Spectacular Scandinavian Longhouse Inspired Small Home

i've always been a huge fan of nordic and scandinavian design and today we're about to visit a beautiful longhouse inspired small home with a unique kiwi edge and the result is absolutely brilliant [Music] hey heidi how's it going hey brian it's nice to meet you it's lovely to meet you g'day matt how's it going yeah really good bryce really good it is such a pleasure to meet you both and what an amazing home you've built here yeah cheers man the style of this house is just very cool can you talk to me about the design it's kind of the scandinavian longhouse sort of look that we were the inspiration yeah we love the color scheme and just the look and the shape everything's really awesome about it i love the material choices in this house as well the large pad with the black just looks really striking yeah we had a few design elements that we were really keen on like the plywood and the black as well and it kind of just yeah spiraled from there how we put it all together cedar and black seems to be the classic combination what was your reason for using larch here yes so other than the fact that everybody else has cedar we wanted to do something different and we weren't sure what we were going to do but then we come across the siberian larch has very similar properties to cedar probably a more aggressive pattern in it i reckon and you can leave it natural and it'll gray off or you can seal it which we've done with an oil and the other big thing was just price it was a lot cheaper i still think it's one of the best decisions we made on the exterior of the house and it's not a tiny house but it's definitely a small house so what size is this yeah so it's uh 65 square meters and that's the house and then the deck is a bit under 60 square meters of concrete as well so here in new zealand that's 65 square meter mark that's kind of what we would refer to as a minor dwelling right yeah definitely not tiny but by most of our friends standards it's pretty small it's very small here and can you talk to me about the inspiration behind creating this home we're actually on a holiday in wanaka and we stayed in an airbnb which was a little eco house and it just really started the ball rolling with something that we wanted to do ourselves yeah it made us think about the fact that we were living in like our house was 180 square meters and we were living in like a third of it and yeah when we actually worked out what we were living in we thought there's probably no point having a mortgage on a big house let's go small and yeah 65 square meters is kind of just where we ended up like it wasn't a goal we just measured out what we reckoned we needed and wanted and that's how it came to be and the house is beautiful of course but it is impossible to ignore this gorgeous section yeah we were pretty lucky with this section it wasn't actually for sale it was a friend's backyard that we managed to buy so it's a half acre and yeah it was a blank canvas which has had its pros and cons like we've been able to really establish it the way that we want to but it's going to take some time to get the fruit trees and everything established as well not any shelter or anything yet but we're working on it you certainly are you've got some great looking vegetable gardens there yeah i love spending time out there that's my happy place we're trying to be as self-sufficient as possible and yeah just really getting back to basics and being connected to the land and you've done such a great job with the landscaping here as well yes so uh i've dug a lot of holes it's definitely still work in progress but we have done a lot actually when you stop and look around definitely we have yeah and a very happy and busy looking puppy running around the backyard as well yes and that is why we have a massive fence around our place just to keep the dog contained and yeah he loves his big backyard yeah and you've got some fantastic outbuildings as well that is a very serious garage you've got there you know man's got to have his shed he totally does it's bigger than the house yeah yeah gotta be bigger than the house too i'm a mechanic by trade so naturally i've got to have a shed so that i can tinker on my toys and you know keep our mountain bikes running and our motorbikes running and obviously uh we used that it was built before the house so a lot of this house was built in that shed and then obviously transported over here and put inside and what not so yeah it was very handy i am totally with you on that one i think i could live in a tiny house forever but i could definitely use one of those yeah just gotta have one and then you've got the studio there as well yeah so that's my work office and being able to go out of the house for work but still be at home it's a pretty short commute over to the studio you cannot complain about your commute to work can you no definitely not and we got that we studio sort of with the idea that potentially it could become like a bit of a self-contained unit in the future if we have people to stay and the outdoor space you've created here is really nice i especially love the hot tub there i think that was actually the very first thing that was purchased for this whole house build was heidi had to have an outside bath we don't use it a lot but when we do we're glad that we've got it and it's something a little bit special yeah especially on these cold southland nights being able to jump in the tub a bit there's nothing like it that's awesome especially if you get a really nice clear night and you can see all the stars it's really good we've had many nights out here a few drinks or sometimes we just watch a movie it's yeah really really good now obviously it is freezing cold we're in the middle of winter right now but in the summer it must be so nice just to be able to completely open up that huge door so that the house is just completely exposed to the outdoors yeah most days in summer i've got that stacked right up and just got that indoor outdoor flow and yeah it's beautiful and that was another reason for putting this concrete area out here the same level as the house so you just walk straight out no steps yeah it's lovely having that very smooth transition into the home isn't it yeah definitely yeah well from the outside this is just such a cool looking house and i cannot wait to see what you've done inside can we take a look we sure can come on in after you this is just incredible i love the combination of the concrete floors with the plywood thank you yeah we really love the contrast too there's something about the plywood look that really helps to make a space feel quite warm and welcoming we just wanted that sort of holiday house vibe as well and concrete floor low maintenance easy clean and you both actually did a lot of the construction work in this home yourselves didn't you yeah we did we were quite involved with the process we had a builder friend help us with most of the initial frame up and the cladding but once we got inside here that was kind of our project so i did the concrete floors i sanded them and max sealed them and then met pretty much did all the ply walls and sealing yep you had a wee bit of help from the builders to do their ceiling because it was a bit hard being pitched like that and yeah this is the finished product and that's such a great way of doing it as well because you have the peace of mind of knowing that professionals have taken care of all of the water tightness and all of that sort of thing but you also get to put your own hands into the build as well which is really great yes i've actually got a weird collection of my granddad's old woodworking tools and some of heidi's dad's old woodworking tools out of my shed and i really liked woodworking when i was younger my granddad taught me how to do a fair bit of woodwork so i actually brought some of those old tools and uh built parts of this house with it and the old builders gave me a better stick for my tools being older than i was but um hey they still do the same job they sure do and you get to build that family history into your house which is very cool and right now we are standing in your lounge and this is just such a comfy space you've got a great sized sofa the two recliner chairs very nice yeah being able to go to 65 square meters sort of meant that we didn't have to downsize our furniture and have special like tiny house furniture so a lot of the furniture is actually out of our old house we made it just big enough so that we could have anything you could have in a big house we can have in here and it still feels like you've got plenty of space nice size tv in the corner i really wanted it not to be a focal point of the room a lot of modern homes you know you walk in and the tv is like that big centerpiece so yeah we touch it away on the corner on the wall works well and of course here in southland the temperatures can really drop so it's great to see a lovely wood stove there as well yeah definitely gotta have a fire brice like you can't beat the heat of a fire and yeah so this one here is actually a really low emission model so it's supposedly one of the lowest emissions in new zealand yeah it's really cool bit of kit and one of the things that i really like about this space is this open plan design between the kitchen and the living room yeah the design of it was just really conscious the pitch ceiling the open plan we love entertaining having friends and family over so being able to have a space where we can all hang out and during summer being able to open up those doors as well just even adds more to that and then this kitchen design is really nice you are not wanting for anything in this kitchen aren't you no i love my kitchen bryce um yeah this is the hub of the home and it's actually modeled off our old kitchen so we liked the layout but it wasn't big enough so what we've actually done is we've got a bigger kitchen in our small house than we did in our big house perfect yeah so it's got a deeper bench space so that we can sit there and eat because we don't have a dining room anymore and it's also got more space between the two benches as well because we both love being in the kitchen together so it's just more user-friendly lots of prep space in this kitchen and of course that is especially important for you because you're actually doing cooking demonstrations as part of your business yeah i am so that wasn't um part of the plan when we built the kitchen but it's worked out really well that it's a really um user-friendly space to be able to do cooking demonstrations so i work with thermomix and that means that i can do demonstrations in the kitchen i've also done some garden to table workshops here with having people in my home as well which is cool fantastic and isn't it great that you get to incorporate your home and your business yeah having that lifestyle alignment with my business is a really cool thing definitely and of course you've got all the necessary appliances here we wanted to have everything in this house that you could have in a big house so got an oven got a range top we've got dishwasher microwave pull out pantry it's got everything you need heaps of storage two thermal mixers yeah two thermal mixers coffee machine like it's got everything that you could ever possibly want and you can feed an army in here it's not a problem and having this sort of kitchen island with the sink is such a nice feature as well because it actually allows people who are in the living room to sort of connect to whoever's in the kitchen and it makes it a little bit more social doesn't it very much so yeah yeah we love that about it people can either sit up at the bench with us while we're preparing tea and hanging out or they can be in the lounge and we all still feel part of the conversation together and a beautiful bench top here too a good friend of ours built this kitchen for us and we get a lot of comments on that bench top people asking oh the marvel was awesome but it's not marble yeah we're not that rich but it looks good so it's a very very good fake though isn't it exactly yeah you've got a nice compact hallway design as well to access the rest of the home oh yeah bryce it is i mean it takes up a little bit of room but uh for the look of the house that we went with you you had to have all way to access those rooms fair enough and what do we have next door uh technically that's our second bedroom but we'll come and have a look all right this is great so you've actually got it set up as a bit of a storeroom at the moment yeah well as you can see we've got a bit of a abundance of food in here so yeah it doesn't get as much sun as the rest of the house as well we can close that door so it's actually nice and cool in here really good for storing food you know we've also got our hot water cylinders in the cupboard behind us technically like i said this is a bedroom but we don't need it so especially when you're growing so much of your own food and when you are focused on preserving and that sort of thing that takes up a lot of space so it's great that you're able to do that in here that was a project that i had met help me with the shelving um build some shelving because i was just accumulating a lot of preserves and sauces and jams and stuff so yeah we needed a bit of a storage system for all of that and then what do we have next door uh that's actually a bathroom brush so we're gonna have a look let's do it this is a very cool bathroom design again very spacious thanks yeah it's got everything that we need and i wanted it to be quite earthy and actually went a bit darker with the theme in here and it's got a really cosy earthy vibe to it it certainly does really nice tails in the shower and what a huge shower you've got too yeah so that was a big must for me because i'm pretty tall like yourself the only input other than that uh shelf that i built for the vanity there was the tiles and they just happened to be the most expensive tiles in the shop fine taste they do look really good and it's worth splashing out on those little things when you know that it's going to make such a big difference to the space yeah lovely basin and vanity too the vanity was a bit of a idea that heidi sort of dreamt up and i got the old mig water and the grinder out and i made up the supports and then we sourced some recycled remu out of a place in invercargill and we got our friend that did the kitchen he machined that up all nice and smooth for us and then heidi bought some reason reason for it and put that on me and yes just come up a treat reclaimed remo has to be one of my all-time favorite timbers yeah you can't beat it and you just can't get that kind of wood anymore no washing machine in here too yeah so we've got the full-size washing machine in here and the only thing that's missing is a laundry tub and i was worried about not having a laundry and not having that tub um but to be honest i haven't missed it and i'm guessing next door we must have your bedroom yep we sure do let's go let's go have a look hey this is very cool i really like how you've stepped the bed forward like this yeah we put in that false wall so that our wardrobe is actually behind there and it doubles as our headboard so we don't have to have any furniture in here what a great idea it's such a clever but very clean way of storing all of your clothing yeah definitely the main thing was to keep it very clean in here not having any drawers to bump into plus you know we've got a nice door here and we can have a view if we had drawers there then you know we're not going to have any kind of view out there absolutely having the door there as well is especially nice quick access to the tub when needed definitely yeah yeah it makes it easy for sneaking around there and jumping in and then come straight back through and jump into the bathroom yeah it's very good and i really like how you've got the sign up there with the nice cut in above the headboard that's a very nice feature yeah it just gives us shelving there's built-in lighting in there and yeah just keeps the room really clean and yeah tidy and again the plywood becomes such a lovely feature in here as well it's so simple but it just adds so much to the room yeah it just give it that real warm sort of homey feeling when you're just tucked up in bed it's very cozy yeah very cozy and the way you've got the sliding doors and the bedroom and the hallway is just such a nice touch just space-saving rather than having opening doors and yeah just added to that contrast with a bit of texture and they just fitted the style really well having the barn doors plus they just look really cool they certainly do and so how long have you been living in the house now it'll be coming out three years in september great and how are you finding life here loving today it's such an awesome place to live yeah i think the word that comes to mind for me is that it's easy it's just so easy to live here living in a small home has definitely taught me a lot about the life that you get to live and making sure that you're doing it and you're not just caught up in the day-to-day stuff which is definitely what we were like in our big house it just makes you really conscious and make sure that you're living your best life day to day you know in our old place you know you'd work a week and then go to the supermarket and you buy all your food well now we've got a bigger section smaller house we've got more room for gardens fruit trees vegetables everything that we can possibly grow here we're trying to grow here to be as self-sufficient as possible yeah just getting back to basics i feel like we've done quite a lot yeah on what we used to be like it's everything we wanted we wouldn't change not a single thing in this place we've got our dream home that's our forever home and this is such an impressive build can we talk about the cost that was involved in bringing all of this to life yeah so i think we came to about 220 000 for the build and just for the house alone yeah without the services or the shed or anything right that is a great result because you have such a spacious warm and beautiful home for that thank you yeah and even with all the land and everything else around here um value for money we're still doing really well and it's shaved about 15 years of our mortgage by exercising as well so that's a huge saving for us a lot more living and a lot less work and so now that the home is finished and now you're happily living in the house what does the future hold for you we're hoping to be debt-free in the next five years and to continue adding um things like solar and developing the backyard a bit more but yeah plenty of living and adventures in the meantime as well yes that sounds absolutely fantastic well you have both done such an incredible job with this home from the striking exterior the beautiful interior the gardens the garage you really have created the most amazing setup for yourselves here thank you both so much for sharing it with no worries for us thanks for coming to visit absolutely my pleasure matt and heidi have done such a brilliant job with the build of this home you can really see how the original nordic log house inspiration has been transformed into a beautiful easy living kiwi home they really have absolutely nailed this design and created a home that perfectly meets their needs [Music] you

Channel: Living Big In A Tiny House

Views: 664,103

Keywords: living big in a tiny house, tiny house, small house, architecture, home design, nordic, scandanavian, longhouse

Id: 7Va_9GoX_K8

Length: 19min 19sec (1159 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 12 2022