How I Designed My Tiny Home for Maximum Comfort

This video is sponsored by Thrive Market. Hi, I'm Denise, and I took control of my life by ditching the expensive rent and choosing My Tiny Home. This allowed me financial freedom, less stress, and more time with my grandkids. I will share with you how I made the leap and why I will never go back. Welcome to My Tiny Home. I did choose a champion home. However, I was assisted by Liberty Tiny Homes. Melissa and Christine at Liberty Tiny Homes helped me design the perfect home for me. It is a 15 wide by 30, and then it's 15 wide by 40 if you include the porch that's outside, because it's a 15 by 10. It's 399 square feet. That does not include the loft that I have upstairs, and it does not include the porch. So the living space at 399 is all downstairs. If you're wondering where I decided to park my tiny home, I chose Shady Creek Tiny Home Community. Part of the community is an RV park, and the back section, they are now making into a tiny home community. So as far as the layout, as soon as you walk in, you walk directly into the living room, and behind me, you will see the kitchen, and behind you is the bathroom and the master bedroom, and upstairs, I have the loft. So a lot of people ask me how I went from 2,500 square foot to 400 square foot. For me, it was not a sacrifice at all. I have everything that I need here. I have a really large couch that's very comfortable. I have a beautiful view of the pond. I have a large kitchen with all the appliances that I need, and I have a king-size bed in my bedroom, so I really can't ask for much more. I also have a space for my grandkids to play when they come over and sleep as well. So my previous kitchen, before I decided to go tiny, was a lot larger than this, obviously, but however, I have everything that I need. I have full-size appliances. I have a dishwasher. I have a full-size stove and microwave, and as you can tell, I have tons of storage. I also opted in to getting the island for whenever I have people over for dinner or cookouts or whatever, and it also allows me to have extra storage back here as well. So often, people ask me how do I entertain people here, and we actually had a party here with 19 people, and then we had one for 25 people, so it's actually really easy to entertain here. The island really helps with the area, so you have plenty of space to lay things out. I have plenty of countertops and full-size appliances. It allows you to cook just like you do in a regular kitchen. As you can tell, I have plenty of cabinet spaces. I mean, I have a spice cabinet. I have a cabinet for my plates. I have a cabinet for my cups, so I'm really lacking no space in here at all for entertainment purposes, and I have a place to store my foods, my canned goods, chips, that kind of thing, too, so I was able to get everything that I wanted in my tiny home. So people ask all the time about my grocery shopping or my shopping in general. The kitchen is the main area that sometimes can be a little difficult. It's simple things like cases of water. I don't have a place to store them. I have a filtered water system here in my fridge that works out great. I do not have to buy filtered water anymore, and also, like in your cabinets, you really have limited space, although you have plenty of space. It's still limited, so you might have four mugs or four glasses versus 10 or 12, even in your pantry. Usually, you're used to going out and buying a bunch of groceries. I don't have to do that anymore, and thank God, because it saves me on my pocketbook. I usually buy groceries per the week versus going to buy tons of groceries at Sam's or Costco or whatever. You kind of buy in smaller amounts now, but it's not a problem. It does not affect anything. You just have to learn how to shop different. Denise makes a great point. I have definitely had to learn how to shop differently as well. My name is Cindy. I live in this tiny home, and I'm part of the team at Tiny Home Tours. Just like Denise, before we moved into our tiny home, we liked to buy in bulk and stock up on items so we didn't have to make as many trips to the grocery store. Now, we don't have as much storage space to stock up on items. In order to cut down on our trips to the store, we decided to use Thrive Market. This video is sponsored by Thrive Market. Join Thrive Market today and get 30% off your first order, plus a free gift. Thrive Market delivers affordable, organic groceries to my door, and the entire selection is 100% GMO-free. So if I'm cooking for me and my husband, I know the ingredients are high quality and support a healthy lifestyle. And if my grandkids are coming over for the weekend, I can make sure to order the tastiest snacks that are certified organic and a great alternative to the junk food you can buy at grocery stores. For me, moving into a tiny home was about two things, saving money and living simply, and Thrive Market supports both of those. Their prices are competitive, so I can continue to eat high quality food without breaking the bank. It's also super easy to use. I can open the app, select the items I'm gonna need for the whole week, send off the order, and it'll arrive at my door. So then I don't have to make dedicated trips out to the store for food. I don't know about you, but the fewer things I have to worry about, the better. I wanna spend my time enjoying life, enjoying my family and enjoying my community. Anything that allows me to do more of that, that's an easy decision for me. Check out Thrive Market by clicking the link in the description or go to thrivemarket.com forward slash tiny home tours. Thanks to Thrive Market for sponsoring this video. Now let's get back to Denise's tour. So when you're building a tiny home, there's a lot of things that you gotta keep in mind. You wanna make sure that it's designed perfect for you. For me, I don't wanna sacrifice a lot. So I went ahead and did the large Texas size sink. And then also I opted to get a dishwasher. I couldn't do without my dishwasher, even though it is tiny because it's in a tiny home, it works just like a normal dishwasher. And with it just being me, it gives me plenty of space. I also have my convection oven. It folds down whenever you wanna use it and folds right back up. And it saves the space on your counters. As far as living in a tiny home too, a lot of people ask if it's easier to maintain or if it's harder to maintain. For me, it's a lot easier, less to clean. It's pretty simple to clean up your dishes, put them in the dishwasher, be done for the day, cook your dinners, and you just have a small little area to clean. So downsizing from my larger home to this tiny home has not been a large transition at all. Like I said, I have all the appliances that I need. They're all full size. I have plenty of space in my kitchen to move around. So I have not had a difficult time whatsoever. I am just a stone throw away from my kitchen and I'm into my living room. I absolutely love my living room. The reason I love it is I have a beautiful view of the pond, which is my favorite thing. And that's why I designed the home the way that I did. I put all the windows facing the pond. And also outside the view, I have a wonderful TV, a big size TV. Their credenza here has four extra storage shelves at the bottom. And then I have three drawers across the top. It helps with storage. It really gives me an open space to put like the little knickknack things that are miscellaneous. On this side, I chose not to have any windows. And the reason I chose not to have any windows is because I really didn't want to look at another tiny home. And eventually the development is going to take place and there will be more tiny homes behind me. So that's why I moved all the windows to the other side. I did, however, upsize to a really large couch. I did this because it has recliners and it's very comfortable. So it's a large couch for a tiny home, but for me, it's perfect. So for entertaining purposes, it's actually really nice to be in a tiny home because everything is really close together. So if I have guests over and we're watching the football game, hockey game, it's really, really convenient and easy to have the kitchen right here where you can entertain and cook and do all that and serve your guests. So on the backside of the house, we have the door that leads to my bedroom. And then we have the bathroom here. And also inside of my bathroom, I have a door that leads into my bedroom as well. And then right up here, we have the stairs that lead up to my loft upstairs. The reason I chose to get a loft is because of my grandkids. It is an option. You can build the same exact model or any of the models come with or without a loft. It's completely up to you. I think at an older age, or maybe if you have some knee issues or whatever and can't make it up the stairs, it's a better option for you not to get the loft. However, if you do need extra space or if you have grandchildren that come and visit or just people in general that come and visit, the loft is a great area to have. It's a lot of space. So in the little nook area here, there's actually a full-size washer and dryer hookup behind here. However, I chose to go ahead and buy a cabinet for extra storage until I figure everything out. And later on, I will buy a washer and dryer. So with me not choosing to add a washer and dryer, it's really convenient for me because the community does have a really nice washer and dryer area where you can actually pay with your phone. It's very simple to use and there's plenty of washer and dryers down there. So I paid $135,000 for the home. I did build it, custom build it. So I added things like the dishwasher and I took some things out. So that will change your price, but I paid $135,000 and there are additional fees on top of that. For example, skirting costs $5,500 and the utilities and the setup of actually putting it here on the spot is $1,500. And they typically move it for free if it's within a hundred miles. The lot rent here at Shady Creek is typically $950 a month, but they do have a concession for the first year that you move in. And so they take $100 off. So I pay $850 a month for rent. Water is included and I am responsible for the electric bill. It is average about $50 a month. So I'm paying about $900 a month versus where I used to live. I rented a home and it was about $3,000 a month. On top of that, I had all the utilities. So it was about $250 extra. So I'm saving tons of money by living here. Plus I paid cash for my house. So I do not have a mortgage. The only thing that I have that I have to pay for is my lot rent and my electric. I could definitely afford to buy a traditional home. That was not the issue at all. I just realized that life is not about stuff. It's not about what you have. What I wanted was living a stress-free life, spending more time with my family and really being able to enjoy life, traveling more, working less, being less stressed, having less stuff. Living tiny has definitely caused my health to be better mentally and physically. It gives me so much relief. Like just having that free feeling of doing whatever you want. It's a little bit of stress during the process and downsizing and going through all the stuff. But once you get here, it's like you feel like you can breathe. It just feels like the weight's been taken off your shoulders. Welcome to the inside of my bathroom. As you can tell, I have plenty of storage. I've got lots of drawers, cabinet space. And as you can tell behind me, I have a full-size shower and I installed a rainfall shower head. It's amazing. It's got really good water pressure. So I really love taking my showers underneath it. I have plenty of room to get ready in my bathroom. I've done certain things like I've added this little shelving unit for my blow dryer and my straightener and my brush. And I also have little tubs down there to organize things. And I opted to get what they call the banjo countertop. So it leads over my toilet, which gives me more room for things that I need that are necessities. And then I have plenty of room for my makeup and bathing things and just natural things that we use in the restroom in my shelving unit. And then right here is the pocket door that leads into my bedroom. So I have double access into my bedroom. As you can tell, I did walk from the pocket door from my bathroom into my master bedroom. I do have a king size bed in here. So originally when I decided to put a king bed in here, I was very worried about the space. However, I'm a king bed sleeper. And so I actually kind of did things a little bit different and I got two twin sleep number beds and I put them together to make a king bed. So it's the same width, but the length is six inches shorter. So it saved me some room. And those are things that you have to do with a tiny home and things that you need to really think about while you're doing it. And I also have two barn doors which actually act as closets. I bought hangers that hang multiple layers of clothes. And so that way you're not taking up as much space. Again, these are things that you do and just when you're downsizing in general. With the built-in section that I chose to do with my build, they do come with four really, really large drawers that have plenty of space. And the closets are really big as well. You can have an option to do two rods in each closet or you can do one rod. I installed a electrical plug in my closet and that way I can like charge my vacuum cleaner and keep it out of the way. So again, it's a part of being tiny and putting things up where they need to go. Another thing that I love about the tiny homes is they come with the split unit ACs. I love them for a couple of different reasons but one, they're very efficient. My average electric bill is about $50 a month. I do have a split unit in my bedroom which keeps it nice and cold in here. And I also have one in my living room. So my living room area can be turned off during the evening whenever I go to sleep and I turn this one on at night and vice versa whenever I wake up in the morning, turn this one off and turn the one on the living room. But they blow out very cold, they're very efficient and they're great for a tiny home. So not only do I have the beautiful view of the pond from my living room, sitting on my couch, watching TV, relaxing, I also have it when I first wake up in the morning. I sleep on this side of the bed. My first course of action when I wake up is to open these blinds and look out and see this beautiful view. Definitely makes for a great day. So when you're building your tiny home, you have options to build it just like a brand new home. You can change the floor plan, you can add, you can subtract. One of the things that you can add or subtract is this pocket door here. The reason I chose to have the pocket door is if I have company out here, I can have my bedroom door shut and this pocket door shut here and I still have my privacy to the bathroom. Again, it is an option and it would leave you a full wall here to give you more wall space, but it's just an option I chose that works best for me. So welcome to my outdoor area. This is my 10 by 10 porch. I absolutely love it. I have a wood burning fireplace and there is nothing better than lighting a fire when it's cool here in Texas because Lord knows we hate the summers here. So I usually sit out here. I love my egg chair. This was a must in my design that I picked. My egg chair, I love to sit here and watch TV. I'm a sports girl, so doing the Stars games right now. Hopefully we win. But anyway, I love my outdoor area. I have plenty of room to have other guests here and actually have other chairs put back where I can bring them out, but plenty of room to grill and cook out. And again, I have a beautiful view of the pond. You can always opt out of building a fireplace or add the fireplace. It is an additional cost. However, most of them do come with porches, but you can opt out of that. It does not cut into your 399 square foot for your tiny home. So if you want a smaller porch, you can do that. Unfortunately, they do not get any bigger. That's just the way they're designed. But yeah, so you can save money by taking out the fireplace. We do have a few neighbors that do not have a fireplace. However, for me, this Texas girl, I like my fire. Also, everyone knows Texas has mosquitoes. So this will be my first summer in my tiny home and I'll be spending a lot of time out here like I normally do. So I do plan on putting up shades on the back, back here to help with the sunlight and the heat, and also possibly putting up some mosquito netting around the area. You can kind of customize it the way you want. So we'll see what the first summer does and see where I decide to go from there. So as soon as you walk up to the stairs, you actually have an extra deck space. Again, it's an option. With a custom tiny home, you can customize it any way you want. So you can choose not to have it or choose to have it. I chose to have it because it's extra seating space. Also, it gives you a way and a reason to decorate. You can put a Christmas tree out here, put up some fall decorations. So the main reason I chose this area is really for decorations. And also I added a bench. I can sit out here and look at the pond or it gives more seating space for more guests. Thank you so much for joining me for my tiny home. I really hope that I was able to give you some insight of living tiny. If you have any questions or comments, please comment below. Have a great day. Join Thrive Market today and get 30% off your first order plus a free gift by clicking the link in the description or go to thrivemarket.com forward slash tiny home tours. Thank you.