id: RLZyTlbuG9A

Length: 15min 38sec (938 seconds)

Published: Thu May 07 2020