This Amazing Tiny House Does Everything Differently!

We may build our homes but one thing that I've really learned is that our homes also help to shape us and who we are as human beings and today we're about to visit an absolutely stunning tiny home that really is a wonderful example of just how much of an impact where we live can have on our lives. Hi Ellie, it's so nice to meet you. Hi Bryce, lovely to meet you. Charlie, it's wonderful to meet you. Your home is absolutely beautiful. Oh thank you. The style is just so unique. It's such an interesting shape. We didn't just want like square boxy shape, we wanted it to be kind of a wave just moving through the earth and the land. Yeah that's why it is the shape that it is. That was a big brief wasn't it with our designer that we said as many curves as possible and we wanted it to just feel really smooth and like it was already part of the landscape. It's actually amazing what a difference that curved roof line just makes for the overall feeling of the home. And inside as well. And tell me about your journey into this home. How did you come to be here? So I've always dreamed about living in a tree house. Nice. And then I became an adult and did very adulty things for half of my life. Less fun. Yes, very much less fun. Had a marriage breakdown, sold a property together, wasn't able to get back into the market and then met Charlie. We bounced around in rentals for many years and three and a half years ago we moved up here and I just had this little spark in me that I wanted some changes. I wanted to live in nature as much as possible and I just wanted this freedom. And so I went back to your shows and just immersed myself in your content. I spoke to Charlie about my tiny home idea. I didn't really understand it especially Ellie has children so I was like how's that gonna work? And then she showed me your channel and I was like oh I think I understand now. Like I don't ever want to live in a normal size house again. Even though this is a big tiny home and we've got a massive outdoor area, I just can't imagine living in a standard size house. What size is this tiny house? So the trailer's 11 meters long, standard 2.4 wide and 4.2 high. Great. And then you've added on to the space as well because you've also got the amenities building. Yeah so we didn't want a toilet or shower inside the home. I just don't like the idea of it. Once I went down I didn't like it and then I was like all right everything's going to be rustic and indoor outdoor living so I really went for one. Just leaned into that. Yeah why not? Andy our designer and builder came up with the idea of the amenities and that is that's a creation. Yeah I love that building too it looks so cool. Yeah yeah it's almost the size of another tiny home. We had the space and it works and everything is movable so that can be moved if we need to along with the deck it arrived in cubes as well so we can move all of it as well. I'm sure there'll be a lot of people that have quite a reaction to the idea of an outdoor amenities building but you're in such a good climate for indoor outdoor living here and as well I think it's really easy for people to forget it's actually only in the last 70 years or so that indoor plumbing has been a normal thing in homes. Yeah that's right and in summer we can shower outside as well because we've got an outside shower. Yeah the outdoor space that you've created here really is very cool. Yes thank you that was a big part of the design having the deck be bigger than the floor space inside. I don't think it would have been possible for us to live in a tiny without this space this is where we live three quarters of the year. Yeah and tell me about the parking spot here. That was definitely a journey within itself we did have another parking spot lined up and we had you know everything ready to go on it the gravel everything was ready and the day before there was a pullout and so then the tiny home had to sit at a location for weeks until we could find another spot. We truly believe it was meant to be because when we first moved to the area we drove down our street going to the beach because we're just a few minutes to the beach and I looked at and said I want to live here one day we might grow old here and an amazing friend rang me and said I've got somewhere for you. I feel teary thinking about it like our landlords are amazing and everyone around is so lovely. And it's such a beautiful parking spot as well you're surrounded by all this lovely greenery and bush. Yeah that was really important to us wherever we were going to be that it was going to be a lot of bush and natural environment we don't want to disrupt the land too much but obviously we did a little bit moving in so it's why we have a lot of natives that we've planted around to try and give back. I mean we didn't cut anything down but obviously there's a disturbance when you move somewhere and you're building and digging and we just kind of wanted to do our bit to heal that. I think it's one of the most beautiful things about tiny homes is that it is literally a smaller footprint and so our impact on nature is reduced just by the size of our home and we do get to leave so much more room for nature which I think is beautiful. Yeah and I see you've got the solar panels on the roof as well so you're off the grid here? Yes going back to the freedom of why we went into this journey we really wanted to be able to have minimal bills and also just sink back into nature as well so yeah the solar panels are up on our roof and they've been working well. Great and Ellie your daughter lives here on the property with you doesn't she? Yes she does I've got my 15 year old daughter Harmony she has been a massive inspiration into why we're here and she's helped us along the whole way with this process. We wanted her to be able to experience nature and freedom a lot more than what living in a town and living in a house would be for our situation and our family so yeah it has been really important that we've considered her in everything that we've done. And she's renovated her own caravan hasn't she? She has yeah for a year eight project they had a job of finding a new skill set finding a mentor going into the community and unlike choosing photography or jewellery Harmony decided to renovate a caravan. It was a time we started looking into tinies as well and so she was able to put her energy and focus into the caravan because that was going to be like a teenage den the three of us were going to be living in here and she thought that could be her space she loves art she loves music and she could have all her friends there. She spent the year renovating the caravan and fell so in love with it and said mum is it okay if I live in there so that's her bedroom but she comes up here most of the like she's up here we have all our meals together and she spends most of her time up there but she does have her little space down there. What a great space for a 15 year old I would have gone crazy for that when I was 15. Also my son he's 19 he's currently living out of town working down south with family but he loves coming up here he's got a group of friends when he comes to visit and he's a mad fisherman so he's got all his pbs up here with some some mad fishing and camping trips so yeah he loves this space as well. Perfect spot for it. Yeah yeah it is yeah. Well already I'm just so inspired with what you've created here and I cannot wait to see inside this house can we take a look? Absolutely come on in. All right this is incredible it really is such a unique design and I love all of the shapes and curves in here. Thank you. Our biggest design brief in the tiny home was to have a real flow and soft edges so we didn't really want anything straight so Andy absolutely nailed the brief. We wanted an entry point that was at its highest. I think because when you walk in the roof is at its highest point so you feel like you're walking into more of an expansive area and then yeah you can go like either kitchen lounge room or up the stairs the lounge room is pretty spacious for us I would say and we've got like all our artwork and everything that we wanted in here we did get rid of a lot of things moving into this life but the curve up here and then the lights that go around there were really important because we didn't want harsh lighting yeah lots of windows for natural light that was in the brief and Andy nailed it that's a great builder yeah amazing and in the lounge room we decided not to go with any built-ins going into a tiny home you always think ah we need so much storage so that was a big thing we thought we needed but then as the process went along we decided to build the extra amenities we realized that we wanted to keep the lounge room free from anything locked in future proofing possibly can be turned into a bedroom if we need to but we just have the couch and then Ellie's little office is in there as well yeah great so you work from home as well I do yeah I feel really lucky I've got an office in town but half of the week I work at home yeah and you are a nutritionist I am yeah a big part of what I do is supporting people's gut microbiome and autoimmune conditions and just creating homeostasis within the body I feel like health is a reflection of nature so to live and work and be in this environment just feels really conducive to what I'm supporting my clients with that's lovely yeah yeah the space just works so well and it also just looks like such a comfortable lounge one of the things that I really like just about this home in general is the window placement as well you've also just created this wonderful very immersive connection to the natural world in this home yeah once again Andy I mean that was Andy yeah we wanted some wall space for art but so there's that fine line but the window placement was so important we just wanted to be out when we're inside to be able to feel like we're and everything's like sort of a picture of nature yeah and then with the lighting as well not being too harsh yeah lovely having the fire there as well yes the so Charlie was very kind during this process and let me do most of the design and there was only a couple of things that she wanted one was a deck one was curves and top of the list was a little fireplace I'm right there with you on that one Charlie yeah this winter is the first time that we've really used it yeah and it's incredible like it gets hot really quickly I know people always say this but it's true you have to open the windows because it's like yeah 45 degrees in here but I love that though because there's nothing nicer than getting the fire cranking in the winter and then opening up all of the windows and you have the fresh air but all of the warmth from the fire I just think it's so cozy and nice beautiful yeah and I absolutely love your stair design here as well obviously you've got all of these beautiful curves but heaps of storage in this as well more storage than we use we did get rid of a lot of our things but it's kind of like a normal standard size house like that is sort of how it works I think the process though as well you downsize to live simply but then when you're living it you have less and then you want for less so then you seem to downsize even more yeah yeah in this one is our all our solar battery charging stuff and then clothes and then we've got like a little tech drawer that was really important for us yeah all those cables all the cables having a teenager as well and just knowing that there's a switch off time that we put everything away so everything charges in there and then the bottom drawer goes all the way back to the wall and it's our linen press so yeah plenty of storage yeah that's a really good design yeah and this kitchen wow what you have done here is absolutely magical the colors the textures there is just so much going on in here yeah it was pretty important to us having a massive kitchen because we both loved cooking it's life for us and connection and community and health so our design brief was that we wanted half the house to be a kitchen yeah we've sort of named that's happened absolutely and that's underplayed charlie because you are a chef aren't you well almost a chef i'm currently an apprentice hoping to finish at the end of this year beginning of next year i've always worked in hospitality mostly cooking and then when i moved up here i decided that i wanted to qualify as a chef yeah it's been pretty important for me to go on that journey and i don't think i would have done it if we hadn't have moved into this and then having that freedom to decide what i want to do with my life moving forward it's been really good yeah and what a space to deliver that gift from oh my gosh first of all holy moly that is one of the most beautiful scents i've ever seen in my life twice we bought the sink before anything else so as often happens with tiny homes you buy one thing and then build the house around it i think in may on one of your shows seen someone with a large double farmhouse sink and we decided not to have a dishwasher and so this one popped up and then that created then the flow of texture and color and everything moving forward i sort of said to our builder this is what we've got we're going to work around that so the whole house is really built around that same thing yeah yeah we just like natural and rustic and we didn't want to be too precious about anything either this is a home to be lived in and that sort of led then the theme of a bit of a mixed match of different timbers and textures we were then really open to what andy showed us with different woods what he could source locally and it just it was a very different design than what we'd originally thought but it just really then came together and this backsplash is mesmerizing what is this and how did you do it this particular material is an old school technique of venetian plastering really goes back many many centuries and i just happened to see on a local facebook community page a local plasterer promoting his venetian plastering and i saw some of his work and i was just blown away with it and i reached out to him and said hey have you done this on a kitchen splashback before and he said no but i i'm happy to give it a go but the end result was just blew our expectations to be honest he just kept layering and layering limestone and crushed copper right and just brought out all the colors yeah i think that is so special and ultimately as well it's so beautiful but it's also an incredibly functional kitchen you've got so much prep space you've got room for everything you've got this lovely breakfast bar in that window that was in our definitely in our design brief that we wanted that indoor outdoor and we've already shared so many memories with friends family neighbors everything's lined up there and you have that sort of flow brilliant and next up we have your sleeping loft can we have a look up there yeah let's go okay oh this is lovely up here and hey i can actually stand up here as well right what a fantastic design this is such a spacious loft as well yeah we definitely wanted the idea of that cocoon like feeling but it's so much more spacious than what we yeah what we thought yeah expect it to be this big but then when andy made it it was huge and i love this bed design as well what you've done there with integrated headboard and storage it just looks so good yeah once again we wanted to keep things as streamlined as possible and make this space somewhere that we just slept that was really tranquil that was something that was really important to us and once again it just feels like we're up in the treehouse and we're sleeping amongst the trees it feels really right yeah we love our bedroom it was so nice yeah and i love that you got your treehouse after all yeah we did yeah i love that from up here as well you can also really get a full appreciation of this wonderful ceiling shape and the roof line we love that we love seeing the curve yeah from from our bed in nature there are so few right angles and i think that if we build spaces with more curves in them i genuinely do feel like it has a really beneficial and calming effect on our psychology absolutely yeah just from like when you've had a long day at work or you've been out having to be in the city or wherever and then you come home to this gentle house moving through nature and that has continued from when you pull up to when you come in the whole experience just softens you yeah and so how long have you been living here now it's been just over a year and tell me what it's like to live here just beyond anything that we ever dreamed of brings out the best in us we're just trying to be the best that we can not take up too much space and contribute to the land and to humanity as best as we can and living here really lets us do that and also relax and have fun and go to the beach and not take life too seriously not get too consumed by work we're not having to pay for bills and mortgage freedom going with the seasons is really important to us obviously being off grid that has really influenced a lot of day-to-day when it's raining we are very thankful because it's filling our water tanks up it just feels like it's just the way it has always been and it's always meant to be and i really love what you said charlie that this is a home that brings out the best in you because that is exactly what a home should do so many of us live in homes and living situations that bring out anxiety and stress and busyness but here you've created a place where you can immerse yourself in everything that is most important to you and focus on bringing out the gifts that you want to share with the world and i just think that is so incredibly special yeah i think tiny home living does bring out the best and the potential for what humanity has to offer each other and to be kind and to be generous and to share and if i could have you know all my friends living in tiny homes on land i would like i would encourage that to happen absolutely yeah better for the land and better for people to be in a situation where you have all of your needs met and and you're okay you're covered it does put you in this very strong position to be able to then go okay well what gifts can i share with the world and i think that's really beautiful absolutely yeah it feels like it's always been home and that it's always as it was meant to be yeah there's freedom it's gentle it's fun there's not really any stress that we have to carry with us constantly if stress comes in it just comes in and goes back out because we don't have to worry about the pressures of society and the pressures of having to keep up with everything um we're just here living and gardening and doing what we need to do to be in this world this is such a beautiful home it is so unique and there's so many wonderful artists that have contributed to making this possible can we talk about the cost that was involved in building this we would say around 200 000 got us everything that we wanted some of the finishes were you know more on the higher end but because it was a small space we could work with that it's worth spending extra to get what you really want yeah because then it's it's done then yeah it's gonna last it does and it can be done absolutely it can be done on the cheapest scale but we were fortunate enough that we didn't have to yeah so yeah like 100 move into a tiny home do the cheapest most practical option to give you security and freedom yeah if you can do whatever you need to do to make it beautiful and well doing something beautifully doesn't also mean that it has to be expensive exactly some of the nicest most beautiful homes i've ever visited were done on absolute shoestrings and now that you're so well settled into the home what does the future hold for you what's next for you both well we want to keep giving back to the land obviously we've started putting in some vegetable gardens so we've been creating a bit of a food forest and yeah so we want to keep that going we've been living out of our tank vegetable garden for about the last six to eight months so that's giving us a lot of produce and i've just started a new garden bed that we're going to pop in spring we'll we'll start putting some more things in continuing with our natives so that part's really i want to work on doing something with the gray water and just maybe with the compost i'm probably going to make a better compost at the moment it's just some pallets stuck together but right yeah i know letting the team down well i just think you have both done such an amazing job on this home this truly is one of those spaces where everywhere you look there's something you to fall in love with thank you so much for sharing it with me thank you thanks bryce thanks so much for coming absolutely my pleasure ellie and charlie have created a home here that really feels like no other there's so much art and so much creativity that's been poured into this space and i am absolutely enamored with everything that they've created here more than that though i love the sentiment that this is a home that helps them to become better versions of themselves this is a space that really gives them that ability and that safety net to go out into the world and do everything that they're really passionate about and i love that so much of this in their case has ended up with them having this really strong desire to give back there's such a beautiful couple and this home is such a beautiful reflection of who they are