Forget Minimalism. This Maximalist Tiny House Is Incredible

A tiny home doesn't mean a minimalist life. In fact, it can be exactly the opposite. And today here in British Columbia, we're about to visit an exquisitely built home that really proves that. Hi Kelsey, it's wonderful to meet you. Thank you, you too. This place, I almost don't even have words for it. This is absolutely enchanting. Isn't it epic? Yeah, I think this could actually be one of the nicest parking spots for a tiny house that I've ever seen in my life. Wow, wow, I believe it. And this tiny house could not be better suited to it. It is absolutely beautiful. Thank you. So tell me about your journey into your tiny house and what inspired all of this. Yeah, I've always wanted to own my own home and it's a little bit tough these days for young people to enter the housing market. Yeah. This was a way that I could have my own home and it's beautiful. It's locally crafted. It allows me to live closer to the land and it inspires a lot of hope, the tiny house journey, I would say, because it's a way that I can own my own home and have something I'm proud of to live in and it's amazing. Yeah, absolutely. And here on this parking spot, you actually work right here on this organic farm, don't you? Yeah, I started volunteering for them when they started the farm and it was just so nice to be amongst the vegetables and they're really nice people and it's just lovely to see where your food comes from and have a hand. And there's so many hands that go into growing food and it's a lovely enterprise to feed people in this way. They're regenerative. They're taking care of the soil. They have animals. It's just beautiful. And I love that your job actually turned into having one of the most idyllic parking spots in the world. Yeah, absolutely. I feel really lucky to be here. And especially looking out onto the water directly like this as well. I don't think there's anything quite as calming as a water view. Yeah, I just spend hours staring at the water. And this home is just exquisitely done. Can you tell me about the design? Yeah, I work with a local builder and this is their design. Obviously we work together and we fully customized it for me. I love that they do these cedar shakes here. I love wood. You'll see in the interior of the house as well. I just love the natural grain and it's like nature's artwork. So I love this feature of the home. I chose the color of the siding of course and the trim and everything like that. And this is one of my favorite colors. Just like the teal turquoise kind of realm. So I'm a Pisces in case you didn't realize already. And the teal does just work so beautifully especially kind of connecting it to the water there as well. Really ties it in nicely. The cedar shakes really give the home quite a classic West Coast look, don't they? Yeah, so obviously we're not exactly on the coast here but we are in a very unique ecosystem called an inland temperate rainforest. So we do actually have cedar that grows in our environment and I think that's why it's sort of a classic look on the coast and here as well because cedar's incredibly antimicrobial and antifungal. It takes a long time to decompose so I think that's why it's kind of a classic design feature in these areas. It's not only growing here among us but it degrades way slower than a lot of other woods and it's beautiful. And it's beautiful. What size is the house? It's 44 feet long and about 10 feet wide. Great, so nice and spacious design then. Yeah, I went for a bit of a longer model so that I could have stairs into my bedroom rather than have a loft bedroom, yeah. Great idea and around the home as well. Your gardens are so beautiful. You've obviously really got a green thumb. Yeah, it's really important to me and I just love having flowers flourishing around me. Yeah, can you tell me more about what you've created over there because that looks really special. Yeah, absolutely. So this was just a bare slope before I moved here and I love flowers and I'm training to be a herbalist and obviously got a bit of a green thumb. So with the help of my neighbour there, we cleared the ground and I planted a whole bunch of different culinary, medicinal herbs that are either edible or they have some value or just beauty. Very nicely done. What are these stickers that you've got on all the windows and doors? Yeah, so these are called bird deterrent stickers and they eliminate bird strikes on windows. Normally glass is totally invisible to birds and a lot of our homes are in bird habitat. So our windows reflect the trees and the birds think that they can fly through and that's why they collide with glass and sadly often die from their injuries if not on impact. So these stickers make it safe for birds to be in and around my home and I love bird watching. I love being amongst the birds. Brings me so much joy and so this is really important to me to make my home safe for birds. It's a great addition. Yeah, thank you. And to take full advantage of your parking spot, I see you've also got the canoe out back. That's right. Yeah, Canadian classic. Absolutely. Well already I am absolutely in love with your home and I am so excited to see what you've done inside. Can we take a look? Absolutely. All right. This is absolutely spectacular. There is a lot going on in this house. There sure is. Yeah, I'm a maximalist and I just want to let all the other maximalists out there know that they can live in tiny homes too. Absolutely they can and very successfully. This is incredible. I absolutely love the way that you've styled this place. Obviously your green thumb has definitely been brought inside. That's right. Yeah, absolutely. There's really just something about bringing plants inside and almost creating this forest vibe that I absolutely love. Yeah, I love having greenery around me, especially in the winter. It just makes it feel so cozy. Yeah, and it just combines so beautifully with all of the wonderful timber in here as well. Yeah, so many nice wood features in here and the plants really do set it off. I had a lot of really cool driftwood pieces that I've collected over the years and I brought it to the builder and I said, hey, could you incorporate this in the house? And they were stoked to do so. That is really beautifully done and it does really give it that forest vibe. Maximalist gnomecore. That might be the best tiny house description I've ever heard in my life. Hell yeah. And the layout in this house is so good as well. I love the transition between the very cozy looking lounge and into this wonderful kitchen. Yeah, absolutely. The kitchen feels really spacious and the living room does too. I think the high ceilings really help with that as well. Lets a lot of light in and just makes it feel not so tiny. Absolutely. The fireplace there, obviously a Canadian essential. Oh, gotta have a wood stove. Obviously there's wood features everywhere and we burn wood and it keeps us really cozy. Yeah. Tell me about the design of your lounge. So it's got bench seating on either side and it is also storage. So underneath there's space for all my extra items and on the one side, the bench is long enough for someone to sleep over. I had the builder create these shelving units specifically wide enough to fit my record collection. So it's a nice little hangout with records and plants. The kitchen table also is a lovely piece of black walnut from a local slab company and the other half of the slab is in my bedroom. So it kind of ties the two spaces together really beautifully. I just love the spalted birch on the windowsill as well as the front of the cabinet there. I think it's lovely. I also took this giant piece of fur that I had before, gave it to the builders. They sliced it and made it the two tops of counters in there, which is pretty neat. Yeah. The other thing they customized for me is on the ladder rail, I had them pull it out a little bit so it could be a chin-up bar too. Great idea. Gotta get my gains. Heck yeah. I love that idea. And that whole lounge space is just so beautifully done. I love the way that all of these timbers are just so harmoniously coming together in this home. Yeah. The builder was a little concerned even. He was like, is this going to be too much wood? And I'm like, there's no such thing. I totally agree. There's no such thing. And it's great that you've got a record player in here too. Yeah, totally. It's part of my maximalist vibe. I was also a little bit like, records in a tiny house. It's the most impractical, large format of music collection ever. But I just love how nostalgic it feels. I just had to fit it in. Yeah. I love that records are almost becoming this kind of antidote to the modern world. They're almost like, I don't know, in a way like a middle finger to the mp3. It's sort of part of that slowing down and actually really taking time to enjoy something. I think it's true of tiny homes as well. It's sort of an antidote to the modern world in this fast construction and this sort of disconnection from the local craftspeople and things like that. So yeah, I think it really attracts. It really does. And above your living room is this wonderful cozy guest loft. It's a neat little guest room that people can stay over, a little bit of a lounge area. Sometimes I read books up there. It's a cute little cozy space. And behind me here, we've got even more storage. Yeah, this is my coat closet, boot closet. It's great to have somewhere where all that can live, especially in a Canadian climate where we have proper winter. And it's great to just not have it right in my entryway. And this kitchen. It actually does look like a herbalist kitchen, like you're ready to brew some potions and tinctures in here. Oh, absolutely. There's a lot of things in jars over here. This is a lovely design feature. These rolling spice racks, which I absolutely love. The builder normally just does one of them, but I said I must have two. I have a whole one full of tea and herbs and a whole other one full of cooking culinary spices and my fancy salt collection, everything like that. Great. And the perfect way to close off the bathroom as well. Yeah, it can. There is also a separate bathroom door. Oh, wow. OK. And just in general, this is a really spacious kitchen design. Yeah, it's a pleasure to cook and make potions in here for sure. And that is one wild pickle you've got there. That's right. This is Miss Thickle. She's the star of my home. Certainly is. And my inner nerd just exploded. Is that an R2-D2 coffee press? That's right. This is R2-DT. I love that. That is so cool. Yeah, nerd life. Nerd life for the win. And a great knife collection as well. Thank you. Yeah, I love the open design of this kitchen, just everything being so accessible and showing off all my beautiful things that are just not in cupboards. I just love that. Yeah, you are collecting all these beautiful things. You've got all this really beautiful pottery and glassware, so it really is nice to be able to celebrate all of that and have it all on display. Yeah, I love supporting local craftspeople in all the ways, whether it's potters or knife makers or thick pickle makers, you know, all the things. Yeah. And you do just in general have lots of storage in here as well. Yeah, all of these beautiful soft close cabinetry I adore. I also got all of the drawer pulls made by a local metal worker. So a lovely amount of storage and it's like nice, subtle details in the drawer pulls as well. And I love that tiny homes really make that possible too, because if you were doing this in a larger scale home, it would become very quickly a multi-million dollar build. But here on a smaller scale, you're really able to celebrate all of these different crafts and actually incorporate these into the build. It allows me to live closer to my values, to support local people to do their craft and make their art. And I love having all of these beautiful handmade things around me. It makes my heart sing. Yeah. And no dishwasher in here, but why would you want one when that is the view from your kitchen sink? Absolutely. Yeah, I love staring out at the water and the meditation of washing dishes by hand is a lovely ritual. Yeah. And the lighting design in this tiny house is next level as well. Yeah, the house takes on a whole different vibe at night. I love light craft as well. I'm actually really sensitive to light, so I love having vibey, moody lighting that's all different colors and that just sets everything off in a different way. Yeah, I really like that. It's amazing how different lighting can just really change the whole feel of a space very quickly, eh? Oh yeah. Lighting is huge and it's often not paid as much attention to as I think people should. I really love this industrial style Edison bulb lighting. All the lights in the house are on dimmers as well, so I can make it as vibey or as bright as I need to. And I also put in this disco ball, which a friend bought for me at a garage sale and was like, you have to have this. And I've taken this thing with me through so many rentals and I'm so pleased it finally has its own spinner. And when the light comes in here at the right angle, it creates this kaleidoscope of lighting all around my kitchen. Yeah, I love that. That is very cool. Disco ball brings the vibe. Is that a grow light up there as well? It is a grow light. That's why it's this vibrant pink color. It's a mix of red and blue LEDs to support plant growth. So a lot of the plants on my deck actually come inside in the winter, like the geraniums, for example, can't survive the Canadian winter. So I bring them inside and they have a little nursery up there. I love that. And next up is your bathroom. Can we have a look in there? Yeah, let's go on in. All right. Oh, this is beautifully done. You've even got a bathtub in here. This was arguably one of the main reasons why I got a Tussum tiny house built. It was essential for me to have a bathtub. And just beautiful again there with the wonderful window looking out onto the lake. Yeah, the view is absolutely stunning. And it's great to have the fresh air coming in off the water. And sometimes even the moonlight will come right into the bath. It's absolutely magical. And lovely in here again with the plants and the crystals. Yeah. I love having beautiful little things that I've found and little trinkets. And the metalwork continues in this room as well with all of my towel hooks that are leaf motif. And it's a small space, but I think it has big character. It really does. You've even got a maximalist toilet. Yes, this is my bidet. I feel very strongly about this. Bidets will change your life. Yeah. Definitely something that we need to bring into Western culture using the bidets, eh? Because they are so good. Absolutely, yeah. And a really gorgeous vanity here as well. This is again just so nicely done. I wasn't finding one that I liked online. And so I reached out to a local maker and she put this together for me. And I love it. It's full of character, just like me and my house. Yeah, really beautiful. And next up, we've got your bedroom. Can we check that out? Let's do it. All right. The design of this is just so cool. You've even got a little office space in here. Yeah, we fit it all in. Even a library and my needs storage. And I just love how spacious this feels while not having any real extra unusable space. That is quite a book collection you've got there. Some really cool titles on that shelf. Yeah, thank you. I love to read. These are a lovely collection. And all of the shelves as well, they're that spalted birch and just bringing the wood features all throughout the house. Yeah. What are some of your favorite books? Oh, Lord of the Rings. Nice. Yeah, you know, I'm basically a hobbit. I love that maximalist hobbit gnome core. And you're brewing your own meat here. That's awesome. Tell me about that. Yeah, so I guess it's a little bit of a branch of my herbalism. I got really interested in mead as a delivery mechanism for herbal medicine. And so I have a lot of different small batch flavors, different fruits and herbs going on. The cool thing with mead is the longer that you leave it, the better it gets. And so some of these are years in the making, and it's neat to have a little storage zone for squirreling those away too. That is so cool. And a huge wardrobe that you've got in here as well. So I opted to not get a dryer put in. It's a little bit more energy efficient and a little bit more space for some of my clothes. And yeah, it's quite a well-designed, I'd say. And the bed area here is lifted up. What's underneath us right now? This is actually the gooseneck part of the trailer. That's part of the reason why I went with that length, so that I could have stairs into my bedroom. And then underneath of here is actually a little, they call it the hobbit hole, actually, the builders. So bringing that back. And it's where all my tools live for landscaping. And it's neat to have an area where all that can live. Yeah. It's really neat having this branch here too. It's kind of like an actual tree growing in your bedroom. It actually is. The builders found this for me. It's a yew tree, actually, which is a very special kind of wood. And it's a neat little handrail to go down the stairs. And yeah, it's special. I like that a lot. And it is nice having the bedroom elevated like this, but then you've still got so much headroom in here. Yeah, absolutely. And I love that I can easily look out the windows. Being in bed, I've got obviously beautiful trees on this side. And on this side, I get to watch the chickens and the farmers. And it's just hilarious to watch those chickens running around. They're such characters. Yeah. And then there's the other half of your slab table and pride of place on the wall up there. Yes, this slab is definitely the feature of the bedroom. It's such a majestic tree. Yeah. Super epic. I see a whale in there. How about you? Oh, maybe a whale. Maybe even like a dragon in there. I can kind of get some dragon vibes. Oh, yeah, yeah. I like that a lot. Yeah, very cool. And again, the way that you've styled this up here is just so beautiful. You've allowed so much character into the space. Yes, all of my beautiful things have their own little space in here. And a lovely reading chair there too. Yes, absolutely. For my cozy reading adventures. I love this space. It's just got it all. It really does. And so how long have you been living here now? It's been just under a year. I moved in here in December last year. And how are you adjusting to life in the tiny house then? It's been such a dream to have my own space with all my beautiful things. And this location is amazing. It's just been a dream come true. I have a family pattern that tends toward collecting things. And there is a light side to collecting. And there's also a shadow side. And the size of the home, I will fill it with things. And so living in a small space where everything's visible, I can track everything. And I can only keep the best things. And so it allows me to live with that much more clarity about what I am collecting. And just to keep only the most inspiring things around me. There is a peace around relationships and connection, I think, that tiny homes allow. And the creation of this home in particular was the result of such intricate web of relationship and connection that I think is really beautiful. Not only with the builder and all the local craftspeople, all the way to the relationship I have with the farm and the farmers. And how that ended up allowing me to occupy this absolutely beautiful site. I feel that that's an important core of this home. This is such a beautiful tiny house and you've done such a great job collecting so many beautiful artisanal elements to put in the home as well. Can we talk about the cost that was involved in bringing this dream to life? I mean, all the things I've collected over the years, who even knows? Like from rocks I found on the ground to things I paid artists handsomely for. It's a little bit hard to estimate. But I think with the builder it came in just over $200,000. It's a great result. You've got a lot of house here for that. Especially when you consider the amount of customization that was involved in that and really bespoke elements. Absolutely, yeah. They did such a great job and they were amazing to work with and I couldn't have done it without them. Yeah. And you're obviously so beautifully settled into this wonderful home now. What's next for you? Yeah, so I'm studying herbalism at a college on the coast and I hope to just settle into farm life here and contribute my skills as a herbalist and as a landscaper. I'm a farmer and a janitor and just to integrate myself on the land here and live more slowly, live more intentionally. Just enjoy the flowers and the birds. Yeah. Well, between this wonderful cozy home you've created, your work on the farm, your adventures in herbalism, put all that together and you are creating the perfect gnome life for yourself, aren't you? I sure am, yeah. It's very apt. Yeah, gotta say I'm a little jealous of that. Yeah. Well, this really is just such a magical home that you've created for yourself. You should be immensely proud of this space. Thank you so much for sharing it with me. Thanks for coming. Kelsey's home is every bit as beautiful as this wonderful life that she's created for herself here. If I close my eyes and try and picture a perfect life, it'd look pretty close to this. A beautiful, cozy home next to the water and a life spent gardening and in nature. This really is a wonderful combination of so many beautiful things.