This Natural Minimalist Tiny Home Is a Pinterest Dream Come True

When you build your own home, you're building memories, you're building a place where you wake up every day, a place where you share meals together with your family and really you're building your life. And this next tiny house that we're about to visit, what a life that is. Hi Madison, how are you? Good thanks, how are you? Very well thank you. Hey Kyle, nice to meet you mate. You too. This house is an absolute stunner. Thank you. Thank you so much. It's been a labour of love hasn't it? It has been, yeah. It's been a big last year getting it all together and yeah. It's livable. Yeah, I feel like there's still little projects we would love to work on but for the most part I think this is home and I think like that's something that will always be there, there will always be something you know that you want to do and I kind of love that. Absolutely, well especially for you, we're your DIYers so you've got all the skills to create whatever you want. Yeah, no it's been very handy, had my brother help out with this so, well he did a lot of it, he's a carpenter. He's the builder. Yeah, but we did it together. We had the vision and he kind of brought it to life. We were like this is what we want to create and he translated that to all the building code, how you can make it happen and yeah, here it is. Amazing and it really is a beautiful home. Obviously I have lots of questions about the home but first let's talk about your journey into tiny house living and why you chose to go tiny. Well a little bit of a backstory, we actually spent nearly two years traveling Australia in a sprinter van so in terms of tiny, I feel like that's extra tiny and this feels big for us. So for us, I think the big driving factor was we just wanted to not have a massive mortgage. We wanted to be present with our boys for these early years while it really, really counts we feel so yeah, we chose tiny. It meant that we could be at home more, we are closer to nature, like we've had little breaks and periods in a normal home between the van and this happening and it's crazy just how much you just stay inside because everything's inside. It's like you don't really need to go out unless you've intentionally set the time whereas with this, I feel like we're outside 80% of the time and inside like 20%. You know, we sleep, we eat, we do all that inside but everything happens out here. Yeah and a big part of living in the van for a while and traveling was searching for your perfect parking spot, wasn't it? Absolutely. This was always the goal but we were unsure where we wanted to build it, where we wanted to park it up. We didn't complete a lap but we did enough of the places that we wanted to see and then we ended up turning around and coming back. Ended up where you started. Well, it's good to have that confirmation that you're in the right place. Yeah, I feel like we found this spot and we were like, oh no, we're good, this is it. And it's been literally everything that we wanted that's kind of perfect. Kind of the best of both worlds. Yeah, it sure is and how did you find this parking spot? We actually used the Park My Tiny House website. Oh great. So we were looking all around Australia, looking at all the listings and yeah, connected with our landowners here and yeah. Yeah, well this really is such a dream parking spot and to help you enjoy it even more, you've built this wonderful outdoor area. This is palatial. Yeah, I kind of went a bit overboard with it but that was my biggest thing. I wanted the indoor-outdoor space so I pretty much would sleep out here if I was allowed. Well, we all spend literally 80% of the time out here. Yeah, the kids often play. There's a toy box behind us and that's where they're out here playing and we have dinners on the table there and mornings here having coffee. We designed it into the build as well. Right. So we designed it, we actually put a grid in so there was never any water coming in. Like the water was always going to sit in the middle and run away. Rather than dripping. Yeah, very clever and the butterfly roof just looks so good, doesn't it? I think it's just such a nice profile. Yeah, well we didn't want to lose our view either so that was always in our planning from early on. You don't lose any of the view. I wanted to see the top of the hill. Yeah, I wanted to see it on that couch, not just outside. Yeah, and then you've got these wonderful garden boxes. I love how you've done those. They look so good with the sort of live edge timber and all of the bark still on it. It looks really nice. Yeah, well the bark actually helps protect the logs so I could have debarked them all but then you've got to treat the log. Yeah, we're hoping we'll get a good few years out of them. And that timber's all from the land as well so our landowners were clearing some pine plantations which supposedly they're not super good for the soil and the ground so then they had all these excess offcuts and we were like, hey we'll use them and we've just kind of created this little garden beds, nature play space, you know, everything. Nice, and as a landscaper it must be so nice to finally have your own chunk of land to play with. Definitely, I've been waiting for this for a long time. And you're off the grid here, aren't you? Yeah, completely. So rainwater and solar. So yeah, it's been a learning curve. Even coming from a background of being in a van off-grid, I feel like being in a stationary home off-grid is totally different. Like you can't just drive to, get your water, get your services. It's like you're really relying on nature here. Didn't really think about the South Australian drought so rainwater has been a bit of a tough one. Yeah, we've actually had to truck in some water a couple times over summer but in saying that, people around here have been saying this is the driest summer they've seen in years and years and years. Our landowners never had tanks this dry ever. Right, so yeah. We were okay until I put in an outdoor bath. That'll do it. Yeah, we were fine and then I put this bath in and then I was like, all right, well Madison and the kids just started going a bit. Ham and the next thing, I was like, oh we're dry. Yeah, I'd say that's worth trucking in a bit of water for though. Yeah, that's what I said. And now let's talk about the tiny house. What size is this? The house is eight meters long by 2.5 and then it's 4.3 high. Our trailer is actually 10 meters though so where the bath is, there was a little bit of overhang so we got this trailer on Marketplace actually, second hand. And yeah, just with the weight, the 4.5 ton, we could only build to eight meters with the double lofts. If we did the full 10, we would have been overweight. And can you tell me about the design of the home? Of course, so we wanted timber on the outside and if I had it my way, it would all be timber. But coming back to the weight, we crunched those numbers and we were like, no, we're going to need some iron in the equation. So we went for the colour bond that wraps around. We've got a colour bond maxi line for our tin. But yes, Madison wanted a lot of timber so I had to do a lot of research. We went back and forth. I'm like, can't have timber, the weight's going to wear us down. She wanted all timber doors and windows. Which I get because it looks so good. But we found a company that does this aluminium fake timber look. This is aluminium? Yeah. No way. Yeah. So they're really light, really durable. Brilliant. So all our windows are the same product. And then for our side, it's called WeatherTech. It's all recycled timber crushed down and then pressed into a real timber look. And it's probably about, I think, five to eight mil thick. And it's just like a sheet. Yeah. And it's super light. You whack it on, you glue it on. You can stain it, you can seal it, you can do a lot with it. It's great. And then we have our copper. So there's copper all throughout the home, which you'll see. That just looks so good. Yeah. And it's aged quite a lot since we've been here. And I love it. Like, I love the rustic look. Yeah. Well, already from the outside, I can see that you have crafted an absolute dream home here. And I am so excited to see the interior. Can we check it out? Yeah, this is absolutely beautiful. This tiny house, it actually looks like a Pinterest board that's been brought to life. Oh, thank you. It really kind of has. I feel like I've just been saving away things that I love for years now. So it was pretty surreal to get to compile everything and put it all together. I was a little nervous, like picking some of the things, thinking like, how's it all going to flow? But now, like, it's just an amazing feeling walking in and knowing like every single thing we chose so intentionally. It's exactly as I envisioned. The choice of the materials in here, as well as the use of all of the curves, just give this house such a softness as well. Yeah, that's what we were really going for. Earthy, natural, warm and soft. And it's funny, like these curves, a lot of these weren't actually in our plans to begin with. A lot of these were kind of decided on the day. Like, so our builder, Jake, that's Kyle's older brother. He basically made these things all happen. Like we, what did we start with? We wanted the curved bench. And then he was like, why don't we curve the couch? And then why don't we curve here? And then I think this needs a curve. And before we knew it, like everything had this soft edge and I love it. Not only is it like super practical for little people, but it's beautiful and soft and it just flows, I feel. Yeah. And the color choices in here as well. I love the sort of the off-white colors and the way that that blends in with the timber. It really does make the house feel almost, it almost feels as if I've walked into an earth home. Oh, that's the goal. I feel like long-term vision. I would love to build like a hempcrete home or something like that. So I was like, how can I do that in a tiny home version? So yeah, the micro cement benches, the lime wash on the walls and something else as well as we really tried to be as low tox as possible with the build. Like obviously new builds have a lot of chemicals that can be involved with like adhesives and paints and all of those things. So we really tried to look for natural cleaner alternatives wherever we could, even to the lighting. So our lights are blue light free and they're also flicker free. So these are flicked to three different settings. You can do, you know, your daytime, your evening and your bedtime. So it's just really not disturb, you know, your circadian rhythms and bedrooms are just nighttime. Yeah. They're just the really warm and the light. So yeah, the evening ones. Great idea. Very cozy looking little lounge here as well. Again, the curves love the shapes and the timber that you've used here as well just looks so good for the shelving. Yeah. Well, funny thing about these timber shelves, these are all man-made. I've literally de-stressed them and yeah, we've got a lot of funny stories about them. That's for sure. They were actually like plain pine, weren't they? Like leftover off cuts. Yeah. Yeah. Everything's some leftover from the build. So haven't gone out and bought more stuff. It was just like, oh, cool. I've got this piece. I would love a shelf here. Awesome. Yeah. Just did what I could. And it didn't matter what they turned out like at the end of the day. It was either we find something else or we could use it. And now they've turned out great. Literally everyone that comes in here mentions the shelving. So it's kind of cool. Yeah, it definitely makes a real feature. Yeah. And again, this just looks like such a cozy space to sit and relax. Yeah. We made it big enough for if we did have visitors. So it is like a small single bed. Underneath is actually all storage as well. So this actually lifts up. So, you know, we've got our linens and the toys and board games and, you know, all those things that, yeah, you kind of just want to tuck away and grab just every so often. One thing that's impossible to ignore here is that window. What a stunning feature that is. Yeah, that's a Madison headache. Yeah. That was the one thing I was like, OK, guys, I need a LED light window, a stained glass window. And when we mentioned it to Jake, he was like, OK, OK, we can do that. And I was like, it's going to be a circle, though. And he was like, OK. Oh, yeah. Builders love round windows. That's what started all the curves. So, right. It was funny when the window actually arrived. Me and my brother put it off for so long and Madison was always coming out going, is the window in yet? When you put the window in, we're like, yeah, yeah, we're getting there. But then when that day came, it was. Yeah. And I think the great thing about Jake was he obviously he didn't say no to any of my ideas. He made it happen. And we had a beautiful woman actually custom make that for us. Everything was very intentional with that as well. And I had some friends actually say, you know, the four little petals, it's like our family of four. So it feels very symbolic and beautiful that that is kind of the center of our home. Yeah, I completely agree. What a gorgeous feature. And then your kitchen. This is absolutely beautiful. Again, I love the use of the micro cement. I just think it's such a nice material to use in a kitchen. It looks so good and offset against the timber look windows and the copper. It just really works. Thank you. Also, I'm a massive foodie. I love my cooking. Yeah. I've designed it as a little working station as you got your fridge, your cupboard, and then you got your prepared bench space and you cook and then your dirty dishes. And then you dry the dishes and then put them away. There you go. He was very particular about the flow of the kitchen and we wanted it to be big and spacious. We just wanted it to feel luxurious. And it does because, you know, we spend so much time in here cooking three times a day. Yeah. We've had so many people in here cooking with us as well, dinner parties. And, you know, we've had like someone on each little corner, someone cooking, someone cleaning, and it still feels like there's so much space. And then we got the bifold windows, which obviously we have our bar out there. And so that just opens up. And when you're having a little dinner party, it's food's ready on there. And then it gets taken out or we have our breakfast on the bar. Our son loves to play and come around and order his coffee. No, it's worked really well. I love that. And again, just so much style in this kitchen as I love the knobs that you've got on the cupboard doors. Thank you. I looked for so long. That was one of the last things we actually added in. I was umming and ahhing whether I went with the copper, but then I just wanted something that brought back a little bit more cottage, warm character. And it fitted with the tiles and I was like, score. I think these were Etsy or something like that. Yeah. Some little handmade store, but no, I love them. Amazing. It looks like you have plenty of kitchen storage as well. I think after once again, the van, we just wanted heaps of room for food and you know, our pantry is so big. We have only three cupboards for food and the bottom two are just other things, art supplies, like homeschool things and other, it's my camera stuff. Like it, yeah. Serves as everything storage. Pretty much all of it's empty. We've got four plates, four bowls. But it's amazing having the option. Yeah, for sure. So you homeschool your kids here then? Yeah. So our eldest, he just turned five and he has one day a week that we go to a play group. Then the other days we're here and we do lots of arts and crafts and stories. And we're very much just following his lead right now. That's what feels good for us. And you know, in a couple of years time that might shift, but I think we feel really good going down that path. Great idea. You've got this great walkway here as well, connecting the two sleeping lofts. And is that your son's loft up there? Yeah. So we did the hallway connecting the two bedrooms because obviously living in the van, we're all cozied up together. So this was actually his first bedroom. He was super stoked with it, super excited. And it was actually funny designing the whole thing. Before we got gyprock up, there's actually all these little drawings all over the floor and the walls and cute. So yeah, we had to put the walkway in because we obviously didn't want him climbing down steep stairs at night. Ladders. We stayed in a lot of tiny homes before we built this and lots of them had the little ladders up to the loft, which is great. You know, you save the space in the living, but with little people, it was just, yeah. And to be fair, he has not come out of his bedroom. He loves it. And we've had so much fun designing that space. You know, Kyle's made a little desk that you can see up there that is just under the window and a little bookshelf that you actually foraged for a little stick out here and built it together. And that's where his books are. So yeah, it's coming together. And I think he loves his own door as well. So we put a door on his room. Obviously living in the van, when we put our son to bed, we had to be quiet, lights off because he was right next to us type of thing. But when we designed this, we're like, nah, we still want our time. He loves it. He goes in there, closes the door, he draws, he plays. And yeah, it's good. Yeah. So with the sleeping arrangements in my son's bedroom, right now it's a double bed and that's because we've co-slept for most of his life. So it's there if either of us need to jump in with him of an evening. And then when our littlest is older, we are hoping to transition it to two single beds. So that loft is actually bigger than ours. It has that little overhang over the bathroom. And yeah, we did that so we could hopefully fit two singles while they're younger and can share a space together. Makes sense. Nice. And it's actually the only closing door in the house right now, isn't it? Yeah. So we are hoping to try and find a sliding barn door for in the bathroom that you'll see. It's always a fun talking point when we have people visit. It's like, it's a communal experience, but we pull this curtain across and we're usually out on the deck and with the curtain across, you know, no one can see that. Yeah. Fair enough. Another task to sit your brother onto then. Well, that one's actually a task for me. Probably why it's not done. And you've got this neat little hallway that leads to the bathroom over there. Yeah. I always wanted a little hallway in a house and I guess having a hallway. Tiny version. Hey, it's still a hallway. You got it. You got it. Well, can we check out the bathroom? Let's do it. Let's do it. Again, this is just such a cozy room. The material choices just sing in this room. Look at that floor. That is beautiful. The tile work is exquisite. Yeah. You, you guys did that. Didn't you? We, we actually had very similar ones in our van for our backsplash behind our kitchen. So yeah, it feels a little bit nostalgic, like looking down at the floor. Yeah. So Kyle and Jake hand laid these one by one and our little one actually helped put all the little pieces in between. So every time I look at it, I think of reef as well. Oh, that's so cute. And then, yeah, the micro cement looks so good in the shower as well. You've even got the little arch to match. Yeah. Another curve. Yeah. And then the timber carries throughout. So Jake actually handmade this and this was all reclaimed timber. And then we roughed it up a little bit, stained it. And yeah, same story really roughed it up and made it look like we found it. Yeah. What a cool approach to take something, build it from new and then have that process of distressing it to just make it look like it has a hundred years of history. I love that. And in the basin as well, that looks like it's got to have a story. Yeah. The basin was one that I fell in love with when we were first looking for a basin. I found this one and I showed Kyle and he was like, mad. It's like, that's a bit excessive. Don't you think? And I was like, okay, yeah, maybe you're right. I'll leave it. And then we were looking and looking and just couldn't find anything similar to this. And I looked on their website and it said they had a six to eight week manufacturing time. Like they hand make them. And I was like, no, the basin. And so I was like, I'm going to call. And if there's a basin it's ours. So I called the woman and she was like, you wouldn't believe it. We actually have one left in that. And I was like, done. That's our basin. Yeah. Lovely. Beautiful backlit mirror too. Yeah. A fun little feature. I just wanted the curve. And then I realised it had the light behind it and I was like, amazing. Yeah. And you've got composting toilet here as well. Yep. So that one has been really good. It's actually surprisingly easy. I feel really straightforward. And it's always a funny talking point when we have visitors, everyone's like, so how do we use your toilet? And give everyone the rundown, but yeah, it's been great. Yeah. The window behind you is a little feature as well. Obviously it's a slide upside down and we have a dog, so it kind of works as a little doggy door as well. Cause it opens up. Yeah. Perfect. And through the window here as well, I can see your solar trailer. That is a cool design. We actually had a old rusty car trailer and I was like, why didn't I build a solar trailer and turn it into a shed? Yeah. Because we've got kids, he's got a bike, I've got my surfboards. And yeah, so I ended up once again, drawing a little solar trailer up using this car trailer and then taught myself how to weld and build this little shed. And yeah, it's come up really cool. Yeah, I totally agree. I think there's a lot of great reasons for building your solar onto a trailer or onto a separate structure as well, because it means you don't have to put the penetrations in your roof, which is a huge advantage, way easier to clean when they're sort of closer to ground level like that. And then as well, you just have that freedom and flexibility to sort of change them out, add onto them a lot easier if anything's not working. I think there's a lot of reasons why building solar into a trailer like that just makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. You've got the laundry in here as well, especially with little ones. That is a must have, isn't it? Definitely. The loads of laundry that we do, it doesn't end. I could run it every day. Honestly, we wanted to make sure that it tucked away nicely. So we were kind of weighing up having drawers in the front of the stairs at the front or having this whole open space back here. And we opted for this open space back here with a little bit of extra storage next to it as well, which is, is really good. Otherwise I feel like it would just be such a dead space. Otherwise. Yeah. Nice. And then upstairs we have your bedroom. Can we take a look at that? Yeah, let's do it. Okay. It's quite a steep stair design that you've got here. Yeah. Well, it kind of had to be to maximize the floor downstairs. We changed it on the day. We originally in the plans had it to be a little wraparound so that it was going to be a corner stair that would go in front of our couch. But then we were kind of stepping it out and we were like, actually with little people, we would much rather the extra floor space and couch space. So we just made the stairs a little bit more of a steeper step up. And then that also meant we have like more space behind for the laundry as well. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. And then this is just such a nice area up here. It's great that you've got the walkway beside the bed as well. Yeah. We really wanted to be able to stand and maneuver and yeah, it continued obviously the curves and the wall. And we kept this like a little half wall because I still wanted to try and get the natural light coming in here. And yeah, I love it. Yeah. Beautiful. I like the storage wall that you've built along the back here as well. Yeah. So this is all of our wardrobes. So we have hanging space here. Then Kyle has one of those little pods and then I have one and I also share with our littlest. So I just love that everything's tucked away neatly. You can just shut the door and you don't need to look at it. Yeah. And you've got a large bed up here as well, which is obviously important because you're co-sleeping with the little one. Yeah. So this is a queen and it's yeah, such a cozy mattress suite. We love it. Yeah. It was probably all I really cared about in a bedroom was a big bed. I love my room. Yeah. And so how long have you been living in the tiny house now? I think we moved it here in October last year and we weren't actually a hundred percent finished when we moved it. So we still had probably a month left of work. We moved it early because my brother, he's a truck driver and he actually towed it for us and he was going overseas. So we had this little window where it was like, if we don't move it this weekend, it's going to be in a month's time. Gotcha. So we were like, okay, we'll move it. So we brought it here in October and yeah, have been living here ever since. Yeah. Great. And how are you finding life in the tiny house? We absolutely love it. It's so quiet and yeah, the sun rises this way and sets over here and it's just so beautiful. And you know, we're close to town. We're close to all of our boys, friends and yeah. And family as well. And the nature. You can sit on this decking and kangaroos come. Yeah. Kookaburra sit on the pose. Yeah. The wildlife in Australia is incredible. Definitely. Yeah. There's so many little creatures. What did we have? We had an echidna in the paddock a week ago. Yeah. We got echidnas and blue tongues coming I feel like tiny house living, like we really learned in the van, how little you need to be happy. And I think we just carried that mindset forward into this space knowing, you know, we want everything to be so intentional. We want everything to have a home and to not just accumulate things, you know, you don't need all of the things to be happy. Like the simpler, the better I think. And I feel like just calm. I feel grounded. Like I, yeah, just being able to spend the days with our boys and to not have to move. It's like a massive exhale, you know, just being, being home. Yeah. Definitely. Just being home is like the biggest word. It's the same spot. Yeah. And Madison, I have to say that you are doing such a beautiful job of documenting your tiny house journey on your social media. Thank you so much. It's something that we kind of fell into doing. Like, I think I started capturing when I was younger in high school and I've always had a love for cameras and, you know, film photography. And then when we picked up and left in the van and started our trip, naturally, I just shared a lot of that, you know, for family and friends back home. And then, yeah, then we did this and I wanted to share the process. So I've done a little build series where I tried to capture as much as I could of the guys doing absolutely everything from the trailer up to be a little bit of like a resource for other people that might want to build. And yeah, just shared all the products and little things that we found along the way. So, yeah. And can we talk about the cost that was involved in building this home? I think all up, everything was around 150,000. Great. Yeah. Including solar trailer, rainwater tank, decking. Yeah. That's just, yeah, that's the finished project today. Yeah. So we did really well, I reckon. So great. And so with your tiny house now so beautifully finished, what does the future hold for you now? Good question. Relaxing. Yeah. Living. We haven't been still for a very long time. Even before the van, it was always travel. Like I met Madison travelling and we travelled together. So this is the first time we've ever had something that doesn't move or we don't move. So totally. I think what's next is we're probably going to pour a lot into the garden and hope to grow a lot of things and, you know, maybe one day get chickens and yeah, just really focus on what's here. Well, I just think this is such a dream home that you've created for yourselves. And I cannot wait to see the way that this place continues to evolve. Thank you so much for sharing your home with me. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you. Great to be here. This is such a bespoke home. What Madison and Kyle have created here is You can tell when somebody has brought a dream to life. And here in this house, I can see that this is a dream that's been brought to life and parked up here in this stunning location. What a place for kids to grow up. What a place to explore and what a place to grow together as a family.