Bestselling Author’s Beautiful Hempcrete Tiny Home in the Australian Wilderness

Bronnie Ware is the inspiring author of The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, an incredible book that has helped millions around the world to live truly meaningful lives. And today, we have the privilege of being welcomed into her own very beautiful, very intentional tiny home. Bronnie, it is such a pleasure to meet you. Oh, you too, Bryce. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you very much. This is a very special place you have here, isn't it? It's gorgeous. It's a sanctuary and there was a long road to get here, but it's absolutely worth it. Oh, I bet. And this is your property, isn't it? Yeah, it's mine. Just under 32 acres. Perfect. So I really loved the idea of a small home, but a lot of space. And when I first came here, I sort of thought five acres with a small house would be fine. But then I fell in love with this land as a paddock and bought 32 acres and had to put a house on it instead. And it's such wonderful landscape as well. You've got all of these incredible natural features with all of the rock. Yeah, I bought the place because of the sky. I lived about an hour and a half south of here and always loved the big sky. I moved around a lot, but I was always still looking for that sky. And then when I realized it's like, okay, I've got to be at least in that region. And when I went up to the hill here and I saw the sky, I just thought I can breathe here. And so it was the sky that brought me here, but it's the rocks and the wildlife that will keep me here. Absolutely. This is such a special spot. And of course, you are the inspiring author of the top five regrets of the dying, which is a bestseller. It's sold over a million copies in 32 languages, right? Which is an amazing accomplishment. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. Can you talk to me about how that journey has led you to where you are now living in a tiny home in the Australian bush? Yeah, sure. Well, it's taught me what really matters in life. And for me, simplicity is a part of that. So is just being happy with enough. And also there was a point in the journey of this that I ended up putting it on the market because it just felt too hard. There were too many decisions to make. I'm a single mom. I had some health issues and I had a full-time career. And the house actually sat here for a year while I first put it on the market and then realised I was going to regret selling. And so then I waited and rented in town for a while in the nearby town till I could get the solar system I wanted. And so the journey of five regrets of the dying gave me courage to get on with the journey when I was ready to quit and sell. But it also helped me realise the pain of regret, that if I did sell, I would always be wondering who got that hill. And it also just helped me realise that enough is enough. It was more important to me to have natural space in acreage than it was to have a huge house. My daughter, as a teenager who's into fashion, would have loved a much bigger house with a walk-in wardrobe and everything that comes with modern homes. But it's really good for her as well because she's outside all the time as well. And yeah, so the whole journey of five regrets has taught me a lot about being grateful with enough and courage to have no regrets and the benefit of living simply. Beautiful. And these homes that you've created, they really are something very special. From the exterior, they look like quite conventional tiny homes, but you've done something really special building these with hempcrete, haven't you? Yes, so the outside, they pretty much look like shipping containers, but they're the same length, but they're 40 centimetres wider, as wide as you can get without an escort vehicle on a truck. But inside, all of the walls are lined with hempcrete in both buildings. And there's also the European double-glazed windows that open two different ways. So it's just incredible living with hempcrete. I'm in love with hempcrete. I had no idea how much I would fall in love with it. I've been here a year and a half now, so I've done all of the seasons. In summer, it's absolutely cool. We have a ceiling fan that we probably use for three or four weeks. And in winter, we've got a tiny little fire. And because it's so small, it burns out overnight. It doesn't stay going all night. You wake up in the morning, and the house is still toasty and warm. And it just feels lovely to have earth on all your walls. Yeah. And so you've got your office, and then you've got your tiny home here. What are the sizes of the buildings? So the office is six metres by 3.4, and then the house is 12 metres by 3.4 metres wide. And the office is just one room, which is all my office, and then the other end of it, we've turned that into a bit of a TV room, teen retreat. And so when she has friends over for a sleepover, I don't see them except for when they want food. We've got a lounge in there that folds out to a bed, and we've had up to five teenage girls sleeping there. They stay up all night. It's really no problem. And so, yeah, it's turned out well. Absolutely. And as you say, especially as an author, that office and that writing desk, those are very important parts of the home for you, aren't they? Yes. Yeah, absolutely. And I also photograph out here a lot. And so all my camera gear can stay there and not be in the way in the house. We like it uncluttered in the house, as most people in tiny homes do. I would need somewhere. If I didn't have it at home, I would need an office in town or, yeah. Yeah. And talking about your photographic equipment, you are, of course, also filming this really phenomenal wildlife vlog, where you're taking all of the inspiration from the wonderful landscape around you. Yes, it's my joy. My books and my writing are my income and my vlogging is my joy. And so it's not unusual for me to be out here right on sunrise with my Zoom and filming kangaroos. And there's a lot of deer as well. Deer are vermin, but they are there. And I'm always out here filming, filming the gardens, evolution. So, yeah, I just love it. That's my happy place, to be sharing the canvas of here. It satisfies my storytelling. And I get to share the beauty and I stay fully present. So it's sort of the best of both worlds. Nurture the soul. Yeah. Now, these are tiny houses and as much as they are tiny and movable, but you have chosen to build them on foundations and not trailers. Yeah, it's a pretty windy area out here. I wanted to feel safe, but also to get it through council, it was also needed to be down. So they're bolted to there and apparently it's 19 tonnes. So it's really not going anywhere, even if it was on wheels. No, it is not. Yeah. Well, I am such a fan of hempcrete, and I absolutely cannot wait to see inside this house and check out what you've done. Can we take a look? Absolutely. Can't wait. Let's go. Look at our doggy. This is absolutely beautiful. There is just something about hempcrete, isn't there? You walk in here and it actually has that sensation of walking into an earth home. Yes. And I love the unpolished finish as well. So a lot of people with hempcrete would just leave it in its natural colour, but because I am into colour, I had to get them all lime washed. And it's almost like a nurturing safety with the thickness of it and the cocoon of it. And so when I come in instantly, it's like, I'm home. Yeah. And the hempcrete has so much to do with that. Absolutely. I love the way that you've coloured it as well. As you say, I think it just adds so much vibrance to the house. And of course, immediately upon entering your home, we are in this lovely lounge kitchen. That is a very comfortable looking chair. It is a very comfortable chair. And it's actually an electric chair that helps me when I, sometimes physically, I have trouble getting up and down. Right. And so I need that chair. But when we put it in, it was like, oh, there's not much room for anything else. But this one works fine. And we're only a two person family with two people, two dogs. And so if we have visitors, we tend to go over to the office or we sit outside. So it works okay. It's enough for us. And I think that's what I kept coming back to when I was trying to work with the size is, it's enough. And if you have enough in life, you're already doing really well. Yeah. I think my absolute favourite saying from Zen Buddhism is, something to the effect of, only when man knows that enough is enough, will he ever actually have enough. And I think that's so beautifully encapsulated in what you just said. Yeah, spot on. It doesn't mean you don't still keep dreaming of other things, but it brings you back to the present and to be grateful. And this place is like a mansion to some people. Yeah. Not only in size, but certainly in comfort. It's a really comfortable house. Yeah. And speaking of comfort, that fireplace, just absolutely completing the cosy aesthetic. Oh, it's a beauty. And it keeps the whole house warm. The trees drop the wood for me. I've probably got a lifetime of wood on the acres before any storms come and drop any more wood. So I've got free heat and it's beautiful. It burns down quick because we have such small logs. But at the same time, it's so toasty. And yeah, and the ambience of the light of a night as well. There's no light pollution outside. There's nothing coming in from outside other than the pitch dark or the moonlight. And so when that's on during winter, it's as cosy as you can be. And then this kitchen just, again, looks so lovely and cosy. Simple, but as you say, absolutely everything you need. Yeah, it is everything I need now. It was a really hard learning curve, the kitchen. I'd come to an agreement on the price with the builder, and I saw that the kitchen was there and that was going to work fine. But there were some things that I just assumed and I didn't know the questions to ask. And so while he's done a beautiful job on so many aspects of the house, I ended up with a kitchen with no drawers at all. I ended up with a fridge space that was smaller than the measurements I'd given him. So I had to buy a new fridge. And I've ended up with cupboards that I can't actually reach. So I keep a little step there. Some days I can't physically climb onto that. But thankfully, my daughter is growing taller and taller. So the things that we don't need often, we put up in the top and she climbs up and gets them or just reaches up. You can also see a gas thing there, like that gold thing. I gave myself the option to have gas or not. And when it came down to it, I just decided that I couldn't be comfortable with fossil fuels. And I also really liked the idea of having no bills. So I've got my own water supply through the tanks. I've got my own power supply for everything. And I've got my own wood supply. So it feels very free in a way that I didn't know I craved. And so I ended up not using the gas at all. And then once I moved in, I also ended up putting in this cabinet here. And so now it's really lovely because it extends the kitchen. And I think no building journey is perfect. So it was just a trial and error. And as someone who'd never built before, that's one of the biggest learning curves is you don't know the questions to ask. Yeah. I think you're so right about that, that if you're new coming into a building project, you don't necessarily know the questions to ask. But it is also a two way street and a good builder should be working with you to make sure that what he's building into the space is actually suitable for you. Yes. But the beauty is that a tiny house can still be renovated. So in the future, if you really wanted to change it, it is still possible. Yes. No, that's a really good point. And you've extended the kitchen a little bit into the hallway as well. Yes. So it's not a walk-in pantry. It's a walk-through pantry. And it's unusual for a tiny home to have a hallway. But because it's two bedrooms and a bathroom, there had to be a hallway. So it felt like a bit of a waste of space. And once I could find a little wheelie narrow trolley, it just opened it up completely. And that way, all of my herbs and spices are accessible. My blend is there. The fruit bowl's there out of the heat. So it's not there where the sun might come in. And it just embraces a little bit more of the space of the house. I completely agree. And of course, we've got your daughter's bedroom behind us. What's it like for your teenager living in a tiny house? How was that transition for her? I think she wanted that size wardrobe, not that size bedroom. But she's really learned about having enough. It even sort of overlaps into how she manages her money and doesn't get wasteful and stuff like that. And she's a good little saver. And she just understands that this was my dream and that we go for our dreams. And so she goes for her dreams. And there are times where she says, I wish we lived in town or back in a city and stuff like that. But we go away regularly. And so she has a life that's the best of both worlds, that she calls me in there all the time to look out the window. Mum, look, look, there's a wallaby with its joey right at the back gate. Or mum, look, there's some deer down under the tree. So it's getting into her essence anyway. She's OK with it. She's a kid who dreams pretty big. And it's not what she wants. But at the same time, she loves her room. And I think as long as her wardrobe was big enough, she'll be fine. She designed her wardrobe. She designed where the shelves went, how much hanging space, how much shelves, how many drawers. She designed it all. And so she was 11 or 12 when we were designing that. So yeah, she's nearly 14 now. But she loves her room. I think it's such a lovely space for her. And as you say as well, I think having the office as an extension to the home just works so well in that regard. And I guess one of the things that you could even do as she grows older is she could even take over the second house and you could move your office into that room as well if you ever chose. Oh, she's already asked for it. Even before she gets older. Let's run into each other in a couple of years and I'll tell you where things are at. There you go. Nice to have the future-proofing anyway though, isn't it? Yes, it is. Yeah, great. And then next up, we've got your bathroom. Can we have a look in there? Sure, let's go. All right. Oh, again, this is so nice. And especially in here, all of that beautiful texture from the hempcrete just jumps out at you, doesn't it? Yeah, it's got some wonderful different patterns in here. I mean, it's the same everywhere, but sometimes you get the lines and sometimes the smooth bits, sometimes. But the bathroom has a good variety of all of it. And of course, another huge benefit to hempcrete is its ability to regulate moisture content. Yeah, I mean, we'll never have mould in here. It all works well. It certainly does. And this is quite a spacious bathroom, isn't it? Yeah, well, I mean, I have to deal with a teenage daughter, remember? Right. So we have to have room for her to spend time in here. But we also had to have a washing machine and I didn't want to have to have it outside under the carport or anything like that. So for two women living here, or a woman and a teenage daughter, it's absolutely enough. It's a spacious shower. Yeah, it certainly is. Beautiful rainwater shower and composting toilet, which I really love. Yeah. I grew up on a farm where drought really shaped my teenage years and we had to buy water. There was so much we couldn't do because of a lack of water. Yeah. And so it was always my intention to do a composting toilet. It's a great system. It's by the time you empty it, it's nearly all broken down anyway. It's pretty amazing. And when we think of how much water can be used in flushing, it makes the most sense. Very true. And next up, we've got your bedroom. Can we check that out? Sure, come through. All right. Hey, I love the colour change in here. Yeah, I'm a bit of a lover of soft pink and I sleep well with soft pink around. So it's just to claim my own bit of space separate to the house. Yeah. It's a really calming colour as well, isn't it? Yeah, it's a gorgeous colour. It's a really calming room and when I'm in here reading or just hanging out with the dogs, it's a really lovely space for me. Yeah. And to match your daughter, you have got a fantastic sized wardrobe in here as well. Yeah, it's a great size. I wasn't quite as fussy in the setup and the layout, but it's great because we can store our suitcases up on top. We keep the top of them for linen. So we have all our winter linen can stay inside and not have to go out in the shed or anything. And yeah, it works. Beautiful painting up there as well. Yeah, the lovers. And I love it for what it is, you know, just two lovers so comfortable with each other. But I also love it because it represents receiving, just how comfortable she is receiving. And so I sort of translate that into receiving from all of life. So because of what it represents to me, I knew it would always be in my house and be in my room. And so I had my mum make this beautiful patchwork quilt to go with it. And I also went for a king sized bed a long time ago. It took me 14 years to become an overnight success with my writing. And so on that journey, it was pretty hard at some points. And I found myself homeless and hungry in little pockets of it. And there was one night when I was curled up in this tiny little car that I called the rice bubble. And it had no curtains. And I was on the streets of Sydney. I was a little bit scared and trying to sleep there. And I made a promise to myself that night that when it wasn't if it was when my work finally broke through and I started making a living through my creativity, I was going to buy myself the most beautiful bed on the planet. And it was going to be a king sized bed. It was going to be solid and nurturing and everything else. When we're then building a tiny home, I've got a king sized bed to fit into the tiny home. So it's very symbolic to me. Yeah, I love that this bed every time you lay down to sleep at night reminds you of how far you've come. Yeah, and I never lose sight of that. And I love what you say about it taking 14 years to become an overnight success because a lot of people probably don't know your book, which is of course now an international bestseller, you were rejected by 25 publishers, weren't you? Yes, yeah, 25 publishers. And then I self published it. And then in the same 24 hours as I became a mum, I was contacted by my dream publishing house. And I was offered an international publishing deal. And it went on to become the fastest foreign rights seller in Hay House history. Wow. So it just went crazy. So just because people reject it doesn't necessarily mean it's not ready for the world. Absolutely. So you've been living here for a year and a half. How are you finding tiny house life? Yeah, I love it. I love the simplicity of it. I love that tiny home living for us really brings us outside more. And we use this for breakfast, the breakfast bar. But we don't tend to eat many of our day meals or evening meals there unless it's freezing cold in winter. Most of the time, we can sit just at the table in front of the house. Sometimes we sit on the little stools beside the house and watch the sunset. We've got a really good little ledge on the big rock over near the house. We tend to sit there a lot. And at this time of year, when the nights are getting longer, we walk up to the hill and sit at the table up there and watch the sunset and have dinner up there. We love being inside. But we are absolutely outside so much more than we would be from a regular home. Yeah. And so much of your work is focused around this idea of living with courage, living a life that you won't look back on and regret aspects of. How would you say that this house and the lifestyle that you've created here is really helping you to embody that? Okay. So by not going for a really big house, it means I don't have a mortgage for the first time in my life. So that is very freeing. So that allows us to have more life experiences away from the house as well. Whereas if I had a big home with a mortgage, there wouldn't be the money to do our little three-day trips away regularly. There's that. But more so, I live in rhythm with the seasons of the day. I notice when the sun comes up. I notice when the golden hour passes. I can feel the lengthening of the shadows in the afternoon. So I feel like a big part of living here is that, that it has connected me with the elements of nature in a way that I find very healing for my body and for my soul. Yeah. It's so interesting what you say about being mortgage-free because that desire to be mortgage and rent-free, it's actually something that has fueled quite a lot of your life decisions. It's actually what led you to becoming a caregiver, wasn't it? Yes, because I was a singer-songwriter. I took a job as a live-in carer because I didn't want rent or a mortgage. I had no idea that while I was looking after dying people, trying to get my message out there through music, that I was already being given my material for a career that would actually suit me so much more. So to be able to live out here, work from home, share my message with a really loyal, beautiful audience, is just, yeah, it's a reward for a lot of courage exercised along the way. Yeah. And I think one of the things that I have always loved about the tiny house movement, and as you say, it's one of the things that brought me into tiny house living myself, was this desire to not have these tremendous overheads in life. Because if you're not weighed down by those burdens, it gives you so much more opportunity to pursue things in life that you are really passionate about. One really interesting thing that I've learned from all of these years of filming people who live in tiny homes is I've never met somebody that lives in a tiny house and doesn't like their job. Oh, that's really interesting. Because if life's not all about the struggle, if you don't like what you do, you change it. Yeah, yep, exactly. And you've reduced all those overheads. And so you end up with more choice. Yeah. For me, this home means safety, groundedness, because I was very restless in my younger adult years. And when I'm grounded in my home, I'm grounded in myself. And so it means peace, because if I'm going through anything, and we all go through stuff and learning, different learning to reach our potential and break through our existence. So if I'm going through any of those times, I have somewhere safe to hold me and to nurture me. And this home, everything I've created here is safe and nurturing for me. And yeah, so it's home. So to that end, can we talk about the cost that was involved in setting up your home here? Yeah. So the house and office together, they were $150,000 Australian. But then to get the shed and the water tanks, the solar, the very good solar system, get all that connected, and then the house yard as well, brought it all up to just over $210,000. So even though it's a lot compared to a lot of tiny homes, it's not a lot compared to regular homes and for what I've got. Yeah. That is a really brilliant result. And what are you working on now that you're really excited about? Oh, my vlog is a big part of things for me. And I do dream about having a caged orchard. And so to do that, I'd have to get a shed because I need the runoff from the shed for the tanks. But yeah, mostly my creative stuff goes into my vlogging. And I did recently buy a slide guitar because I lost the ability to play my guitar through challenges with disease. And so I think that will probably, once I get through my frustration with it, I'd say that songwriting will return to my life at some point. And that's my intention. Beautiful. Well, Bronnie, your story is just so inspiring. You don't need me to tell you that you have impacted millions of people around the world with your work. And I think it is so beautiful to see the reflection of all of your lessons that have manifested into this beautiful home. Thank you so much for sharing that with me. Oh, my pleasure, Bryce. Thank you for seeing it. Thank you. Our mortality is not something that we like to think about. But by confronting mortality, it has taught Bronnie so much about how to live. Her five lessons have gone on to inspire millions around the world and have become a roadmap for how to live an intentional life without regret. What a beautiful gift it is that she's given society and what a beautiful and inspiring life she's created for herself here.