This Dream Tiny House Is A Total Game Changer

there's a saying in architecture that you design your first house for an enemy your second house for a friend and your third house for yourself and there really is a lot of truth to that good design takes time and experience it takes failing a few times before you get things right and here in Auckland we're about to visit a tiny house that really goes to show that practice can make perfect [Music] hi Shay how's it going hey fries good how are you I'm great and that's lovely to see you again it's hard to believe that it's actually been seven years now since we first met yeah so when I first met you I was living in Lucy which is a green tiny house I think it's one of the first ones you filmed then I was living there with Tom who's my ex but still a good friend and hazel was nearly on the way who's my daughter so yeah yeah a lots changed since then and me and Tom our relationship changed to a friendship and me and hazy moved out and moved around and did the whole painting thing kind of trying to find my feet again I guess and after a couple of years of renting was just like now screw it I'm done with this getting back into my tiny house and so designed and built this one loving it absolutely and building this tiny house this is part of a bigger story because you actually have started a business constructing tiny home seven years yeah so after I built Lucy which was my first tiny house seven years ago I just loved the process of it so much and saw how it changed my life and wanted to build more so just designed and built one and then sold it and it kind of evolved from there into a business of designing and constructing county houses which I love it's my passion so I feel very lucky to be able to work in it as well but being a full-time mum a business owner wasn't enough for you you had to become a professional diver as well yes I unexpectedly got back into springboard diving which I did as a teenager it was a passion of mine back then and I had to stop because I suffered from really bad eating disorders as a teenager and so kind of had to choose between well it felt back then like my life or my sport and and I chose to stop and focus on getting well and by the time I recovered I was twenty-one and thought that I was too old to get back into elite sport so instead waited until I was thirty and then got back into it three years ago unexpectedly but that's been an incredible journey as well so yeah fully back into it and have loved it and now let's talk about the house because in this design you can really see that you have had a lot of practice over the last seven years thank you well actually this design my mum helped me design it so it's extra special in that sense that it was a real collaboration between me and her and I feel like I kind of pulled all the things that I loved and learned and all the previous builds and brought it together for what I wanted in this space and as well as having my mum's input which was amazing as well so yeah it's been a pretty special process creating this little home so tell me about the design of this home so I wanted to keep it easy to move on the roads in the sense that the height is well within limit it's 4.25 the width is 2.8 and the length is 8.5 with a little bit of an extra angled area over the drawbar so yeah it was a bit bigger than what I'd done you know in the past but I felt like still quite a nice size that was easy to transport and I wanted this house to kind of see me through the years I don't want to have to move out in a couple of years time if I have more children or if I'm in a relationship where you know there's a blended family situation so I wanted to future-proof it in that sense which is why I've designed this sort of like add-on module which is the room you can see behind and basically that's accessed through the French doors on the front but also through an external door on the tiny house itself and we've just parked this porch and the little room right up against the tiny house so it kind of gives you the feeling of of it being one space and that was kind of my future proofing the house and you know if I needed to and five ten years down the line I could make that even bigger could be two tiny houses up against each other type things so just added that flexibility in it for me because I mean the last seven years have shown me I don't know exactly where life is going so I like to have flexibility built into whatever I do really and that enabled that so that was a key part of the design in this one and with this layout as well you've also managed to create a really nice veranda area and to capitalise on this beautiful parking spot that you found for your home as well yeah I mean a porch of around it goes a long way and just giving you that dry space it's not critical or essential but it does just make it that much more livable and it's pretty easy to build a porch so it's you know kind of a big bonus we love it we use it a lot and the home is cedar an iron-clad very classic and always a really good look isn't it I know and I build so many with this sort of combo because it looks nice and I was like I'm gonna do something different for my house and then I didn't cuz it looks so good so I we with this combo the color steel and the cedar and then I've got the river Totoro decking which is really an interesting feature and that's from the rivers up north where 150 years ago they were doing a lot of logging and they'd always lose some of the Timbers they were transporting it down the rivers so now there's a few companies bringing up those old Timbers restoring the waterways and then drying it out and it's this really cool product and so we've used River tatra for the decking and on the inside we've done everything and River EMU so it's quite a cool little you know a little bit of history there beautiful and you have to tell me about this parking spot because this property is really something quite special isn't it yeah well I just feel so lucky and so grateful and sometimes I just kind of always have to pinch myself that this is my real life it's actually a list of garden so there's quirky funky cool plants all over the property it's 50 or 60 acres or something Wow and this is just like a little they call it the Forgotten corner so yeah I feel so so lucky to be here and it's a piece of paradise really and then you've carried that beauty and the landscape around us into the home as well you've got all of these wonderful plants and the green roof is seriously cool can you tell me about that thank you yes I felt like I mean I'm obsessed with plants I love plants and I felt like I really wanted the tiny house to respect the landscape and blend and nicely and so part of that was having a lot of plants in the landscaping of the tiny house but also having the living roof on the porch I felt it would just help it blend in and I've always loved living roofs it was kind of like my dream home would always have a living roof so I thought well this was my dream home I'm gonna do it and the idea is that as the years go by the plants will just sort of drip from the sides of the roof and just hang down sort of creating almost a bit more privacy and that feeling like it's sort of been taken over by the landscape I really I really like that so and then the outdoor tub oh yeah well that actually is quite a new feature it's always been in the plans but just got it set up in the last week or so so last night was actually my first outdoor tub experience was amazing so yeah feel pretty lucky and pretty stoked to have the setup that way well this home is just so beautiful from the exterior I can see so many unique features I love the green roof and this wonderful outdoor living edition and I cannot wait to see what you've done inside can we take a look yeah this is incredible look at that green wall I'm such a fan of plants inside the house and that just creates such a stunning feature in the home doesn't oh thank you yeah I love it it's kind of like that wall was always gonna be for an artwork of some sort and I thought well what bit of artwork then what nature has provided us with so that's why it became my platform there's nothing like living off is there so when you were designing this home what was some of the features in here that were really important to you what did you absolutely have to have in here so for me the living wall of course i loving roofs okay and they have the planted things out the way but also it had to work for me and my daughter in terms of giving us both privacy although like i love it or pieces i love to be able to close the door and be like you know now it's now it's my own space so both of our rooms have closing doors which was really important to me and also safety as well i didn't want to have to worry about her walking up a ladder or me probably more me coming up and down a ladder and so the stairs were important the balustrade between the two rooms was important I didn't want to have to spend my time worrying because mums worried that's what we we do sometimes with our kids so I wanted to reduce that and having lived in a tiny house before with hazel when she was really little I knew that that design didn't work for a family so I wanted to take the things that I learned and really make sure that this was a safe well-designed family home and yes so those were some of the the key things was more about how me and hazel would live in this space and immediately entering we are now in your lounge tell me about this space so the space yeah I just wanted a nice view out onto whatever I mean I didn't know what the view would be at the time when I started building because I didn't have my land yet I just wanted a nice view out onto nature whatever you know that view ended up being I got these beautiful big bi-folding doors put in as well which means that I can totally open up the space and it just really brings the outside and summer we have them open the whole time and it makes the space feel absolutely massive and here just a nice big couch like that was it basically that you know I can hang out on with hazy with friends and then you've got a projector for watching movies and stuff yes I've got a projector which I just pop on the windowsill and then it projects up onto that blind and it turns the whole space into a movie room which is quite cool it's a great way to do it and then over here we have your kitchen and Wow this is stunning thank you and admittedly I probably enjoy looking in it more than I enjoy cooking it because I just I'm not the best cook but I do like you know I do want to learn so this is like my motivation to learn how to cook well well if any kitchen can inspire someone to cook it's gonna be this one the river table here is absolutely exquisite thank you I've got the most amazing cabinetry making team and they're super cleaver and they were into making this River table and we wanted to kind of pay tribute to the timber use in this house which is River EMU and Roberto tree which comes from the rivers up north is 150 years old it's been submerged so that's a pretty cool story and I want it to represent that with this river table so that's why we decided to put that in there and then I really love how that celebration of the timber is completely continued into the kitchen and I mean look at that sink thank you yep that sink is I took me a couple of weeks to use it and then one side kind of christened it I was like you know I use it like a normal sink now but it's actually I'm finding it super cool because it's got so many colors in it you don't notice the little aging marks that you'd normally get in the sink so yeah a lot of people sort of wonder if a timber sink is practical but actually really cool so it's aging really well it certainly is and then you can see there's a lot of storage which has been built into this kitchen as well yeah so I mean there's more storage than I need there's empty cupboards but yeah plenty of storage and sort of space for me to develop my cooking skills as time goes on okay I'll work on that one but yeah there's heaps of storage and this will be eventually my washer/dryer area so my little laundry will be in there as well as some food storage but at the moment I just use a launderette and the use of murrs here in the kitchen is really nice as well it just adds a little bit of light and a sense of spaciousness doesn't it yeah so the mirrors we backed this pantry sort of shelf pantry with it and it sort of tricks the eye into feeling like the space goes a lot further what I often say with tiny house design is that our brains like to feel like we have a lot of space but the reality is is that we don't actually need a lot of space it's just the feeling so it's kind of tricking your brain into into the sensing that space that doesn't actually even there so yeah nerves can be handy with that it certainly can very clever and then I really love what you've done here with this wonderful bay window type extension of your kitchen counter thank you so yeah this feature is actually here because of a walkway that's upstairs which enables you to walk around the bedroom so we were going to have this lowered area around here which I didn't want to be part of the main kitchen so that's why it's sort of a bench top there we don't use that often it's a little awkward to reach right the way to the end but it's still quite functional and then underneath it it's just some storage and also because of this walkway area here we couldn't have a conventional extractor fan so we've got the pop-up one which is quite cool in every tiny house I designed we go for full-size normal appliances so yeah normal for burn a gas hob and then nice wall oven microwave because yes I do use them sometimes and then a decent size fridge so yeah it's all very sort of you know good sized appliances which are nice and easy to use and so what do we have down the other end of element umm so it's our bathroom in the spirit we'll have a look at the spearing fish so this I was touching on when we were outside basically the spare room and the deck are separate from the tiny house and just popped right up against it but I put this exterior door on the tiny house to allow access into the spare room which makes that future-proofed so yeah we can go through Darren into the spirit very clever and you can see how this concept can really work just for completely expanding it in the future but right now it's giving you a nice office space and a spare room yeah exactly so this pulls out into a double bed and it's just a space to like watch movies on the computer basically and admittedly we don't use it a heck of a lot we're mostly in that side but it's more just the future-proofing aspect that I really like but for now it's like it's actually more than we even need yeah makes a lot of sense it does and then through here we've got your bathroom yeah this is lovely and super spacious for a tiny house bathroom isn't it I mean it's bigger than a lot of the bathrooms I've had in the past and we've got the double vanity which is more there for symmetry than anything else like guys you know Maisy actually we just use the same one and I just wanted it to look really clean and pretty and so I had all the ugly stuff behind these covers which is actually a part of the stairs so when you open this up it's just my laundry and then I've got this roll out composting Twitter that is very clever I can tuck away and you know the ugly stuff is gone so you do your business you put sawdust over it I've actually got like this coffee husk stuff that I use and you know no water it's really environmentally friendly and so easy and low-cost as well being able to hide it away like that it's just such a cleaver right exactly because you know composting lose they're not necessarily the prettiest things and that way it's just out of sight and you can have a nice clean bathroom and then your shower over here beautiful title work oh thank you yeah I just wanted a nice serene bathroom and so a tiled shower like it's a decent size 900 by 900 eventually I'll get a shower glass on it one day but yeah it's just a just sort of adds to the nice clean simple space really it certainly does and then shall we have a look upstairs let's go on it really is great how both your room and Hayes's room are joined by this walkway this is really a clever addition isn't it what we wanted to create was a feeling of taking a journey to your room so again that tricks your brain into thinking that there's that it's a bigger space because instead of just going up a ladder and you're in your sleeping space you know you have to go upstairs walk through a hallway pass a living more than then you're in your room and it really does sort of trick your mind into feeling that the space is bigger than it is yeah and of course it adds that important safety element which is really important to me it looks like you're actually able to stand up in there as well yeah yep tidy you want to come on up yeah let's do it so I don't know if you can stand up in here brass because you're taller than me it's close not quite but you can see how having this area up here really does just add an incredible sense of space up here yeah it really does and you can't adjust it depending on on the height of its gonna be living here so you could get six foot five six foot six even in this walkway so yeah I designed this walkway space so that I could easily stand in here I'm about 170 and you designed it so that you could stand to future boyfriend still thinking of future proofing exactly and then this is how you storm through here is it yeah this is my little my little monkeys room this is seriously cute thank you so we are above the bathroom right now yeah exactly above the bathroom and because we've got a you know like a sort of regular ceiling height in the bathroom this is a proper loft sized bedroom which I figured for hazy it was all good she's five she'll be fine in here for quite a lot longer and then this is really wonderful lots of storage space places but all of her toys yeah exactly so she's got a little desk for drawing on playing I'm her little trinkets like yeah whatever she sort of collects and it's really cool coming in here and seeing how she decorates things and what's taking pride of place on that particular day so yeah it's nice for her to have her her zone she loves this little space it's a little sanctuary a little her place to put a mark on which is really cool and then your bedroom is down the other end should we take a look yeah that's kind of look okay this is seriously cool and super clever so this big platform this is actually the kitchen ceiling isn't it yes so any part of this room that's raised as the kitchen ceiling and any part that's lower there's areas of the kitchen that didn't need to be full height so cabinetry above the stove above my little bump out area so yeah that's how we got the ability to walk upright in the master bedroom while still keeping the tiny house build at 4.25 meters so yeah well within the height regulations but a really nice feeling really easy to use bedroom that is very very impressive and again you've built a tremendous amount of storage in here haven't you yes I wanted full height wardrobes and heaps of storage I could have had more but I actually don't have enough clothes to fill up my cupboards so I decided to have that little area with my chair some pictures and and then dedicate that side of the room to storage so yeah in my room there's more space than I need I've got you know like spare blankies and clothes and doing the whole Marie Kondo style rolling up your clothes and it saves a lot of space so I've even got some empty drawers and then I keep like undies and togs and stuff down just in those lift up lids which is the cavity between the kitchen ceiling and my floor so yeah just trying to make use of all the little bits of space that I can and then it's really nice how you've added the mirror here behind the bit as well it just adds a tremendous feeling of depth and space in the loft thank you yeah and I mean obviously I wanted the feeling of space the mirrors add I mean you really can't go wrong with the mirror and a bedroom can you so I suppose you can't but mostly the space mostly the feeling of space and it reflects my garden which is beautiful like from here where I'm standing I see my garden like twice as big so yeah I love it it gets comments but I love it totally worth it I'm sure definitely and again that garden outside the window it's just a complete celebration of color I just love the vibrance that it pulls into the room yeah and it's quite interesting because you sometimes forget you're in a second-story bedroom it feels like you're almost in like a basement type room with a window out onto the garden but it's just constantly changing constantly attracting different insects and different wildlife and yeah another I love my rooftop garden it's definitely you know a part of the home that I that I spend a lot of time looking at so you've been living in the home now for about eight months how's the space working out for you ah honestly like I thought they may be in a bit of a justment getting back into use the tiny house living but there hasn't even been an adjustment it's just been it's been amazing and I've just felt so blessed that this is my home and I love every part of it so yes worked out better than I could have even hoped and this house there is a lot going on in here there's a lot of really clever utilization of space lots of really high-quality materials can you talk to me about the budget that was involved in building this yep so for the house not counting the porch and the little room I spent around 150 New Zealand marks about 150 grand which for a house of this sort of spec I was really happy with so this house for me it's a place of stability for me and hazy it's our place it's our sanctuary and no matter how life changes because I've seen for myself that life can change unexpectedly this is our base and it's ours and that as a mum gives me such peace of mind knowing that for my daughter I've got a beautiful home Shea it's been really lovely seeing you again your home that you've built for you and your daughter is just absolutely beautiful I love all of the color and art and life that you've put into this place thank you so much for sharing yeah welcome thanks for coming round breath my pleasure there's so much attention to detail and truly brilliant design which has been poured into this home but really a house is all about the people who live inside it it's all about a space which caters to the needs of the unique individuals who make this place home and that is what this house truly does so very well this is a marvel of design a true achievement in creating a space that just works beautifully [Music] you

Channel: Living Big In A Tiny House

Views: 7,164,577

Rating: 4.956408 out of 5

Keywords: living big in a tiny house, tiny house on wheels, small house, tiny house design, tiny house tour, green roof, living roof, green wall, tiny house new zealand, shaye tiny house, architecture, small space design, tiny house living, mother daughter tiny house, tiny house, tiny home, tiny house life, space saving furniture, dream tiny house, modern tiny house, modern home, eco home, small home tour, tiny house 2020

Id: 9_43jFjkv4w

Length: 22min 0sec (1320 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 26 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Organicissexy]

Wow, beautiful house! Also those two were flirting it UP! 😂

[u/stinkb0x]

This might be the finest tiny home on this channel yet. Plus they were extra cute together.

[u/adichandra]

Just watched this yesterday. I love the projector to watch movies at night.

[u/Werekolache]

Lots of neat features in this one - I think it's very worth considering what design choices she made after living in her previous tiny house (like the lack of ladders and the add-on room.)

I adore that living roof on the veranda and the folding patio doors!

[u/extrasauce_]

I really liked this one! The gangway to the bedrooms is lovely.

[u/mexhanicfrog]

how

[u/Ohhhnothing]

This house + NZ = Ace