This Woman’s Single Level, Off-Grid Tiny Home Is One To See!

Linda’s tiny home is absolutely spectacular and it’s perfectly suited to her. One of the huge benefits to designing and building your own home is that it gets to be sublimely matched to your character and this home is a wonderful example of just that. This house suits Linda to a T.

Solar powered and single level for future proofing, Linda has created this tiny house to be her forever home. And to that end, it’s also a specky tiny house, with luxury choices made throughout the home to really make it special.

We hope you enjoy the tour of this beautiful off-grid tiny home and the wonderful story of the woman who built it.

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Presented and Produced by: Bryce Langston
Camera: Rasa Pescud & Bryce Langston
Editing: Sarah Binder & Rasa Pescud

Title music in this video by Bryce Langston: http://www.youtube.com/brycelangston

‘Living Big in a Tiny House’ © 2024 Zyia Pictures Ltd

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One day I would love to play a game with you where we match tiny homes to the owner I show you a picture of the owner and I show you pictures of tiny homes and you have to match them because I bet that nine times out of 10 you could

Match it and that’s one of the things that I love when people design and build homes fors and this next beautiful completely off-grid single level tiny home is another one which is absolutely perfectly matched to its wonderful owner Hi Linda how are you great great to meet you it’s so nice to meet you and what a lovely little home you’ve got here yeah yeah she’s pretty special bit of a passion project for me definitely uh yeah came out of a 30-year relationship realiz

Where am I going to live what am I going to do and the most sensible thing to me was going tiny I didn’t want a mortgage didn’t want flatmates and I didn’t want to live somewhere that was run down and horrible and to have you know beautiful

Scenery around me and this was the answer really absolutely and you are just in such a lovely spot here as well yeah yeah pretty blessed I’ve got really good landlords they look after me and um it’s you know close to the main town so I can just zip out but then just come

Back here and feel as you can see have the hear the birds and yeah feel rural so yeah it’s really good Both Worlds yeah yeah and what was it that really attracted you to the idea of living in a tiny home other than being a tiny person and not liking

Housework I think uh they just feel encompassing and it was cozy and I liked that whole thing so I like being outdoors I like going to gigs I like being busy and so the idea of having somewhere that I could just come back to that was you know easy care and could

Take it with me cuz I mean eventually when I retire and stuff I want to be somewhere with this bush but I mean obviously working that’s not going to work and I’ve always wanted to build but I didn’t have that build money I didn’t have buying land money so this fitted my

Budget yeah and you’re on solar power with this home as well aren’t you fully off grid yeah the only thing I have coming in is water but the uh solar does seem to run everything I mean I had the airon running all day yesterday and it barely dropped off the hundreds and the

House just has such a great look as well it’s quite an unusual color that you’ve chosen yeah I wanted it to be soft and fit in the landscape I wear a lot of black but I didn’t want black on my house so it just made sense I looked at

A few different colors but there’s not actually a big selection with color steel so when I moved to color steel instead of the wood cladding yeah there was a few and that was this one was I guess the winner yeah and that’s why I went for the soft gray as well because

White was just too St yeah and it does blend quite beautifully into the greenery surrounding as well yeah yeah and it was quite lucky that when I got the the deck design that they had the same sort of gray and then obviously this freebie that I got recently all

Matches giant umbrella here yeah I was really lucky it was the right color it was just complete coincidence so yeah so it all twice and nicely which I I quite like so yeah yes and I think this umbrella you’ve got it’s almost the same footprint as the tiny house yeah

Absolutely it’s a beast and I mean obviously my deck’s quite sizable as well but yeah I wanted to be able to have that indoor outdoor flow and because I mean obviously inside you’ve got selected but I have a big group of friends and we like doing stuff so it

Means that I can still come out and have a you know proper dinner p games night there’s a little bit in my house too that’s around that type of thing that I’ve specially selected furniture and stuff to be able to allow for visitors even though she is Tiny it’s very

Important to have that entertaining space isn’t it yeah and what size is the tiny house it’s 10×3 so it is a sizable design then yeah I wanted that wider footprint cuz I know there’s some of them like container houses and stuff that are that 2.6 or 2.4 but I wanted to

Be able to have my bed the way so that I can look out the window so that extra width just makes all the difference it makes all the difference doesn’t it yeah it gives you so many more options in the design well I am very excited to see the

Inside of the home can we take a look excellent let’s go all right now this is such a beautifully styled home yeah I just been a lot of love and a lot of thought into sort of pretty much everything that’s in here um right down to the fact that I took out

The back window so that I had space for art but yeah a lot of that I quite like the idea of you know different patterns and putting them together and having those different shapes and stuff like the hearing bone floor and the Shaker cabinets and then the VJ being vertical

And yeah and just bringing through the blues and the pinks and the greens through the they run through the whole house without being too overly matchy matchy yeah absolutely and just the overall aesthetic in here it’s quite an uplifting and lightl looking home isn’t it yeah that’s what I wanted light and

Bright lots of color you know I love color and I kind of did things bit backwards like one of the first things I bought for the house was actually these pillows right and then worked you know stuff back the color on the cupboards of my um kitchen was actually inspired by

My favorite plates that were my grandmother’s drew a crown Lin so these kind of little funny touches all over the place of personal connection yeah that’s so beautiful and so with this tiny house you’ve chosen to go for a single level design yeah absolutely I’ve

Kind of looked at it as a long-term plan and you know instead of having to save from my retirement or all this sort of stuff down the track I wanted something that will move with me and that I’ll be able to you know not have to go oh this

Isn’t going to work also I’m a bit blind and I could just see myself falling down the stairs at 5:00 in the morning when I go to make my coffee I also liked the ceiling height I liked the eeriness which you don’t get with the mezzanines

So it was kind of a few things that I thought about really there’s no question about it having a single level design definitely helps the home to feel a lot more spacious yeah absolutely and I can always go and get a pod down the track

If I decide you know that I want a spare room or a studio or whatever I mean this couch does fold out into a full bed these Ottomans obviously are loose um they’ve got storage in them and there’s other things in here that allow me to readjust the space for having people

Over so yeah it’s just a matter of I guess I had to just think how I wanted to live and how best to suit that with the design of the house this is a super comfortable looking couch it looks like this thing could just swall you up a

It’s it’s awesome like me and the cats just cuddle up on it watch movies at night because that blind comes down like a screen and I wanted to have a pull out bed that’s comfortable for visitors but also comfortable as a couch cuz often with you know the sofa beds they’re not

Very comfy whereas yeah this is awesome I mean I just love to lie around and read and it’s perfect I can just look at the window or at my fish Comfort multifunction is awesome but if it’s not comfortable it’s just a complete waste of time yeah yeah we used to have phot

On couch beds as our stand couches that folded flat they were so uncomfortable yeah and with being short I have back issues and so I was like yeah no I’m not going to scrimp on that I’m buying a decent sofa so yeah with being multifunction one of the other things

That I hunted out which is not quite as beautiful as some of the other pieces but this coffee table has got drawers on either side and the top actually lifts up and folds out into a fullsize dining table right so I can Shuffle that shelf drop that and move the Ottomans around

And then when my mates come around if it’s winter we can still do games night and I love how much of your home has been designed around entertaining and just making this a really good social space for you yeah basically when how do I live and how can I you know work the

Space that’s still going to allow that so yeah that was one of the things I considered was how can I have it so that it all works and I love that you’ve got the fish tank in here as well yeah they’ve traveled to me from my old place

And uh actually had to get them accounted in my account for my solar because they’re tropical so uh that was something that I major I had enough battery for not that I’ve actually run out of battery yet so cross fingers yeah there’s something about watching fish that’s just so relaxing yeah see at

Night time you know cuz as I said I like to read I’ll often have these FY lights which I’ve left on since Christmas cuz they actually have such a nice warm glow and I’ll just sit here and read and just watch them yeah very very uh peaceful it

Certainly is and this kitchen design just looks so good it’s such a spacious looking kitchen yeah that was really important to me I like to cook and I’ve always wanted a beautiful kitchen and this was my opportunity to put all my ideas into one space it’s also very

Practical there’s actually quite a few mods that we did for a my height and uh B to have it really functional and so how did you modify it for your height there’s pretty much nothing up the top uh like I don’t have a lot in the top cupboards because I should don’t reach

And I wanted to have more display space so my pantry has a microwave in the middle shelf instead of it being your standard up the top or up high uh there’s a few other pull out bits that are my shortin so what he are you 41 10

I can’t remember if the counter may have been a little bit lower yeah and obviously the cabinets were lowered those top ones we had to measure was sort of the minimum we could get away with with the space I had to allow for the gas stve yeah abundant storage in

This kitchen too it looks like no space was wasted in here no absolutely not and even with having to have the Gest over a certain amount out from the wall it meant that we then utilized those skinny spaces that then were created by having to move the raineh as well so the top

One has got glasses and they fit perfectly and then the bottom one I’ve got my beautiful pullout spice utensils and sources and even under the kickboards and the pantry I’ve got storage for boards and heavy platters so I don’t pulling them over my head that

Is such a good design and I love the way that you’ve done the colors in here you’ve got the blue that really pops the white that keeps everything very clean and open looking and then it’s all warmed up with these lovely Timber accents yeah I love wood and I wanted it

To be quite natural and also the walls cuz I didn’t actually ever think I’d have a white house it’s not really me but I love it and I think because I’ve got so much art and stuff on display that it needed to have that to break it

Up and that’s why we only did the blue on the bottom was cuz it was just going to be too much if it was up the top as well yeah the breakfast bar is a nice addition as well yeah that f down flat right yeah and those chairs actually

Fold up as well and they fit in the gap between the end of the breakfast bar and the kitchen cabinetry so again that can slide over these can move so the the bed can come out brilliant yeah or if I’ve got people over and I want to create a

Bit more walking space through to the kitchen same thing again just drops down and it’s out of the way great to have those options yeah yeah and next door we have your bedroom can we have a look at that absolutely let’s go all righty I really like this design having

Such a spacious area to sleep is quite a luxury in a tiny home isn’t it yeah absolutely and again with having that high ceiling spit that I could put that heat pump in and it not take over the whole Space yeah so I’ve got lots of

Storage lots of storage for all of my clothes and shoes and then certainly do how do you get up there though uh well I used to stand on my bed but I uh recently purchased this little store SL side table so that I can get up there

There’s there’s a few places I have to use the store to get up to and then I’ve got all under the bed as well so like all my be linen and that sort of stuff is under the bed and storage and when we designed it they made sure that there

Were things like the light switches right by my hand when I get up in the morning and it’s nice and cool in here with the tinted windows and I’ve got mosquito mesh on there again which means that I can have the windows open and I don’t get bitten to death same with the

Slider door means I can leave it open in summer and so quite like a lot of fres here yeah and I like that you do have the door here as well cuz again it just really adds to the indoor outdoor flow of the home doesn’t it yeah means that

It doesn’t feel too enclosed I think if that was a solid wall or a smaller window would would feel smaller in here yeah and then through that door there I’m guessing we must have your bathroom absolutely can we check that out certainly Okay this is a very spacious bathroom you’ve got yeah I wanted to have extra space to be able to dry laundry in here in winter so that’s why the heat is here too so it Heats my bedroom and this bathroom brilliant you’ve got the washing machine

There as well yeah and it’s a good height for me I um got them to jack it up and put a drawer where all my towels are stored underneath and then my cupboard it’s got to plug in it for my vacuum cleaner and all my stuff all fits

In there and then of course there’s extra storage under the vanity um things as well excellent lots more plants and artwor in here as well yeah I love my art and uh I’m actually house sitting a few plants at the moment we were originally going to put the heat pump up

There so now that we’ve moved it into there it means I’ve got more space for more things fair enough too the plants do look good there yeah and exquisite tail work in here yeah I was really pleased with it um originally it was going to be a scale similar to what’s in

The kitchen but when it turned up it was quite a baby pink and I I just didn’t quite like it so um my designer found those tiles with that changing tone in it just I just love it yeah it’s very nice and especially the way that it’s

Offset with that mirror it just looks so good yeah and my whole idea of things follows through in here with the the curves and the line so obviously we’ve got Shaker drawers again and with the brick work look and then having the oval miror and the oval Basin and the round

Of fronted shower just softens the space yeah and you’ve chosen an incinerating toilet for the house yeah the idea of a compos thing didn’t really appeal to me especially as you know when you’re on rented land and stuff it’s like then you know what do you do with it especially

As I’m fairly suburban and I liked the idea that it wouldn’t matter where I went I was already set up and it’s really easy just you know once every two weeks you just pull the thing out get rid of the Ash and Chuck some water into

Steam clean it and yeah it’s done it’s yeah simple easy and effective was expensive but I think worth it yeah especially here in an urban setting I really understand your point about how it’s just a much easier solution oh absolutely yeah yeah and then you’ve got

A good size shower in here too yeah proper for size shower um I put the Dome on so I don’t have to worry about any moisture and yeah that was important to me have a decent shower and luckily was I am my main water I do have good

Pressure and with the gas it’s instant hot water so yeah excellent and so how long have you been living in the home now six months is yeah I moved the house moved here September and then I was here 2 weeks and then went to Costa Rica for

Nearly a month so ni yeah so my house sitter enjoyed it um for the first month so there’s a couple more more things that I want to do to finish it off I need to get a generator in my shed’s already pre wide so that’s just waiting

On to ro in the country and then I’ve got some Paving being done at the end of my deck for the barbecue areas and then that’s pretty much it so yeah great yeah and so far how are you finding tiny house life I love it it’s the best

Decision I’ve ever made like yeah it really suits me and yeah like I can’t imagine not living here I think having this place means I’ve got the freedom to just up and live like I love to travel I like to go out so not having that mortgage having a easy care like my

Landlord does all the Lawns and stuff I can just lock up and go for anybody wanting to come house it they love it because it’s that whole Quirk of you know being in the tiny with Linda with a weird toilet and it gives them also a cool you know experience as well yeah

And for me it’s just easy yeah no stress and can we talk about what this home cost to to build she’s a bit bougie uh yeah uh she was the higher end that was 235 and then with all the the decks you know solar all the extra stuff that I’ve

Done heat pumps and that I think it’s about 280 okay yeah yep the cost is definitely getting up there but that does include a lot of really nice touches to the home yeah and I mean that included my shed and you know that sort of stuff and it’s just all the things

That you need to have really I mean there’s not a space here to have the inverters and the batteries and and then like extra gear so the shed was a necessity yeah nice to have anyway for extra storage too oh absolutely and it’s also got my washing line on the side cuz

I don’t want to put holes in my house so fair enough yeah yeah so I think it’s my whole thing for everything is I’d rather do it properly and do it right the first time that’s why my deck is movable so it comes to bits it’s kit set so next time

If I move I can just take it to bits and you know modify it and uh yeah it won’t matter where I go it’ll still work yeah and especially because this is designed as a long-term home for you it is worth putting in that investment to make sure

It’s exactly what you want 100% I mean I’ve had people say to me oh what if you end up with somebody else down the track that’s got a house I was like well then it becomes a batch or you know you know I can’t see myself selling so yeah well

Linda this really is the most beautiful home that you’ve created for yourself I love how much of yourself and your character that you’ve poured into this home and just how well this space fits you thank you so much for sharing it with me anytime this be great I know

I’ve said this before but one of the most special elements to me seeing people design and build their own tiny homes is just how beautifully they’re able to match the homes to their character I love that Linda has got to make this place exactly as she likes it

I love that because she’s short she’s been able to lower the height of everything somehow building a tiny home gives us an opportunity to customize a space that fits us just right and this is another wonderful example of just That