Stunning Black Off-Grid Cabin By The River

I'm willing to bet that anyone who has ever sat behind a desk at some point in time has fantasized about moving to an idyllic off-the-grid cabin and today we're about to meet a couple who have done exactly that building a spectacular home for themselves in this incredible location [Music] g'day mark how's it going mate good mate yourself very well thank you it's great to meet you you too yeah and I am very excited to see your beautiful cabin yeah yeah no you're welcome not a bad little spot eh it is a wonderful spot you've got here look at that view mm-hmm so first of all how did you come to be here on this land building a cabin I used to go up and down the river my boat hunting and I saw the section and I had this idea like sort of an idea that I could live here and go hunting up and down the river so when we keen to came up and Houston tuned up be on the road and I thought that house was on the section so I got a little bit worried and rushed in and fee undersigned it was still for sale during the agent and year we did a deal so yeah bought it I mean sold a house in town and here we are fantastic spot and so you live here together with your wife Karen don't you oh I do yes did she take a lot of convincing to actually move into a small cabin now she loves it too way we both like the same thing so it's pretty easy it was good we just wanted to live in a beautiful spot and would always sort of toyed with the idea of going off grid but having three children yeah we just but the children all gone we found it was time for us to sort of have a different pace of life and chill out a bit more and yeah so with this house here you really have gone for a very sort of traditional cabin aesthetic Avenue yeah I guess so yeah yeah we had another house in that we built just down the road a bit further and it was sort of a similar sort of a shape and but it wasn't small it was quite big and we wanted to get down to a little house and it kind of got designed as we went - yeah we you know what we want on the outside and all that sort of stuff yeah so we just sort of designed it architecture or up in the now went from there really but we just like black colour steel in pitched roofs and just something really high it's not so easy to build but yeah brilliant and you're a builder by trade so you actually constructed this cabin yourself didn't you yeah my son helped me a little bit but yeah yeah so what size is the cabin here it's 54 squares on the bottom and the mezzanine is around 24 and so you're totally off the grid with this house as well aren't you yeah we wanted to do that but we were also forced into it because the access to the power is about 500 meters up the road so yeah we've got some solar panels and we probably a solar panels down the front there and it seems to work so yeah and there's no pebble which is a huge plus who can argue with that yeah and I see you're collecting rainwater as well yeah yeah there is no water system here so yeah we've got it but it's good rainwater so much nice of them yet water and tea on tape warranty on system nasty yeah it's like drinking a swimming pool isn't yeah you turn the tap on this chlorine just touched you in the face in yeah yeah I think it's not until you actually go off the grid and start drinking rainwater that you realize how bad the town supply really is yep yep definitely yeah well the cabin looks amazing from the outside and I cannot wait to see what it's like on the inside should we check it out cold let's go all right thank you this is lovely especially having this height of the ceiling here it really just makes the whole place feel very spacious doesn't it that does yeah yeah it's quite small here but when you look up it just opens up yeah it's very high - it's five and a half meters to the rich pink so yeah yeah yeah that's a lot of height yeah yeah but it's cool and I see you've got a hammock hanging from the ceiling as well you don't know what's up with it no hemic so that's why we're not gonna put it I'm gonna put it my I'll swing it up in the thing but it'll pull you on it and yeah so if I want to set them with cheer I'll just leave it be on the pullian yeah brilliant nice idea mmm so what was it that really made you want to downsize and live in an off-the-grid cabin you know he is like stuff yeah in the sustainability is first appear the sewage catching air water all that sort of stuff because we weren't of it but this is hates big enough for us there's two of us there's a couple little dogs that come and side and I just dig little hairs and I really like what you've done here in this corner with the two big windows just looking out and capitalizing on those river views yep yep this my old me and Celia that was part of the design like it said of me all me and Sharon look at the river and say thanks passionately Bobby yeah everyone's got to have an old man chair in front of the fire right yeah definitely yeah and speaking of the fire this is a really cozy looking lounge space you've created as well yeah the fire is actually years old we bought it for an old villa that we were renovating and we're about to sell out my like oh we just like it so much we just dragged it around with us for years so we pretty much made sure that that little fire was going on this yes and it's good it's perfect super comfortable looking couch here as well that is yes it's big it's comfy it's in front of the fire you can look at the window you can sleep people sleep on it that's the account fee so yeah you know it's really good and obviously here all of the walls as well as the kitchen cabinetry the shelving play wood as a big theme in this cabin isn't it it is yep it started off that way we always want to apply everywhere and then it got to the kitchen and it was supposed to be temporary it was supposed to be a steel kitchen but I build really deploy we put her and then we decided we might as well just build even here deploy so it's plush alves ply everything we wanted the kitchen in the middle of the house with actually see the sword there's a little pantry around the corner where we store food in just all sorts of stuff and obviously the shelves check a bit of stuff updating and standard size home appliances here yep apart from the a Vernors just gas in gas so it's a standard fridge yep well it seems to run a runner for solace a beautiful copper sink as well yeah it came from a family member and I got it cut down and put a little lip on it and installed it on the inner it's really good yeah and then the floor we have to talk about this because the timber is beautiful yeah the timber I wanted to do a recycled timber floor but it was pretty much impossible to find so this is just point and it's new point really yes it is and so we're not started building I thought well how I'm gonna make it look sick in hand so we're just best and crashed on the floor when we built so this was all dented and scratched and stuff and I'm out at old school along the joist with the now just punched the nails and we're from here and then stained it and um digo it looks old and then it was cheap it does and I never would have guessed that this is pine no no most people don't the only downfall is it's a little bit dark it shows the dude and stuff but just all adds to the character yeah you know it's nice yeah and then what's hiding around the corner there and as a picture we're in here right this is a lovely cozy space isn't it mmm yeah that's good yeah yeah plywood again yeah it's sticking with the theme yeah we were gonna put a bit of a whitewash on it but yellows up naturally and it looks okay with the black it certainly does yeah and you've got a stunning view from your bedroom here as well don't you yeah yeah yeah it's good waking up in the morning and looking at that the Sun sort of picks over the hill Aaron don't want to get here beat absolutely and what do we have through this door here let's have a little bathroom should we take a look cool again lovely sized bathroom cozy enough but not excessive right yeah no it's big enough we've been able to get a semi full-size vanity and the share although it's it's not huge it's still a decent size and there's still room for everything you can get here this year and Roy self will be a patient under Stefan it's good flushing toilet in here as well it's definitely a luxury for an off-the-grid cabin isn't it yeah yeah it definitely is we looked under composting and we we this rear because the composting needed maintenance and that was much easier for us yeah there's a way more costly to do there then the composting but yeah it's good yeah because if this is all running into a septic system oh yeah yeah beautiful like fitting in here as well yeah it was um one of our interior designer decisions I tried my special awful trade me really yeah yeah and the the mirror on the wall that's been around for a long time that's gone from here stay here stay here so yeah it's always nice when you can just carry those little touches of home around with you yeah it was a favorite of more war so they had to come yeah and so what's happening upstairs on the mezzanine yeah we're going okay let's go have a look again it's just so cozy up here isn't it and here in the mezzanine you can really feel the effect of having the high ceilings because it is just so spacious up here isn't it yeah you know it's really good I it's good being able to stand up gives it a little bit more um space for the heat set to because it does get hot in a pitched roof and a mezzanine of course yeah so yeah that's quite good and talk to me about how the space is used this really is just like a spare room there's furniture that we've collected over the years like that's my wife's mother's old couch that's come with us forever so there's stuff right there that doesn't really fit but it's got to be here if you know what I mean yeah it's lovely here in the mezzanine being able to sort of look down over the rest of the house as well yeah yeah I like that and you get a little bit of a view out to the river there you certainly do it's beautiful yeah yeah that's one of my favorite views up here that's for sure so how long have you been living in the cabin now we've said a building three years ago yeah so it took us about a year to build us both yeah yes we're not fated work as well of course yes oh yeah a little warm here we're not only off bird but we love a fear away from this town that's got we've got a village but it doesn't have much of it so yeah you kind of learn to make your own entertainment in a way I suppose that the old old folks would say but it's more of a um just being happy with yourself room yeah we spend a lot of time at the beach and yeah doing all those little funky things yeah things that you tend to forget that make you feel so good you know just that sometimes it's just that so lots of going to the beach on your own when it's a crappy day and it's windy and and it's just quite exhilarating it's lovely yeah or if you have a few sons turn up to go fishing you're like whoa let's go fishing do it don't make the effort to come up and go and it it makes it a little bit more special way yeah definitely I know that sort of things good and can you talk to me a little bit about the cost that was involved in realising this project okay so it's not completely standard especially the foundation so there's a little bit more cost in the Foundation's it worked out at around two thousand the square metre in was 54 squeeze on the bottom and about 24 on top so it cost us around 150,000 to build it and the additional cost and the Foundation's that was a result of sitting quite high on the water table water table salt yeah so they had to be driven poles we couldn't concrete anything in right everything here had to be engineered so the poles had to be engineered in the septic system and the solar system and if you want to do it absolutely and the rewards speak for themselves really don't they yeah yeah you know it's also my and as a builder what was it like for you to be able to dive into a project like this and design and build your own home it's really good yep constantly doing what everyone else wants to do which is fine because they're paying you to do it but it's really good to do your own thing yeah and you can just take your time and I find myself that the longer I leave it the better ideas I have so yeah and especially when you're building a house if you don't get too involved in what's happening two or three months time down the build what time you get there you've been thinking about it and you can perhaps - here you want it a little bit different so yeah it was really good because some of the things in this house weren't how we envisage Simla start with yeah let's do it good it's just lovely being here so peaceful when it's always yeah it's just such a nice space it's compact but it's not you don't feel constricted it doesn't feel small I can vacuum the whole house from just about one plug which is great I love that um I don't know if your vacuum lovely yeah yeah it's just it's just a lovely space it's open its seemingly big but it's little so it's cozy and yeah it's just a lovely home to live in everything you build your kind of you take a bit of product so yeah there is when it's your own because you can do your thing and yeah it's not to everyone's taste but it doesn't mean it because it's yours as what you want to do yeah well mark you really have built such a beautiful home for yourself here I love the style I love the black exterior and then I love just standing here right now looking out onto that incredible view congratulations on a brilliant project thank you right good meeting you good to meet you and you consider my old man chair fool I think there's an undeniable romance to the idea of moving to a beautiful idyllic location and building an off-the-grid cabin and here this place really lives up to that expectation mark and Karen have built themselves a truly special home here and right now I think I just want to sit back in this chair and enjoy the spectacular view [Music] you

Channel: Living Big In A Tiny House

Views: 3,249,696

Rating: 4.9327898 out of 5

Keywords: living big in a tiny house, cabin, cabin life, cabin living, small house, small spaces, off the grid, solar power, off grid cabin, simple living, alternative living, cabin new zealand, modern cabin, architecture, home design

Id: ljcjWCqsNG0

Length: 14min 23sec (863 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 09 2020