One Man's Dream Tiny House You Have To See

an industrial lot like this one here is perhaps one of the last places on earth that you would expect to see a tiny house on wheels yet here amongst the trucks and commercial machinery is perhaps one of the most spectacular tiny homes that I have ever seen [Music] g'day mat how's it going right right it's good to see you welcome it's great to see you it's wonderful to be here and your home looks absolutely amazing thank you thank you so much the style of this it definitely has that whisk host vibe to it doesn't it definitely yeah I wanted to incorporate the local woods of the West Coast the Cedars the furs and just make it have the spirit of the coast what was it that actually made you want to build a tiny house on wheels I'd always wanted to build my own home and I sort of thought that this is it's really the most realistic option for me I thought it'd be a really fun so artistic project because it's smaller you can go a bit more grandiose on the inside and so that excited me and so yeah I kind of just jumped in bought a trailer and went to town building and what was the process of building the home like I'd put about ten months of solid work into it I did everything myself every nail and every wire and for me the whole process was just learning right from the get-go and I just asked a lot of questions to different builders and then Dillon law juggling did a lot of you tubing and and then I sort of let go of my perfect idea of what it should be and just jumped in and this is evolved as I went I started finding used materials and they started influencing the design and the story sort of wrote itself as I began to build I've learned a lot about perseverance because of a terminal disease that I have I've got a disease called cystic fibrosis and there's a lot of a lot of pain involved in that in the journey with that disease a lot of mental barriers and psychological and spiritual walls that need to be overcome with it and so I think I've learned a lot about the value of keeping on when things get tough and and I've learned patience through that process with that disease and so when it came to the house there's plenty of opportunities to to quit because things were getting hard and because I know the rewards that come from waiting and from pushing through struggle and and the lessons that I've learned about how your emotions can really lie to you and sticking to your goal sticking to your vision how that's more important I sort of applied those lessons to the build and I think that's what helped me get through and then the parking space this is really something different huh it is I've mixed a couple of different worlds here with sort of an industrial zone meets a little bit of a wooded nook and you know it's great I love the sort of the busyness of people working around me but also have my own space so it's kind of nice and now the house tell me about the materials that have gone into them yes some of my most exciting parts of the house I think are the used materials so it's about 35% reused this all beautiful red rusty tin came from an old barge building that was on the harbour in a town called Powell River and so I went and took a bunch of it off the building because it was being demoed and I used it on the outside and on the roof and a little bit on the inside as well and then we've got Western redcedar for shingles and for trim and then on the inside there's quite a bit of fir so it's sort of cedar on the outside fur on the inside mostly so yeah and the way that you have combined these materials it has this wonderful kind of fusion between industrial and whimsical doesn't it yes yeah absolutely whimsical is a great word for it I kind of wanted I wanted a little bit of that fairytale kind of feel meat sort of that backwoods rustic kind of Viking cabanne kind of feel and what size is the tiny house it's a 30 feet by 8 and a half feet wide by 16 and a half feet tall and while we're on the exterior I cannot go past this incredible entranceway that you have created for your home and those doors oh my goodness thank you yeah that you know the doors the doors were the start of the whole thing really I built the doors before I had any part of the house designed and I just loved doors doors are the entranceway to your home they set the mood and the tone for how you feel about your space and so I really love grandiose epics feeling things and so I decided to make this entrance epic and then it sort of influenced the rest of the feel sort of the themes the motifs of the house so I got a little bit of country boy in me and a little bit coach for you and me so I tried to kind of incorporate both worlds for that back cavity woods feel absolutely and and maybe a little bit of Viking in you as well because it definitely has that grandiose entranceway feel it's it's like walking into a hole of Valhalla or something that's incredible the Viking beer hole and especially what you've done with these lights up here as well that's such a nice touch thank you yeah yeah I wanted that time you know just that ambience the flames there and then the antler handles Wow I think that's my favorite part of the door to make it epic you have to have something like that you know so Wow yeah so those are from Roosevelt elk yeah somebody gifted those to me actually so it was a privilege to be able to receive them beautiful well the exterior of the home is absolutely enchanting and I cannot wait to see what you've done inside can we take it out oh absolutely let's go in alright this is absolutely stunning thank you walking into this space it has this incredible sense of openness to it doesn't it it does yeah yeah I really wanted that sort of vaulted ceiling look that that ancient design that you know cathedrals use and just to give that just that illusion of that psychological space yeah and the way that you've left the rafters in here exposed as well helps to add to that aesthetic doesn't it thank you yeah it definitely does and I think it also sort of adds to that sort of West Coast aesthetic the exposed being raw material you know I love that and so yeah kind of cabin ask it certainly is and this light feature Wow thank you I think you know I had some of the most fun out of everything I had the most fun making that that old beam there is from Harbor Inn pal River that was being torn up and so I thought it'd be neat to take a piece of history with me and have it in the home and having the heavy knots in the rope in there as well and I noticed you've actually used rope as a lot of your trim in here as well it gives the home almost that nautical theme doesn't it yeah you hit it on the head there I work on the water and I just love our coasts nautical history and I thought why don't I somehow try to incorporate it in the house and that was my solution and it's also a really great way to hide your mistakes also very true two birds with one star right exactly so what do you do on the water I'm a guide I run on what's called a zodiac and we go out and find whales and bears and sea otters and sea lions and all the fun stuff so that's so cool because the wildlife here in Canada is spectacular that's phenomenal yeah we're extremely blessed you really are so blessed yeah yeah and then immediately walking into the house we're greeted by this incredible fire yeah yeah you know this is actually a real special piece in the home for me this was in the home of two good friends of mine and we've had a lot of memories playing music and from the fire having philosophical chats and laughs and cries and they moved from that home and decided to give the fire to me so the hearth sort of traveled with me and the memories that holds so it's a special piece for me yeah probably one of the most important pieces of the home I think how beautiful that you've managed to incorporate that and the storms that the fire is sitting on it just really lovely thank you you know those are actually from the Rocky Mountains I was doing a trip over towards Edmonton and there's a bunch of shale that's on the side of the road there and I thought that would be really cool for something in the house and then I didn't have a solution for the horison I thought those would be cool for that so I decided to use them for that and then we have this lounge area here yeah you know every home needs that real comfortable spot otherwise it's not home so I thought it'd be kind of nice to be able to look out both sides of the house so I've got a window sort of at head height when you're relaxing at the house you can look out and then the French doors here and yeah it's just nice to be able to sit at your couch and look out at nature and kind of be in a peaceful space you know absolutely and this coffee table here is really neat can you tell me about this yeah so a friend of mine found this old compass in a derelict boat and he actually gifted that to me and so the compass is such a metaphor and a symbol for so many things in life and so I thought it'd be fun to incorporate that in the house and I wanted it front right and center and so having it in your main living space is kind of like a a reminder of like to remember what your true north and whenever you relax in a space it's nice to get your bearings and I feel like the compass kind of just reminds me of that a little bit and it also holds the memory of that friendship with that fellow as well so a special thing for me what a treasure yeah I love that and you've definitely thought about entertainment in this home as well because I see you've got a projector screen that pulls down yeah yeah yeah yeah I'll definitely pull down the screen and I've got a little projector that hangs from the ceiling and I love film film is an amazing art form and so I'll have those movie nights for sure yeah very cool and then continuing the kind of nautical theme with the map on the wall this is actually an immediate area clearcuts Island and that's my playground this is this is where I work so I thought with a compass may as well have a chart and helps you keep orientated absolutely and what a playground it is huh it is I'm beyond blessed to be able to call this home yeah yeah and then your kitchen look at that countertop thank you you know the kitchen is special too for emotional reasons a lot of the things in here came from my friends properties so a friend of mine actually milled this countertop for me and then another friend donated his old fence and and that's what I made the cabinets out of everything in here is pretty much reclaimed so it's a special feeling to have sort of the emotional component the history with those friends and and the reused materials come together and so what timber is this so this is Douglas fir yeah this is grand fir the panels on the doors are all made of western red cedar and then the trim around the doors is also for most of the trim around the doors was old baseboards that came out of a demoed house and they're all painted and kind of gross and I just threw him through a planer and sanded them down and the wood has revealed its beauty again it certainly has and it is beautifully paired with this stunning copper sink thank you I think that's one of my favorite parts of the house it's the splurge of the house for sure it's big enough you could pay the small child in there I think so I think you can every house needs a second tub absolutely I think you'd probably have a hard time getting in there though it's true I do I haven't tried yet but there's just something about the combination of copper and hard timber that just immediately makes a space feel so warm and welcoming it's so true there's something about the sort of elemental almost primal nature of the look that seems to appeal to me and there's that primal process of building your own home and I wanted that to be reflected in the feel of it and so those earthy sort of elements I felt were the best way to do that and these light fittings are just stunning these are actually made from the same 10 that you used on the roof aren't they that's right yeah yeah I really wanted to bring the outside of the house inside just to sort of have that continuity of theme and again it kind of plays into that elemental feel that rosti 10 I feel like it's sort of complements the reds and the tan complement the sort of yellows and the oranges in the wood and the fur so we've got blue steel and then the tin here and then western red cedar for the panel and then the fixture itself is made out of gas pipe yeah and let's talk about the practicality of this kitchen beautifully constructed but you have a very functional working space as well don't you absolutely yeah there are a couple of different components that were really important for me so one of those components was counter space I really love to cook and I hate cooking in a space where you feel like you can't and so yeah I wanted a main counter that was quite long and then I thought it'd be nice to separate the stove area so I just sort of snuck the stove in beside the fridge and it's kind of a seamless transition and it looks like you've built an a dining extension to the countertop as well yeah so originally what I was gonna do is build that extension out of the same fur that the counter is made but a friend of mine suggested but what if he made it out of steel because you got steel light fixtures I thought that's a great idea so ended up finding an old piece of scrap metal and welded some corners onto it and and it ends up being a nice little nook to eat for a couple of different people brilliant and then what do we have through here yes one of the best rooms in the house the bathroom the timber here the countertop is maple and that was milled by a friend and given to me as a gift and and then the cabinetry again is trimmed in fur and then for the panels of the cabinet's I actually decided to incorporate that tin again just to bring that into this side of the house very nice and you've got a flushing toilet in here yeah yeah I sort of wrestled between composting and flushing and the deciding sort of factor was that the property had septic so I thought well why don't I just throw a regular toilet in and then I can always add a composting later if I move the home to a site that needs it really great sized shower that you've managed to build in here as well yeah it was really important for me to have a bigger shower space I don't like feeling claustrophobic when I'm showering and I was kind of thinking for the future too it'd be good to have enough room for two people and the other sort of dream I've always had with showers is I've always wanted the luxurious rain shower and so on one of the space that was big enough to accommodate it so yeah that's what I decided to do with this space and it is impossible in here not to notice the floor this is really cool what you've done here yeah so this is an end grain fir floor and the inspiration came from a town just south of here called Victoria there's streets outside that are lined with ingrained fur and there are 150 years old and I thought that's so cool how can I incorporate that look into the house and so the bathroom was the ideal place because it's a small space and it's not quite a bit more work to do that type of floor so rather than do the whole house this was the opportunity so basically I just took a bunch of two by fours cut them up into small slices and then glued them to the floor and then took epoxy and slowly spread it around until it looked right what a great result thank you and then over here we have your stairs and this is such an interesting design yeah you know when I was designing the stairs I realized that in a tiny home the stairs are not only a focal point but they're extremely important for utilitarian like storage and so I had seen somebody make stairs similar to this at a concrete and I thought well what if I just took a square post and cut it in half and so yeah that's what I did I like that sort of minimalist floating stare look and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out all this is old reclaimed cedar from a it's actually siding from an old house and then this is just one long post that we cut in half and it's out a 45 degree angle so it gives me plenty of storage underneath yet it's not too steep that it's uncomfortable to climb you kind of climb up on all fours you could walk up it but I find it just works better to go in all fours and it seems comfortable that way so very clever design and should we check out the sleeping loft see what you've done up there yeah let's go up there all right it's a very roomy feeling loft isn't it yeah you know it was important to me to not feel too cramped when I was sleeping so I decided to extend the law about four or five feet beyond the bed and that way I could have a little sitting area if I wanted to read or even just board clothes and that kind of thing I love that you've included the musical notations up here as well yeah so that's actually music from my childhood so I'm a musician by trade I play the violin and those are all pieces that I learned on so if you look real close you can actually see my notes written all over the sheets you can't oh that's so special that you've been able to incorporate that yeah you know it's just it's a bit of a reminder of where I came from and I think maybe a little bit of a sort of a prophetic declaration of where you're going to you know your history is important and informs where you go and reminds you who you are and so I wanted that to be facing me in the space that I rest in I think that's just so pertinent as well because really what you've done here is well in constructing your own home this is an opportunity for you to build a space that perfectly reflects you and your character completely reflecting about the build after I finished I realized that the home really is a bit of a manifestation of parts of who I am because each part of the home contains a piece of my story and how long have you been living in the home now I'm pretty fresh into it it's only been about two and a half months so I'm finally getting to experience the hard work and so far I'm pretty excited about it it's things are working well in here what does it feel like for you now to be here in this space that you've built it's almost surreal there are points in the build where you know you go through the journey of up and downs and what have I done should I continue you know and after I finished it was like now that I'm in here man oh man I'm so grateful that I pushed through and focused on all the little details that I that I did and yeah the result is satisfying for me in some ways for me this home was a rite of passage not that I would have never considered myself a man before but there's something that happened after completing your own shelter in your own space there's a maturing that happened an aging of the wine and I feel more settled within myself after completing the house and I think a big part of that is because I didn't know if I could do it I didn't know how to do it and proving to myself that I could and now living in the fruits of those labors is an affirmation for me that again the impossible is not impossible and what you set your mind to you more likely or not you can do it and what about the cost in building this home because I did everything myself my material cost ended up being about $30,000 no that is almost unbelievable for this one it is you know I think a big factor was there were people who gifted me some expensive items like my stove and then the reclaimed materials saved me quite a bit of money but you did all of this with no previous building experience that's right there are so many people out there who would look at a project like this and would just think it's totally overwhelming I can't do it what was it that empowered you to push through and make this happen partly what made it possible is I didn't understand the gravity of what I was jumping into yeah but once you start you realize that just like everything else in life all you can do is one step in front of the other and small bytes at a time and so I think the biggest factor is if you're willing to take a risk I knew nothing about how to build this house when I started and now I know a lot and I'm not a genius or an Einstein I'm just a regular guy who was willing to try net you have constructed such a beautiful home here and while it might be a tiny house I think this stands as a tremendous and huge monument to your determination and making this happen thank you so much for sharing it with me thank you bracelet pleasure to have you this really is such a beautiful home but what's even more special than this home is Matt and his incredible journey this is a story of courage of determination and of a person who realized that they can accomplish anything they set their mind to and I think all of us sometimes need that reminder [Music] you

Channel: Living Big In A Tiny House

Views: 3,019,954

Rating: 4.9355054 out of 5

Keywords: tiny house, tiny home, living big in a tiny house, dream tiny house, diy tiny house, DIY, tiny house living, tiny house design, small space, small space living, tiny house on wheels, tiny house tour, tiny house 2019, tiny house canada, west coast tiny house, tiny house building, tiny house DIY, do it yourself, affordable tiny house

Id: Y4YkNlpK7ps

Length: 21min 39sec (1299 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 02 2019