Stunning Spacious Single-Level Tiny Home is the Perfect Sanctuary

A home isn't just a box that we live in. It should be a place that nurtures our soul and makes us feel always excited to come home to. And this next tiny house that we're about to visit is a wonderful example of a place that does just that. G'day Dave, it's great to meet you. Hi, bro, how are you? Very well, thank you. Dude, what a place you've got here. Not bad, is it? This is stunning. I absolutely love the style of this house. All the magic's actually really on the inside when you have a look at that. It's a fantastic little house. Been in it for about eight months now. Love it, wouldn't change a thing about it. Yeah, the combination of the steel and the timber on the exterior of this home just looks on point. It's the timber work that really grabbed me. That's what really sort of popped out when I saw it at the expo and sort of made me fall in love with it. Yeah, so you first found this one at a tiny house expo, did you? Yeah, so I was actually living on a houseboat and I actually popped down to the tiny house expo in Brisbane, not intending to buy a house at all. Saw this one, fell in love with it, walked into it about 30 times, rang up the owner of the property where I was staying and said, look, do you mind if I swap the houseboat for our tiny house? And yeah, that's where we ended up with. Amazing. What was it that made you want to jump ship from the houseboat to the tiny house? So when I had my surgery, I'd move the houseboat onto land just to make it easier for me to get to and from there while I was recovering. The houseboat on the land isn't really as good as on the water, quite small, quite hot as well. So when I saw this down there, full shower, full bedroom, full kitchen, yeah, it was easy to swap over. Yeah, fair enough too. So having lived in the houseboat before this, already you were no stranger to downsized living. No, the houseboat was my first introduction. So I moved from a four bedroom house in Taunton, I sold that, moved onto the houseboat and literally had to downsize everything. So massive garage sale, wiped everything out of my life, moved onto the houseboat and it was a good introduction to just a really simple living with the basics and stuff like that. What was it that made you want to take that leap? At that stage, I was working up the mines, doing long shifts away, minimal time at home. So I wasn't ready to buy another house. So moving onto a houseboat and living on that five days a month seemed like a really good sort of option. Yeah, absolutely. And the parking spot that you found here is absolutely fantastic. It's very unusual. You'd never know it looking at this place, but we're a stone's throw from the motorway. You've got all of the wonderful nursery plants and even the water view looking out over the dam. And that's what sold me. It's a great location. Township is only a kilometre away, but it's a really nice peaceful spot. Really private as well. Yeah. You haven't always had so much luck with your parking spots though, eh? No. So my first spot was in Boreham Point. Beautiful, magnificent property. Unfortunately, as we discovered, it flooded. So yeah, water didn't come into the tiny house nine millimetres from coming in the door. That's so lucky. But yeah, I had enough of the mud and everything. So looked for a property a little bit more elevation and a little bit dry. Yep. You've definitely got dry feet here. Yeah. I don't think that dam's going to flood enough to get me. No, sir. And very cool accessory with the solar trailer as well. That's a great looking device. Yeah. So when I bought the tiny house, I was a bit reluctant to put panels on that roof. Yes. It means that the tiny house has got to stay out in the sun, can get really hot. So that was a really good option. That was actually advertised down at the tiny house expo as well. And it's a monster. It pumps in heaps of solar. My batteries are normally topped up at 11 o'clock during the day. I can run probably four days of rain. The house has got two air conditioners. I've got the fridge washing machine, 3D printer, air fryer, ice cream machine. It's got the works. I'm power hungry, but that's got 20 kilowatts of battery and plenty of power for me. And talking about toys, look at this thing. So this is my baby. So this was a little bit of a thumbs up to the cancer. I had one when I was younger. I remember the smile on my face he used to put on me when the garage door went up. And I figured life's a little bit too short not to do things you want to. Life is definitely too short to not do things that you want to. And I'm really sorry to hear about the cancer as well. That really sucks. No, it is what it is. Yeah. Now I have to confess to knowing very little about cars, but I do know that what I'm looking at here is very special. Can you tell me about this? Yeah. So it's basically a copy of a mid-1960s race car that Carroll Shelby built. What he did was he grabbed a little UK sports car called an AC Ace, small engine, imported those into the US and whacked great big V8 engines into it. And what you ended up with is a very light car with a very lot of power. That is a thing of beauty. And you're going to be soon actually moving for treatment somewhere else as well, aren't you? So I'm actually on my way down to Melbourne in a couple of days to get radiation treatment. And I went down there, got a referral, purely to be surrounded by friends and family as well, make it a little bit easier to do the journey. And the plan is to eventually move the house down to Melbourne as well. Find a spot that's a little bit green and not so rainy. Good luck in Melbourne. Yeah. How did you find this parking space? So basically I just put a post on Facebook just explaining the circumstances and I had plenty of people reach out and so I did. Yeah, brilliant. And again, I just really liked the look of this tiny home. What size is it? It's 10 metres long. The difference with this tiny house is it's three metres wide. Right. So I looked at heaps of tinies and most of them, as you know, they're 2.5 wide skinny staircase loft bedrooms. The company that builds this, they stopped doing the two storey ones now. So they just do longer ones. The houseboat was 2.4 metres wide and you wouldn't think that it's such a big difference, but it's a massive, massive difference. Yeah, it's surprising, but it really does make a huge difference. Absolutely. Fair enough. And with this design as well, I really like the way that you've got the twin decks and this house just so beautifully opens up into the outdoors. Yeah. So as I explained, when I moved in on the houseboat, I downsized everything. So buying the tiny house, I actually didn't really have much to put in it. So this was as displayed at the tiny house expo. So I asked if I could buy it as is. So it came with the decks, with the tea towels, with the plants, with the cups, with the sauces, a whole work. And then when it got delivered, Sonia, one of the owners, she actually came out and reset it all up for me. Oh, great. Yeah. I love the barbecue here as well. You've got the fire pit and even the hot tub. That's very plush. So you don't need to slum it when you're in a tiny house. So it's about living your best life. Exactly. Well, the hot tub and the car, you are definitely living your best life. Thank you. Yeah. Well, I cannot wait to have a look inside the house and see what you've done on the inside. Can we take a look? Come on in. Alrighty. This is an absolute stunner. I love all the plants in here. It's like walking into a forest. Yeah. I don't know when I started to love plants. On the house, there used to be a lot of fake plants because I couldn't keep them alive. But now I'm sort of really getting a bit of a green thumb. Yeah. I think that's just something that's so relaxing about having all the greenery around you. And healthy as well. Yeah, absolutely. You 3D printed a lot of these pots yourself, didn't you? Yeah, look, I've always been into 3D printing. I bought my first one when they first came out to Australia. And the great thing is that anything you want, anything you can think of, you can print. Yeah. There's not too many tiny homes with 3D printers and that's quite an accessory. Yeah, it certainly is. I've always been a tech head and really into sort of any sort of technology that's new and stuff like that. And I find the 3D printer just really useful for designing objects that you can't find on the shelf somewhere, like a wall-mounted pot. Yeah, you're right. These are actually really hard to find in shops. Yeah. And it's like custom brackets and things like that. I needed the pot for my keys the other day, so I just 3D printed one up. Brilliant. And the overall feel of this house is just really nice. Such a spacious design. I love, again, having the single-level design and being in a situation where you can extend the roof height and really make the whole space really feel more spacious. And in here, you can really get the extra sense of that width as well. Yeah, definitely. The space and the comfort is what really sold me, or the feel of it. It's just got a really, really warm feel to it. At the expo, obviously, this was a really popular house. It was often 20 people in there at a time, but it actually, surprisingly, wasn't that crowded. There really is a lot of room in here. Yeah, absolutely. And let's talk about the kitchen, because the timber work in here is absolutely exquisite. Yes. So the build is actually a joiner as well. So everything here is handmade. It's a really nice design as well. It looks like you've got so much storage there. And having this extra return for the breakfast bar is a really nice feature too. Definitely. So great place to eat, plenty of storage in the kitchen. Yeah. I mean, I love my appliances. I've got my air fryer, I've got my ice maker, I've got my cocktail machine. So plenty of storage, storage under the lounge, storage under the day bed in the bedroom. Great. Haven't got enough stuff to fill everything. Yeah, good problem to have. Exactly. It really does just look like a dream kitchen to work in as well. Having this kind of U-shape just gives you so much prep area and the ability to just so comfortably move throughout the kitchen. Exactly. The whole house has got a really, really nice flow to it. Yeah. And then even more space behind you as well with the stovetop and the oven there. Exactly. Full-size kitchen, so full-size oven, cooktop, everything I need to basically cook for a family if I wanted to. Great looking design. And very comfortable looking lounge here as well. Yep. Spend a lot of time there. We'll be getting that recovered because a white lounge for a guy, probably the worst thing ever. Fair enough too. Nice big telly in the corner though. And the good thing on the stand as well, great idea for a television in a corner without taking up too much space. Yeah, absolutely. It means you can easily as well bring it out if you want to or change the position. Could even bring it out on the deck and watch the game from the hot tub. Exactly, not a bad idea. Yeah, there you go. Great having all of the windows in here as well. Really nice views of all of the greenery outside and great airflow in this home too. One of the big things that sold me was just the amount of light that came into the thing. I had a little of tiny houses, cramped, dark, felt sort of really small. All of the windows and doors sort of push out or stack open. So yeah, plenty of airflow if I need it. Plenty of natural light. Yeah, brilliant. Great to see the addition of the insect screens as well here. That's obviously a Queensland essential. Well, the property in Boreham Point was fantastic, but with the creeks came thousands and thousands of mosquitoes. So screens were an important thing. They came from a company in Brisbane. So I've got sliding screens on both of the sliding doors and then I've got retractable screens on both of the windows. Yeah, great to have. And then next up is the bathroom. Can we have a look in there? Come on through, all righty. Oh wow, this is really nice. Yeah, so looking at a full-size shower after coming from a houseboat where I'm huddled over the toilet was a big, big, big selling point. Yeah, I can imagine. And this is such a nice design as well. Again, it's just so spacious in here. It is, full-size bathroom, washing machine, full-size shower, toilet, everything in here that I need. Yeah, the shower just looks so nice as well. The brass with the green tiles and the wood trim of the window, it just is a really, really great look, especially with the addition of all the plants. Exactly, the plants were my idea. So the designer was really happy when she saw those in there. But it is, it's just the design of everything just makes everything feel so warm and comfortable. Yeah, nice to have the louver windows in the shower too. Yeah, once again, as I was saying, so just natural light and air flow through here is really, really good. Yeah, absolutely. And again, this is all design that's able to come through because of the extra width in the house. That extra 500 lets you have this walkthrough here and allows just everything to feel more spacious and be nicely placed. Exactly, yes. Without that 500 mils, you'd probably lose the washing machine. You'd lose that walkway and you'd have to put the bathroom at the end of the house. Yeah, great size vanity. Again, lots of storage in here. And it's nice to see the addition of the washing machine here too. Great to have the washing machines because on the houseboat I had to go to the laundromat all the time. So a lot easier now. Absolutely, great to have. Composting toilet there too? Yeah, so on the houseboat I had a cassette toilet. Now, don't know if you've ever used a cassette toilet before. They are one of the most horrendous things in Australia. I will never forget the smell when I emptied it the first time. Somebody told me about composting toilets and said when you empty it, it's like dirt. And you never believe them until you actually do. There's no smell. There's no smell whatsoever. It actually comes out looking like dirt. Yeah, they're such a great system, eh? Exactly, yeah. And into the next room, we've got your bedroom in there. Can we have a look at that? Come on through. Alrighty. Mate, again, such nice design in here. Again, that sensation of spaciousness, lots of room to walk around the bed. Well, to come from the houseboat, which had a single bed, to now a full-size bedroom in the queen bed, oh, so good to spread out. Yeah, you've even got the bump out there with the little seat as well. Yeah, a little reading nook there if I need to relax from the day away there. Yeah, even the telly there as well. It must have been the telly in the bedroom gets used a little bit more than the one in the lounge room. Fair enough too, definitely looks like a more comfy space. Definitely. Yeah, lots of storage in here too. Exactly, storage under the bed, storage under the day bed, full-size wardrobe as well. Yeah, great, so the bed lifts up, does it? Exactly, yep. And again, really nice placement of the windows in here as well. I really like the dual louver windows either side of the bed. Plenty of light, stack of doors once again in the bedroom, so I can look straight out over the meadow. Yeah, very nice. Gorgeous light fittings in this house too. Yeah, it's like everything in here. Sonia, the designer, did such a great job in just making everything sort of feel really, really comfortable. Yeah, this is really nicely done. So you've been living in this home now for about eight months, how's the space working out for you? Really good, look, I can honestly say there's not a single thing I'd change about the tiny house. It's been designed fantastically, even things like PowerPoints and stuff like that, there's enough of them, they're in the right spots, plenty of storage, everything just works. Yeah, and how would you say that life is different living in the tiny house compared to the houseboat? Oh, look, the houseboat was great on a sunny day, jumping in the river, living on mud crabs, but it wasn't all sunsets and cocktails, big mould problems, obviously, living on the water, and just cramped. Having this space, having this natural flow of light and everything like that is so much better. Yeah, harder to park the car on the water too. Exactly, yeah, definitely. And you work in the mines, don't you, as well, so you have this sort of interesting blend of time at home and then extended periods away. Yeah, obviously not working up there at the moment, sort of taking time off to deal with the cancer without worrying about the stresses of work, but yeah, I drive road trains in the mines, so not really sort of what you expect to see of a truck driver's home. It's a bit of a juxtaposition, isn't it? Certainly is. Yeah, and to that end as well, I think one of the things that's really nice about this downsizing journey that you've gone through as well is it must have actually helped to ease some of the financial pressure and allowed you to take more time to concentrate on your healing. Yeah, definitely, look, and I just didn't wanna go and buy another house, I wasn't ready for that, and now, after living in a tiny house, I don't want a big house, I don't want a three-bedroom house. I can't keep it clean. Fair enough. I think the tiny house has really helped me, this one in particular, I think because I love it so much. It's my happy space, it's my safe space. I love coming home to this place. I love waking up in the morning and looking out of the doors and things like that. I love cooking in the kitchen, because everything feels so comfortable in this place. It's just made me feel a lot better in myself. And just looking at this house, I can tell it's been beautifully designed. The materials are all absolutely top quality. This cannot have been a cheap tiny house to purchase. Look, it wasn't, and it was a big decision for me to make. I looked at a lot of tiny houses. I looked at a lot of cheaper ones, and there certainly are many that are a lot cheaper than this, but it was the attention to detail, it was the love that's been put into this that really sold me on it. Yeah, so dare I ask what the cost was? So I paid $180,000 as a show special, and then we agreed on a value of $190,000, including everything in it, with the decks and everything. Great, that's actually a really good deal. It was, I looked at some that were a little bit more expensive, some that were a lot cheaper, but nothing sort of seemed to grab me as much as this one did. Yeah, fair enough too. And obviously you've been here for eight months, you've already moved the house two times, and you're going to be soon moving again to Melbourne. In the future though, what would you love to do with this place? So the plan is, I really want to get myself a little rainforest block that I can tuck this away, design the outside, sort of have everything there, and live life really simply. Yeah, I love that vision. And this house would perfectly suit that look as well. This house would just perfectly blend into a rainforest. Exactly, the timber work and the monument colour really, really pops against that rainforest green. Yeah, well Dave, I think you've just got the most beautiful home for yourself here. I really love the style of this place. I love how functional and open and spacious this house is. I wish you absolutely all the best for your future in this house. I wish you all the best for your upcoming treatments. I hope that all goes really well. And one day I cannot wait to see you living in your dream rainforest property. Thank you so much for sharing this with me. Thank you so much, Bryce, appreciate it. Dave has found himself a truly stunning home here. I love the style of this place. I love the attention to detail in the construction. I love all of the beautiful materials that are used. But most of all, I love what this house is doing for Dave. He's going through a lot with his cancer treatment and everything that comes with that. And this house is something that undeniably makes that whole process easier. It gives him one thing that he doesn't have to worry about. One thing that actually gives him a place of sanctuary, respite and healing so that he can focus on getting better. And that is exactly what our home should be for us. A place of sanctuary and a place of healing.