Spacious DIY Off-The-Grid Tiny House

once your kids have grown up and left home you're presented with a really unique opportunity to once again design a lifestyle that's all about you today we've traveled to the Gold Coast to meet one couple who have built freedom back into their lives by going off the grid and going tiny [Music] get a cave hey Bryce how are you doing my welcome to sunny Queensland mate thank you very much hi Jen lovely to meet you what an absolutely incredible parking spot you have found for your tiny house yeah we're pretty lucky thank you absolutely can you tell me a little bit about how you actually ended up here on this property as a friend of ours has got the total of 8 acres you know basically doing nothing and we put the suggestion to him planted the seed anyway I met for dinner yeah talking he goes oh I got there then why do you come and do what you want to do here so that's basically it a tiny house with million-dollar views and you're definitely capitalizing on those by building this lovely big dick around the house as well no definitely without a doubt anyway for us it was all about the outdoors you know he wants to live tiny but also bringing like the outdoors in so yeah it was just perfect it is always gonna be a deck and I can see that you're making plans for a bit of an awning here as well in the future yeah we're gonna need the shades because we found even though it's not actually summer yet the Sun comes up and hits the glass doors and heats up the house straightaway so we need that shade definitely yeah and you've got this giant sliding entrance door as well so when this is right opened up you're virtually going to double your living space here and yeah obviously with that vo like it would be stupid to block the front often just put a normal front door in oh that was the plan right from the beginning as soon as we walked up here saw the land that's the way we're facing open up was by folds so how big is this tiny house so we've gone the full 10 metres long by 3 metres wide we wanted to go large all to do with the lounge area you know just feeling comfortable and be able to stretch out one of the great things about this tiny house is you both actually built this yourselves didn't you can you tell me a little bit about that oh wow yeah we did yeah you know we're smiling now we're still married let me go anything right way so let's do it before we started the project we did so much research on your channel you know everybody's channels about building and for okay well this is going to bring us closer together you know it's going to be amazing because all these people that we've seen that been doing self builds you know they're just like smiley smiley happy and it's just an amazing experience yes it was an amazing experiences it was hard work oh yeah yeah she celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary last year so we've been married a long time but yeah I feel like we've been for about six months of marriage guidance we had about five five or six walk off sighs but having said that it's you know just an awesome experience it's a life-changing experience it just makes you feel invigorated it really does gives you a new new lease of life well I am very excited to go inside and check out your handiwork absolutely yeah feel free all right let's take a look Wow you definitely get a tremendous sense of space standing in this tiny house don't you lovely high ceilings yeah I just like things to be like open and spacious and that's why we've kept the walls really low and the obviously the ceiling light and even with the fans and that it gives you like that whole airy feeling to the house yeah pleased how it turned out now these fans I'm guessing our essential elements in this tiny house cause here in Queensland it really can get pretty hot can't it it can do I mean you know obviously we've been here quite a long time there about 11 years so we have acclimatize but it does get hot does get humid we're gonna see how we get on with the fans if it gets too much for us then we're going to look at alternative calling whether that be aircon or mobile unit but of course one of the challenges to the air conditioning I'm guessing in your setup is you're totally off the grid here in this tiny house aren't you yeah that's a big draw on the power isn't it yeah absolutely with the aircon it will be we've been using the solar power now for rent about four weeks now and when using roughly about 15% of the battery storage so we're using minimal power as of what we've got at the moment so you know we've got that luxury to expand if we need to so tell me about the solar system that you're using so we've got solar panels off on the roof each of those are 300 watt each we've got four batteries and each of those carry 390 our marriage and what about your water storage here water storage is off-grid as well so we've got 5000 litre tank that we've got and all the rainwater off the roof goes directly into that out of that into a filter system and then through the taps and showering and washing this area is actually in drought now though isn't it how are you faring through that yeah it is in drought but having said that when it rains it rains and we just basically get the tank topped up very very quickly so you don't waste any water at all either yeah there's a big water storage underneath all our shower and washing up water goes into there and that gets used for all the garden so no water comes into the house that doesn't get used yeah twice now tell me about this lounge this is such a welcoming looking area basically we did a priority list and almost number one was a comfortable sofa because we just got to have a really comfortable sofa where we can lounge out and watch TV or just look out at the view read a book so that's it quite a while to find that reason that didn't matter yeah oh the shelves were all just made up by ourselves so we just got plumbing pipes just painted them ourselves put the Timbers on and because I had to bring all my books of course about a third of your books no no I sneaked a few more I had to have a wood burner because even though we are in Queensland it does get cold up here in the winter and I love a fire and obviously we've got plenty of timber that we can use the dog said to fit in as well yeah we've made sure they've got like a little comfortable area to sleep in which they love down there absolutely love it yeah yeah and then look at this gorgeous kitchen I absolutely love all of this wooden cabinetry yeah we were really lucky actually we picked up an absolute bargain with the kitchen so other than having to cut it in so that it went over the wheel arches it's completely freestanding and came all put together so literally that was the easiest part of the whole build you've got a lot of storage in this kitchen don't you yeah probably more than we needed really didn't realize how much I'd be able to downsize because we've got three kids and obviously whenever I cook dinner it's usually like a huge amount of people and their partners so I had so many sauce pans and plates in there but literally we've just bought one set of sauceman's six plates cups knives forks and there and half the cupboards are empty really so you've got three kids but they obviously don't live here with you today no they're all adults how great though that you've been able to build a home that can still entertain all of your kids when they do come over they're a massive part of our life you know even though we built this for ourselves it was in mind that you know when we have the kids around and their partners in cranky bank it's like yeah but we could you know we could have every run round and enjoy the way we live the cooker there that just runs on gas does it yeah completely gas it does share a little bit of a cock-up with that with a salesperson I explained that I wanted everything a hundred percent gas and then we went to do some toast and clicking the button turn the gas but it wasn't wasn't far enough so then how to look underneath and it's a heating element a little bit disappointed but Ivan said that going back to the silo again the storage and the power that we've got copes with toast that's the story with this though it's brilliant well I'm glad that you're not deprived of your toes because that could be a total deal-breaker absolutely and that's the bathroom through there it is yeah this looks big yeah it was a bit of a priority for us not only is it our bathroom it's also a dressing room because we haven't got any clothes storage upstairs so yeah it needed to be big enough to get changed in as well so in there it's all of our clothes all of our shoes ironing board towels everything is in there yeah even a double basin vanity that is a real luxury it is a little bit yes that's one of our discussion points you know we're building tiny I surely you can't go to basins trafficking yeah but it you know like Fair Play it works really really well you've obviously got the space for it and here as well so why not yeah that's it and then you've got the composting toilet now that is a great help with saving with the water isn't it oh absolutely yeah it was one of our major concerns with a composting toilet because we've never experienced anything like that before a little bit of money spent on it but well worth it well should we check out the sleeping loft and see what an absolutely this is again a very spacious sleeping loft it's actually higher than we thought it was gonna be it's so hard to tell when you're actually build in even with just a steel mezzanine on we didn't really realize that we were going to have this much height until we got the floor down and everything but yeah it's great so this tiny house you're actually within the legal height limit we are yeah we purposely made it you know just below legal limit to give us that flexibility so how long have you been living in the home now four weeks so this is our fourth week so so you're fresh in here yeah yeah and we're still you know sort of looking at changing little bits and pieces we've still got a little bit of work to do obviously with little bit of touch-ups inside and especially outside as well you know we want to get that right wanna put vegetable patch in yes there's just little things and nice to I'm sure take a little bit of a break after the tremendous amount of work of actually building your home yeah we're a little bit shattered about the time we finish so yeah it was a massive release to actually move in so you've obviously done all of the labor on this project yourself and when you can do a project as a DIY project it dramatically reduces the budget can you tell me what you did actually end up spending on this house keV can exactly she thinks so but I have kept record receipts all the way through but today we've spent around about 54 grand so far and that price does that include all of your off-grid set up as well that does include nine gran of solar yeah the water tank as well the water tank on gumtree yeah we've made a lot of savings which has kept that budget really low it's quite fun as well because in a way you've actually got a business that suits a tiny house on wheels don't you do you want to tell me about that yes so we've actually got a vintage caravan 50 years old that we turned into a juice and smoothie bar and so yeah we work in a tiny space we live in a tiny spaces yes sort of knock-on effect it's fantastic we just travel all over the Gold Coast up to Brisbane down to byron festivals markets yeah love it with the business as well we want to do something that we wanted to do and then we were passionate about and healthy lifestyle was all our passion and we combine the two right okay well let's let's do something that we want to do so we worked out the bare minimum and what we needed to earn and then we said right okay we go for it we flipped our week over didn't we yeah I work in week is Saturday and Sunday and we get Monday to Friday off so basically we just flipped what we normally did yeah fantastic there's so many people out there who I am sure would be so envious of that kind of lifestyle and that flipped around work week but this really is a lifestyle that you've worked to engineer yourselves and the tiny house and this more minimalist lifestyle that's definitely part of their ethos isn't it yeah it was always the plan now we're at that point where we want to actually do something with that time so by living in a tiny house we're going to be able to take off go traveling we haven't got bills or rent to pay or anything so it's all part of the lifestyle really literally we just needed to find a way where we could have more time and work with where empty nesters and now it's time for us to have a little bit more freedom financially and timewise the time is the most important thing in your life being able to spend time with the people that you love doing the things that you love it just gives you a whole new outlook on life and you know what the change is easy it really is and it's it's almost like a breath of fresh air as well so once you've made that change or you start on that road it's just it's just liberating it really is you have both done such a beautiful job in building this home and I'm sure you're both really happy now just to sit back relax and enjoy this wonderful space thank you so much for sharing it with me thank you it's been a pleasure thank you within these walls keV and Jan have built so much more than just a home they've built a whole lifestyle that's filled with more travel more adventure and more financial freedom this couple may now be empty nesters but this home and their future are both filled with promise [Music] you

Channel: Living Big In A Tiny House

Views: 3,279,308

Keywords: tiny house, tiny home, living big in a tiny house, tiny house movement, tiny house tour, small house, tiny house living, off the grid, simple living, tiny house on wheels, tiny houses, small home, off grid, off grid living, small house movement, tiny homes, off the grid living, off grid tiny house, debt free living, diy tiny house, tiny home on wheels, tiny house family, alternative living, solar power, living big, empty nesters, retirement, tiny homes 2018

Id: Ufj4H3bo08k

Length: 14min 45sec (885 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 30 2018