Designing and building a tiny house on wheels as a couple can be a real challenge There's a lot of cooperation and compromise that goes into creating a space that can work Well for both parties today we've traveled to the Blue Mountains to visit a tiny house built by a couple who thanks to some wonderful teamwork have created themselves an amazing home Hi Lisa, right. How you doing? Good. Thank you guys to meet you get a met. How's it go? Mate? Good. Thanks. This home is Absolutely stunning. It is very sleek. Stylish and modern, isn't it? Thank you now. Absolutely I want to talk about the home but first let's talk about the land that you're on because this is something very special Isn't it? Yeah, it's 16 acres and yeah, basically goes down to a creek There's a little swimming hole down there and back up the other side of that Ridge there So yeah, it's nice and secluded and how did you come to be on this property? Basically about ten years ago, maybe eight years ago there was a big bushfire that came through this area and Burnt down a lot of the homes in this street and and in this area so we scored this block out of it basically And then this area that you've built onto the house as well creates a really lovely space outdoors to enjoy it all doesn't it? Yeah I think it's pretty important with tiny living to be able to expand outside and get that bit more use out of it You know, can you get people over knurl in the tiny house? It's very cramped. You need to come out you can spread out Yeah, not to mention. It's a nice view. You mean on a sunny day. It's really nice out here now Let's talk about the tiny house. As far as Tiny's go. It is not very small Is it I guess as far as Tiny's go, you know, it's a lot smaller than my full-sized house that I came from But yeah, it's pretty lofty. What size is it? the floor is nine meters long by 2.5 meters wide but because of the rakes on either end the roof is a couple of meters longer Yeah, the height is four point three on that side to the bottom Burying there's the chimney to take into account and some are multiple stuff But yeah I think one of the things in our loft we wanted to be able to stand up and walk around Because we didn't want yeah, I'd have to crawl in or or anything like that So I'm happy with it anyway And now talk to me about the style of the house because it is really interesting how you've created this entirely black exterior I guess it is a bit stark, but I just like black and I think it actually kind of blends into the valley. Like there's a few black features obviously from the file And yeah, I think it kind of suits it and it looks quite striking here So I think you've done a really good job with that. Thank you What was it that actually inspired you to build a tiny house on wheels. That was me I've been obsessed for a while watching reality TV shows about tiny houses. Googling them Instagram Facebook You name it, you know hooking him up Sort of wanted to build one or at least buy one at some stage and then I met Matt. So now I have one say We met online It was one evening at the pub with my best friend and she wanted to play with my phone and my online dating apps and It sort of sparked from there. We had a date at a very seedy pub. Yeah, that was her idea. Yep I needed to get away play music. Yeah, yeah a Station. Yep, and Yeah, she really just wouldn't shut up about these tiny houses and I really hadn't seen much about them But she's showing me all these Instagram accounts and I thought I didn't really think much of it at the time but ya know she kept on about it, so Yeah, once I've been - it seemed achievable, you know, and I do like a challenge so I thought no give it a go What's the worst that can happen, you know throw a bunch of stuff out? Yeah, it's so I guess I convinced you to build a tiny house build me. It's not here's actually hmm. Yeah, she did Give me full full disclosure. I even gave him quite some time to bail out No laying in bed and I said, are you sure you want to do this? I? Absolutely positive you want to do this after the trailer was born. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Once the frame was on that was it And now this project was done as a DIY build wasn't it? Yeah majority of it I did myself or with some help from friends and colleagues and stuff. So yeah, they did hate a lot of it, but I You know in the end, I think everyone's pretty proud of it and you have a background in construction, don't you? Yeah, I do run a bathroom and kitchen renovation company and so a lot of it was sort of Ideas that I'd seen around or things that I'd really wanted to try out, but I couldn't get anyone to go for so, okay Yeah, I thought I'll do it myself, you know Now before we go inside, I want to talk about the contraption at the back of the house, which I noticed walking down What on earth is that? that is my Custom-designed cat Ron it seems simple when I first began doing it But definitely had to lean on the notes to give me a hand with it basically, I've got these two cats and they're my children and I didn't want anything to happen to them moving to the bush or I Didn't want dead birds on my bed and Also, I didn't want the key litter inside because it's too small. So yeah works. Well, they love it actually What a great idea. That is very clever Well, can we take a look inside the house and check out what you've done on the inside? Let's do it. All right Thank you very much after you This is absolutely stunning you really do notice the extra height in here, don't you? Yeah you do Now the design in here is really interesting and quite beautiful I really love all the artistic features that you've put in this light feature at the top here is really special Isn't it? Yeah, it's fun. Yeah good. Oh really a couple of lights fairy lights and some plants me I did get it up there by myself somehow which was a challenge But yeah I think it came out pretty well for a couple of old rusty sheets of Steel Westover it certainly did and Now tell me about the lounge area that we're in right now. This is very spacious Yeah, one of the things that we just like to sort of lay on the couch and watch TV of the most most evenings So we definitely wanted a full-sized couch, but we had to make it because we couldn't find anything with decent storage so Yeah, I traded my couch from my other house to my sister and she made these cushions for us And yeah, the kitchen guys made the drawers pull out and everything. So yeah Definitely no compromise on the size of the TV here. No, no compromise. There was a bigger one intended But well, there was a compromise exactly. I only bring my larger one, but In truth. Yeah, even this is potentially like pushing it for being too big. Yeah, I can admit Yeah, and lots of room for a book storage and a few knickknacks as well Yeah Just bits and pieces some of my favorite some of the ones you can't really go past cookbooks University textbooks those sorts of things and then the rest they're all giving away or put in storage or loaned out, you know And you are studying at University at the moment I am I'm doing a bachelor's degree in Indigenous Studies through the University of South Australia And you've got plenty of space to study in here. Yeah so most of the time we watch telly down here and we have a loft I Can go and study and just take some noise-cancelling headphones me. Everything's good Fantastic, and now this over here is that your cat door it certainly is those little suckers come up a shoot out Through the side of the couch and then out this door just here and 2:00 in the morning when they go in and out flat Out it's pretty entertaining that is such a clever idea. And then you've got a really nice wood fire here as well Yeah hasn't been cold enough yet to really get it going. But we did one test runs and it yeah, it's pretty great Yeah, and then the kitchen this is very spacious Absolutely, no compromises in here other know we wanted a full size kitchen in here I came from a very small house with no kitchen and Matt came from a very big house We've quite a large kitchen. So it sort of meet in the middle. You've even got these spectacular marble bench tops Now, this is something you do not often see in a tiny house. No, definitely not Yeah, I think I potentially would have just done it in timber if I could do it again I just gotta get some used to you know, designing things that way so yeah, I'm stoked for them though Absolutely now, can you walk me through the design and the features in this kitchen? Yeah, so we have a full size stone We've got a full size microwave and oven and afraid to be asleep. And then we've got our Butler sink We've got our pots and pans in there dishwasher I Don't necessarily know what's in that drawer. They skirt His glasses glasses and tea towels in there and help away top away and then we could elect crockery Things like that upstairs and I really like how you've managed to build a lot of the appliances into the stairs Yeah, we've noticed a quite a few tiny houses Sort of in and around that have their storage in their stairs and all something that we thought would be good for us You know we have pantry in these sort of four drawers and then we've got our extra stairs that do have more storage in them for knickknacks and bits and pieces and again the lighting in this space is very Well done. Yeah. Thank you We wanted a bit of understand lighting when you get up at 4 o clock in the morning You do want to be able to get down the stairs. So that's one. It also doesn't wake the person still in bed And then moving over here what is going on with these mirrors? There are wardrobes right? She's in hers Hey good lots of hanging storage And then we've got a bunch of drawers which open up all on soft clothing so you can slam a wall much as you like and then we let's take a Walk in wardrobe light now that really does give you both quite a lot of closet storage, doesn't it? Yeah, we do It means we've got 1h, and we're not fighting over hanging space or anything like that and mine is obviously more messy That's not paranoid about mine Quite a clever idea doing that as well and sort of having that as a transition between the bathroom and the living space Yeah, definitely means you're not sort of walking straight into a kitchen. You've got a bit of something in between Absolutely, and now I have to ask you about the floors because this is really beautiful how you've done this transition from the timber floors And to the tiles this must have taken forever Yeah It did so first step was the Tyler doing his bed and he basically tiled it flat and chiseled them all the ones that I marked and then the next step was the carpenter and I Making up paper templates and jigsaw hang out the timber to fit so I don't think he'd do it again in a hurry But I'm happy with the way it worked out. I Bit, I mean you can see how much work has gone into that, but it really is a very artistic result So well done on that and then behind us is your bathroom and wow, this is very impressive It is definitely a feature of the house Yeah something I definitely had to try and get right building bathrooms for a living. So Yeah few ideas in here. I've always wanted to sort of try but the raked wall was a challenge and yeah I love a double shower. Just someone our mind each day Yeah, I never thought I would see a tiny house with a double shower. You know, the only one who said that That is really impressive now Obviously the home is a little bit bigger But you've definitely given a priority of space here in the bathroom heaven here You do actually spend a lot of time in here surprisingly You know you get dressed in here you get undressed in here you have a shower you often in front of the mirrors doing whatever shaving or Whatever. So you need it sort of a nice space and somewhere that we can both be in at the same time lots of mirrors In here as well lots of mirrors. These are actually storage as well so you can open them up That's he's in hers again means they're not sort of in each other's spaces a tiny house often you are saying If we sort of keep things separate like that Then we're not gonna sort of clash in any way and then you've got a flushing toilet in here. We have a flushing toilet Yes. Yeah, we used the existing septic so we didn't have to do a composting toilet Much to lose his disappointment because she really wanted one but there was no way I was gonna do that. So Yeah, definitely a flushing toilet Well, I guess it had to be some compromise this somewhere you did get the tiny house after all do you get the tiny house? So yeah, I'm happy fair enough and then should we check out the upstairs? Absolutely Now it's really interesting to me how you have divided up the loft areas into two different Sections and then been able to connect them via this walkway here Yeah, we made our master loft. Obviously. It's a king-sized bed in it with two little side tables There's not a whole lot of room beside the bed thing. You can squeeze in and out You still have to shimmy down the bed to get in and out of the bed. That's okay I think having a walkway makes this can loft a lot more usable Just having to get your mates to get up a ladder or maybe your mom or whatever. Some people probably wouldn't make it so Yeah, I think overall makes that a lot more usable space here as well This is where you really notice the extra height and it's not that much extra height But it's enough to enable you to stand before you get into bed And it really just makes this whole area feel so much more spacious Yeah it does mattaniah particularly tall but being able to stand up was really important in our design rather than Somewhat feeling like they're just an additional space. I think it really makes this feel like a second floor to the place So, yeah, absolutely I mean, I'm six foot four and I can almost Stand up in here without touching my head. And in fact when I'm under the skylight, I absolutely can do that Yeah, so it really goes to show there's a lot of extra room that has been created in this The roof windows as well What a great feature in here. I mean, it's lovely how you've extended them along the entire line of the roof So you've always got a very dynamic view of the changing sky, don't you? Yeah, you do at nighttime It's really lovely. You can see them stars during the day It does create a bit of an oven, but we'd have put the blinds on so it's not so bad But yeah, it really creates a lot of extra space. You don't feel so enclosed now You've been living in the tiny house for four months is the home living up to your expectations Absolutely. Yeah I came from a small house. So it was the transition was pretty easy for me coming from a bigger house Yeah, it did take me some convincing to sort of wrap my head around the idea at first but I can genuinely say I don't miss anything from my large normal house Designing it and building it together was a fun thing to do as well, you know Yeah, I'm sure we learnt a lot about each other in that process. So yeah, we did good Well, and I think one of the things that you've done really well is in the design of this house you've obviously really taken a lot of consideration into what your individual needs are and the things that were Important to both of you and combine them to make sure that they were present in this home That was the whole idea is like if you are going to move in together You do need to make sure that you both have spaces that are specifically for you or that you specifically need So yeah, it's important. Even if it means you have to end up with a flushing toilet Even if it means I've done it with a flushing toilet No, no place is perfect. No, that's right. And now can we talk about the budget not including the land? What was the cost of realizing this home? That's a good question? I did not add up every sort of nickel and dime There were a few favors and stuff in there and a lot of that I did myself So, yeah, I think it probably worked out around eighty Ninety thousand or something like that I think eighty thousand dollars is a remarkable budget and obviously that also does reflect that you've put a lot of Labor into it yourself And no doubt a few boxes of beer in the process So the tiny house is pretty much a dream come true now I'm gonna find something else to want and come true for you. Yeah, it's an achievement for me. Yeah We love the space we've only been here a couple months four months, but With making it out Now, I think it's starting to feel like home Yeah, it's actually being really nice just being able to be in the space finally finishing the space off. And yeah I can't really imagine wanting any more house No more house, isn't it? This is all you need. This is all we're getting. Yeah, the design of this home is absolutely Beautiful. I can really see how much love and attention you have poured into the construction of this home The features are beautiful. The land that it sits on is truly spectacular. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful home with me Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for coming. My pleasure I am so very impressed with the quality of design that's gone into this house Every inch has been incredibly well thought-out Met and Lisa both knew exactly what they wanted in a home and they've worked hard to make it happen And the result is this a beautiful modern and very functional home that is perfectly meeting both of their needs You
That's a tiny Mansion.
This place is gorgeous! Also loved the cat run, great idea.