How She Lives for Free Using Her Backyard Tiny Home

The reason I decided to build a tiny home is when my husband died suddenly, I knew that a five bedroom is way too much. I didn't want to move, sell, and relocate because I love this area and I've been here for many years, raised my kids. On the property, that area where I decided to build a tiny home was never used. So I contacted the builder, I saw an ad, and I called him and I said, can I build? I gave him the address, he looked it up, and he said, yes, Tucson just passed a law. I was lucky, they passed a law because of housing shortage and definitely you can build a tiny home on your property. So I was so excited when he came. When he came over, he explained to me that they handle all the paperwork, it's all included in the price. I'm like, oh good, I don't have to deal with paperwork. I signed a contract in January. It took until April to get the permit, and then by September it was ready to go. It took longer to get the permit to build a tiny home than to actually build a tiny home. And the process was so easy and so enjoyable for me. I enjoyed picking out the different things, picking out the doorknobs, picking out the bathtub, things that I wanted, making changes. It almost felt like it was a custom-made home for me because I made quite a few changes to adapt to my liking and my taste, and he went along with all that. So I liked the process, it was very enjoyable. They did a fantastic job. My name is Nadia and I like to show you around. I have a big kitchen, probably the same size kitchen that I had in the big house. The adjustment was minimal, barely any adjustment. It's just I have less pots and pans, less silverware, less of everything that I use in the everyday life, but just enough of what I need. I have everything that I need. I have this area here for prepping, for cutting. Everything I do is on this marble plate and on my stainless steel right over here. It's like I use that too. And it's right next to the sink. The sink is pretty big. I wanted a big sink that's stainless steel, and so that's working out great. Everything is clean all the time, which is good. I chose everything. I mix the stainless steel with the gold, with the brass. It's like a mix and match of a little bit of everything with the colors of black and stainless steel, and it matches really nice, especially with that table. The legs are stainless steel too, and so the kitchen looks like it's beautiful, and the handles too. I picked all the different add-ons. The builder had the idea of the pantry, and most people put food in there, but I don't need so much food for one person, so I actually use my pantry as a storage space. So I keep all my extra toilet paper and everything in here. It looks like a pantry, but it's not a pantry. But I have lots of room here to put food and different supplies that I use every day, including over here. So I got just plenty more than enough that I need for one person, just for me, because it's me here. I wanted a nice, big-sized dishwasher, even though I don't run it every single day. But I didn't want a miniature one, and I didn't want to wash my dishes by hand. So a nice, big-sized dishwasher was a big must for me. I specifically wanted this so you can see all the dishes, and you can see the cups and everything, plus it makes the kitchen look even bigger. So it had two purposes. For my fridge, I wanted the stainless steel, obviously, and then a French door that opens up, and then the water on the inside instead of on the outside, where it's always dripping. And then freezer, because I buy vegetables and things, and I just put them in the freezer, and then I heat them up. So I love my fridge. The dining room table, I wanted something that can seat more than four people. And so this specific table expands on each side, and I can move two of the chairs in the living room and add them here, and I can seat six people comfortably. I've had guests over, and we just sit here around the kitchen table and, you know, eat and talk, and we can watch TV. And then when we're done eating, we can sit in the living room. Everything is open, and they seem to love it. It has a nice feeling. It has like a Zen feeling. They like it. This is the living room. It's all in one. And this is my wall of travels. I've been to over 60 countries. The thing about the furniture, when I purchased it, I made sure that it has legs on it. That gives it more space. It makes it look like it's bigger than it is. Whereas if you get furniture that's all the way to the ground, it makes the space smaller. So I wanted to maximize the seating so I can seat as many people as possible. And that is the reason that I had this L-shaped. This is my area, so I can lay down comfortably and watch my gigantic TV. And then I added these two chairs that I can move to the kitchen, dining area, and I can seat six people. So I did want to have the maximum amount of seating that I can without having any folding chairs that I don't like. I wanted the space to kind of be a green, which is a neutral color, but a good color. And it also matches the view, the green view that I have of the desert. So I just love. And green is one of my favorite colors, so I can't go wrong with green. One thing I definitely had to downsize is the plants. I had a lot of plants in my big home, so I had to make it a smaller area. But I love the plants the way they are. And they're right next to the French door and the window. So they're flourishing and they're growing really nice. And I'm okay with that. Originally, the French door was going to be the entrance. And I said, no, I want to look at the view. So we switched them around. And my French doors, when you open them. So I don't have bugs and mosquitoes in the summer. So I had these put in. So I get the fresh air. And I also added this thing on top. So when we get the rain, it doesn't rain right by the house. It goes down to the desert. And I love that. The windows are large. And if you notice, I don't have anything covering it. It's open. Same thing with the glass French doors. It's mainly to see the beautiful view. The Saguaros, the mountains, all the animals that walk by. And it matches my furniture. It's all green. So I wanted to put the largest TV I could. And then these are two pieces of furniture. And each one of them has nine cupboards in there. And so I can store a lot of things. So that's a storage area. But it's also a display area for all my travel treasures from all over the world. When it comes to heating and cooling, my tiny home has a split right here in the living room. And it takes very little electricity. And I don't use it all the time because I can open the two doors. And I really like the fresh air too. It's a lot cheaper than cooling a big home with five bedrooms. A lot cheaper. I turn on the AC. And in two minutes, everything is nice and cool. And the electric bill is very, very low. But it's attached to my main house. I barely see a difference. I find this space more comfortable. It's open. It's everything I need, everything I want. And it's just beautiful. And I love it. Right outside my bedroom, I have a little laundry space here. I had to have a washer and a dryer. And I like that it's stackable. And they put almost like a little room in here. And I close the door. I can't hear a thing. So even if it rings and it's done, I'm like, is it done? I can't hear it. It's so good. And it's out of the way. And then I have a little folding step ladder that's very thin. But it's also very sturdy. And I use it a lot. It started at $155 was the base cost for everything, which includes the hookup to the sewer, the electrical, the water, the permit, the building, and everything. All the appliances included. And then I added a few things. And it went up another $10,000 once they were here. And I used them also to do things around the big house. I was so impressed with the way they did the job. And so that's extra cost. But it wasn't the cost to build the tiny home. So since building the tiny home, even though the electric and the water bill is connected to my big house, I barely see any difference in cost. When it comes to the insurance for the tiny home, all I had to do is make a phone call to my great insurance guy. And he took care of it. I'm an avid traveler. I like to travel the world. Airbnb-ing the big house and having a property manager that I don't take care of it on a day-to-day basis, the extra income will allow me to even travel more than I have. I like to go to places that I haven't been before. We travel to over 60 plus countries, but there's a lot more countries in this world to see for me. In my bedroom, I wanted to keep it bright. Lots of storage. And my bed lifts up and I can store all my sheets and everything. This little thing here lifts up all the drawers here. I got six of them. Same thing at the bottom. They're on four legs, so it makes the room look more airy and bigger. And then behind me, I couldn't find one on legs, so I had to buy this one, but it has three and three. So I've got six drawers that I can store things in. So storage was very important to me. And the bed is queen size. So and I have a great mattress and I feel very comfortable. And in the morning I see the sunrise. I have a mini split in here for heating or cooling. I haven't actually used it at all. I probably will eventually in the summer. But the mini splits are amazing. They're quiet. You don't hear them. And they work great and they're very economical on electricity. So in my closet, it looks like there's light, but actually it's not. It's a solar tube. Right in here, we have 360 days of sun. So it's a sunlight coming here. I talked to my builder and I said, I need more light. And he says, well, because the skylights are old fashioned. He said now they come out with something that's called a solar tube, which is like a big skylight, but it's smaller. And I'm like, OK, I want one in the in my closet, one in the bathroom and one in the kitchen. And so that was an extra additional cost for that. But it's something that I wanted. My closet is bright. I can turn on the light, but I really don't need it. I also have a little area here that I can put my printer, all my paperwork and my shredder. And then this is my favorite thing here. It replaces a mop and a broom and it mops and it vacuums all in one. So to get to my bathroom, you have to go through my bedroom. And I did not want a hallway. So I eliminated the hallway and I'm OK with people going through my bedroom because I wanted a bigger bathroom. Welcome to my wet room, which is my bathroom. This is my sink. It's a smaller sink, but that's OK. And I have lots of storage space here. What I love about it is I have my plants that I had to downsize for my bigger house. And now they're hanging on the wall. They have nice light and they're nice and healthy plants. The bathtub is something extra that I paid for. And I added that because I love my bubble bath with my magnesium salt. And then over here to get more space out of the walls, I'm hanging and I'm kind of folding all my towels. These are the only towels that I had. I used to have like 100 towels. What do I need all these towels for? I have two, two and two. And that's it. On this side of the bathroom, I have the rain shower that comes out from the top, which I really like. That was a design that I wanted. I did not want a door. I did not want curtains that you have to clean. I want everything open. And so my builder said, OK, so it's a wet room. Everything's open. I'm like, that's fine. Going to get wet, it will dry. But that's what I want. And I love it. This is more storage space. I can sit here and I have my pajamas and things in here. I'm hanging all my bamboo toilet paper that less space to fill that over here. And then because I'm so smart, I have a smart toilet. It does everything for you. It flushes and cleans and it dries. It does everything. For me right now, I feel like tiny living is a long term lifestyle for me. And I enjoy it every day. And who knows in 20 years what happens. But I'm just living every day. Every morning I wake up and I love my tiny home and I live day by day. It feels really good that somebody else is enjoying the home where I raised the children. And I don't have to worry about the upkeep and cleaning and taking care of it. And I'm really happy that other people are enjoying it. So I feel great about Airbnb being the big house. It feels it's a good feeling. So far, living tiny is giving me like the peace of mind. And I'm more relaxed and I'm more happy. And I love my surroundings. I enjoy them more and I absorb them. And I'm very appreciative of what I have and very grateful. So it gave me, I think, more of a calmer way to live and not worry about things and stuff that I had in the big house, rearranging, cleaning, organizing. I have just what I need and I'm living with what I need. I need the minimum for me, for one person. And I'm happy. I'm very happy. Thank you for touring Nadia's Retreat, my tiny home. The link in the description will be for my Airbnb, the big home. If you're in Tucson, come on down.