She Built a Tiny Home on a Fixed Income. Here Is What She Got

When I found myself filing for divorce, it's like, great, now what are you gonna do? Where are you gonna go? Where do you wanna go? So I have these nasty autoimmune diseases. It was really important to me, being on disability, having that be my only income, that I live as frugally and as comfortable as possible. I have a very, very tight budget. And those of you on social security or disability, I know a lot of you can relate to this. I'd love to live on a coast somewhere, but it's not financially possible. So I decided that I was gonna stay in Tennessee for numerous financial reasons. I don't have to get a different driver's license. I still don't have to change the registration on my truck. Just so many things are just staying in the state of Tennessee. And in general, it's really, really inexpensive here. And it's a really, really fun, caring community that I found myself in. So I'm just doing my best to live a calm, peaceful, comfortable life. And I need people around me. If I have an issue that I actually need some help, there are neighbors all over the place here. And it's a comfort for me to know that I have neighbors that care. If you put the need out there, they will show up for you. And I do the same for them. So this is where I enter my tiny home, right into the living room slash guest room slash library. But this is actually where I spend the majority of my time. With this area, I had studied the blueprint of the tiny home while it was being built. And I measured and measured and measured because I wanted the reasonably biggest couch I could get in here. And I wanted a lounge because of my disability. I spend a lot of time sitting and I like my feet elevated, makes me feel better. But I also wanted it big enough so that if guests come over, they can sleep on the couch or I can sleep on the couch and give them the bedroom. Depends on the guest. So it's a six foot wide couch. It fits in this space perfectly. I have plenty of room. It doesn't feel crammed. I have plenty of room in here. And I just got the coffee table. In the coffee table, the lid actually comes up so I can eat or read or use my computer on it. And it has storage. It has a shelf and two drawers. So I felt like I scored on that. Actually, my favorite part of the whole house is this space because it's very roomy. It's very comfortable. I have the high ceilings and I have the views. For me, it just doesn't get much better than that. So what I did when I was talking to Hilltop Structures about building a tiny home for me is I kind of combined two of their models and all of their models come with a loft. I decided I didn't want a loft because even if it's for storage, because if I have too many things that I need to go up a loft to store them, that means I have too many things. And it was really important to me to have the wide open ceilings. And there's wide open ceilings throughout the house front to back. And I really appreciate that. For me, it makes the space feel bigger. Although at 14 feet wide, it's like the perfect width. So the exterior measurements of this tiny home are 14 by 34. So we tweaked the 14 by 38 model by, it's like I got the French doors with a shorter porch and the porch size is fine. But having this 180 degree view, that's what was most important to me. There were just a few things that I did while I was combining these two blueprints from Hilltop. And they typically have two smaller windows here. And I wanted more wall space for artwork, shelving, whatever I thought that I would need at the time. So what I did was I had them put two larger windows in here instead of four smaller ones. And it's great. I appreciate, I get more white shiplap look to it. So it makes it feel lighter and airier in here. And like I mentioned, I have more wall space for artwork or who knows what. This is kind of the entry at the front door. You know, you come in, you've got your bag, you've got your jacket, you've got your muddy boots. You want them as close to the door as possible. And I found this online and it's got plenty of hooks. It's got a bench to sit at. This is my actual shoe storage. So this is like the allowed to be messy corner of the house. I got a kitchen table. I don't love the look of it, but it kind of blends in so I'm okay with it. With this, it folds out and there's storage underneath. I have four chairs. This will easily seat four people and it's on wheels. So it's super adaptable. I don't utilize it that much, but I can use it for crafts when needed and company when needed. I moved into my tiny home after living I don't know, six months or so in a camper and the kitchen drove me crazy. It had everything that I needed, but it was so small. So to have a full-size stove and a full-size microwave has been huge. And there's actual counter space. There's a big sink. I have plenty of room to do all of my chopping and prep work and all of my cooking. And I have room for appliances like a slow cooker, a rice cooker on the counter. It's worked out perfectly for me. I do end up cooking every day, typically from fresh, some frozen stuff, but typically from fresh, mostly because there aren't any restaurants close by. So it's great to have all of these amenities right here in my home. The step from going from my farmhouse to the camper, to the tiny home, there were many steps involved in that. I was growing food, I was processing food, I was canning, all of the things to preserve food. So I had to get rid of the majority of that and keep it really simple because I needed things to fit into the camper. And then getting used to utilizing a smaller space, living and being comfortable with the minimum, moving into the tiny house, it's still perfect and it's simplified. And I don't need extra space for things, for extra things that I don't even utilize. I actually have a great deal of storage in here, especially moving into the tiny home from the camper and the open shelves. This was part of the builder's design. This is what I have, my plates, my bowls, my coffee mugs, my glasses. It's perfect, absolutely perfect for me. And I like the way it looks. So it came with butcher block countertops and I really like the stainless wood and white combination. It's very zen for me. My favorite part about the kitchen is that I can easily access everything I need and I keep it simple. As I had said before, just having a few things of what I need and use on a regular basis and everything is just right here. Plus I think it's pretty. I think this isn't a full, full-size refrigerator, but it is plenty big, especially for one person. And I think it would be great for two. And this cubby was created for it to sit in and I still have room up here. I can actually reach it. So I've got my appliances that I don't want to take up counter space. They're right here readily accessible. And every short person needs a stepladder and it fits here perfectly. The thing that I love about the refrigerator, especially the freezer, is now that I'm in the tiny home and I have the space with the full stove and bigger appliances, I'm able to cook in bulk and I have plenty of room in the freezer for meal-size portions that are frozen in there. Right across from the kitchen, this is the back wall of my living area. This is a piece of furniture that I kind of got stuck with from the farmhouse. And luckily I was able to fit it into the tiny house and I turned it into my pantry and it doubles as my library. So far, this has been all of the different spaces in the kitchen, refrigerator, freezer, and this pantry. I've had plenty of storage for my food. So I'm going to go back a little ways to when I was living in Colorado. Corporate job, had a huge house that I was renovating and then I met a guy. One thing kind of accidentally led to another thing and we found ourselves selling our properties and moving into a 40-foot RV. Traveled around the US, visited some people, and we stopped in Tennessee to visit friends and found a farm from the 1800s that needed to be renovated. All we had to do is add a 50-amp plug for the RV. It had city water, city power. It was great. So we bought it and we spent six years cleaning up the land, remodeling the house, and fixing, fixing, fixing, and I grew everything. And it was a very small 1,000, just under 1,000 square foot house, one bedroom. And that was great. And then I got sick and ended up getting on disability. But the biggest thing was that I wasn't able to work on the farm anymore. Couldn't work the animals, couldn't work the land. So then again, another life change. I needed to be in a position where I could concentrate on my health and take care of myself. So I got a divorce, moved into a camper, and started looking for tiny home. Actually, I started looking for tiny home communities because I already knew the builder I was gonna use. And that's Hilltop Structures in Cumberland Furnace, Tennessee. I found this community on accident, Lakeland Ridge in Eastern Tennessee. And it's just worked out really well for me. I love the house. I love the space. It's way bigger than I imagined. But just the feel of the space in my tiny home is perfect for me. And I was able to utilize the money that I, the net profit from selling the farm and the adjacent property to be able to pay for this. So there's no mortgage. So with Hilltop, my experience, it was very similar to purchasing a car, to purchasing a home. Like when you purchase a car, a brand new car, everything is detailed on there. If you're adding any accessories, you know exactly what you're gonna pay. Hilltop was very clear upfront with all of the details, exactly what I was getting and what I was gonna need to pay and when. And it worked with my budget. They said it could, it was probably be four to six months before the house was done. And I just looked at the dates recently. I think they finished it, they delivered it in less than four months. So I was really, really fortunate that everything fell into place how it needed to, when I needed it to. So here at Lakeland Ridge, there's three tiers. You get lake views from the second tier and the third tier, but the lot rent here for this particular spot is $450 a month. And then there's a minimum amount for water and every lot has metered electric. So depending on your usage, that's what you pay. It's as close to, I mean, in my mind, this is a regular house. I just, living in the camper was kind of making me nuts. So I'm really glad I got out of it and got here. Just beyond my kitchen is the laundry nook, I guess I would call it. I did a lot of research on washer and dryers, the single ones and the stacked and the reviews were just terrible for everything. So I got the least obnoxious reviewed one. And when it came right down to me ordering it, the larger size was on sale for the same price as the smaller size. So what do I do? I get the larger one. So it sticks out just a little bit, but the size is perfect. I can get anything I need washed in here and it fits in the dryer. It's just smaller than full size. It's perfect for me. And it fits the space. Bathroom space is very important to me. I don't like it to be too cramped. I've had smaller bathrooms. I've had larger bathrooms, but there's a flow to it that's important. And for me, this one has it with the sink and the cabinet. Toilet's right there. It has a window. I love having an exterior window. And most importantly, the shower and bathtub. Yes. So not every tiny home has a bathtub. Not every tiny home can accommodate a bathtub, but I've been checking out tiny homes for a very, very, very long time. You can even do a soaking tub, depending on what the space is. Even if you have a partial, you can do a deep soaking tub, have that be your shower and a soaking bath at the same time. Again, this was another reason why it was a combination of the two models that I really wanted this bathroom. I wanted the bathtub. I didn't want the corner shower. A lot of tiny homes do a corner shower. I don't like them. So this is perfect for me. The builder called me and asked me if I wanted to do the vessel sink, and I've never had one. And I'm like, sure, let's do it. And I do have a fair amount of counter space if you count underneath the vessel, which things will fit here. It comes with a large cabinet and there's another little pullout here, but it's enough room for me. There's also a storage that people don't realize about this house because I don't have the loft. There's extra space. So they put in shelves. There's huge shelving space in the bathroom and in the bedroom. This is a double size mattress. A queen would fit in here. I wouldn't go any bigger than that. And I decided to position the bed this way instead of against the back wall because here is the other dresser that I couldn't find a home for that I can actually utilize it as a clothes dresser. There's nothing other than clothing in here and the TV stand, it worked out perfectly. And I do want to be able to have the space to walk around either side to make the bed. Of course, I have storage under the bed. If you've got a bed that has risen at all, you need to utilize storage. This tiny home only comes with one mini split head and that's the one in the living room. And I insisted on having another one, paid extra for it, gladly to have a mini split in here. And because this house is so well insulated, I actually haven't had to use it much, but I have it if I ever need it and that's what counts. When the house was first delivered, there was one hook on this wall and I learned from the farmhouse, the bedroom did not have a closet, utilizing hooks and just that quick place to get something off of you and out of the way. So I added some hooks to this and because I opted for not having the loft, I have this open ceiling and there's the storage space above here, which is great for the blankets because right now it's spring, so I don't need the heavy blankets as much. Everything is stored up here and also they put the water heater up above and this is actually above the refrigerator in the kitchen. Normally it's mounted in the closet and I wanted, it's a small closet, I'm trying to keep it simple, but ladies, we want our closet space, do we not? So there's an option to put it up there and it's perfect, it's totally out of the way and there's an access door. And then in here in the closet, it came with, it was just open, so I added the closet hooks with shelves down below, I filled up the space as much as I could. I don't have a problem with storing different things in here, it's really about putting things where the space is and the living room, I really want it to be very zen, clean and open and simple, I don't want a bunch of stuff jumping out at me. So in the bedroom, things are kind of hidden, but everything has its place and most of the time I know where it is. So this is plenty of space for me. We are on my screened in porch, it's actually the front part of the house, so you walk up the deck and this is kind of like my first front door and then the French doors here, I absolutely love the view, I love the space, I love that normally there aren't any bugs on the porch and I get to sit out here with my coffee or read a book or visit with neighbors. Yeah, I really like it a lot and it has a ceiling fan, I mean, it's a great space. This particular tiny home came with wooden steps, the issue with this lot is that it drops off pretty severely right here. So I found a builder friend in the area and I designed the deck and he built this two tier deck for me out here and it's beautiful, it's safe and I absolutely love it. This is the last move for me, the absolute and I said that last time, oh, I'm gonna die on this farm and legally I found out you can bury me on that farm, I had the whole thing planned out but sometimes life requires a life redo and living tiny was the smartest choice for me and I'm really, really glad I made that decision and there is absolutely nothing wrong with living this way, I wish I had done it a long, long time ago. There's so many of us out there struggling, this is a relatively inexpensive way to live a quality life in a community and these are very community oriented people. You can be as social as you want and you can be secluded in your home as well, whatever you choose and everyone seems to be accepting of that and I really like that. I have lived many lives but for 15 years, I was a real estate transaction coordinator, I know a lot about real estate, I know a lot about contracts. You need to be very, very careful, be your own advocate, just do all the research, talk to other people and make sure that you're not being taken advantage of. You need a clear, concise, detailed contract if anyone is building a house for you and you need to be able to see all of the details, a detailed lease for where you are planning on parking that, check out the local laws and regulations, go with who you trust, do your research on the people before you make a decision, definitely before you hand over any money. Well, I hope you've learned something, I hope you've enjoyed the tour of my tiny home. It's happy hour, so I'm out of here, take care.