the last time I visited this incredible
tiny house it was still in the workshop
of master craftsman Jeff Hobbs today
I've traveled to see where the tiny
house has found a new home visit its
owner briar and see how she's getting on
with downsized living
hi Brier
hello how are you hey good to meet you
lovely to meet you and it's fantastic to
see the tiny house in its new spot thank
you yeah I'm loving it here it's really
good so first of all how did you find
this property because it's absolutely
perfect for a tiny house as well I just
and trade me searched for sections and
found this in the Anam yeah I'm here for
about nine months later after finding it
and so you've actually gone in on this
property with your parents haven't you
yeah and my brother's family so we're
three sort of citko owners and that's
kind of made it possible and they're
going to put a little cottage at the
front as well so fantastic that's a
perfect way of doing it isn't it because
if you can actually go in to land with
family members it really just makes it
so much more affordable yeah and I
didn't need a whole back section to
themselves so it's not inconvenience on
them it's awesome for me and yeah I'll
be like kaitiaki of the land and kind of
nice as well you get to still share the
space with your family yeah absolutely
yeah it's really good so I'm stoked
about that great well I'm really excited
to see inside this house and see how you
edit it all out come on in let's have a
look this place has really transformed
hasn't it yeah it was I was actually
looking forward for a long time to put
my things in it and just see it really
lived in so uh curtains and bits and
pieces or my kitchen staff like yeah
it's been quite a pleasure to see that
so the shelves in you I see that's a
really lovely touch yep they are so they
went in here and in the kitchen mm-hmm
and the bathroom and so they're good for
kind of minor storage and like I guess
just blank things so yeah and I see you
managed to get your record player in
there as well yep the record player is
in the office because I I don't intend
on doing too much work in the earth so
yeah it's a nice little station and I
really like this feature so I see that
jeff has actually put in the rail there
yep and that just must make it actually
so much safer a protecting you from the
fire and probably actually quite a bit
easier to access the loft with that
there as well and yeah differently
coming down I think there was one time
was coming down that I went to grab the
flue and obvious
I want to do that in winter when it
spawns so and then I can drag clothes
the air when the fire is on and yeah
it's just it's such an easy staircase to
use but I think that other people using
it or I don't know at nighttime or
fluffy socks but it'll be a useful thing
absolutely and how are you finding
working in the kitchen and I love it
yeah plenty of space and everything's
kind of got a little home and yeah I
just think having the recycled wood and
all the wood really but it's just a
beautiful space and feeling to work in
so yeah I love it and yeah I'm not
making a big like turkey roast you know
every week but I wouldn't have done that
anyway so yeah it's plenty big enough
one of the first things that I noticed
when I did the tour originally was the
sink oh yeah it is such a lovely feature
tell me about how you made that and well
I made out of clay and it's got a clay
in it to make it extra strong that's
already been fired so it's kind of like
been ground up so that makes it quite
strong and I wanted to kind of have like
a butler's sink but not like it kind of
um untrained one and so as I'm gonna
need to make it myself
yeah and I because you've obviously
built this place it was just nice to
have more than just my design touch in
it but kind of something that I had made
to and when it comes to the bathroom how
are you finding using the composting
toilet is that a big adjustment oh no
it's really good actually I'd already
used to answer one of my friends same
toilet and so that I knew that it worked
well has like zero odor and yeah you
just have to get out of a bit of
flushing that's all but it works really
well so I'm stopped yet and I did put a
shower curtain and in the end you did
put in a shower yeah it's a little bit
too splashy so yeah that's a new feature
and what about the sleeping loft how are
you finding that because that's such an
amazing space up there isn't it yeah
well it's a different orientation the
big thing when you saw it last and it's
been quite warm lately but because it's
got the skylight and the two windows
like it creates a really good breeze so
it's really fresh
eery and yeah really good sleep than
their so how did you come to this
decision to build a tiny house well I
had and I've got mortgage approval and I
was looking at places to buy Auckland
and went to a few options and I just was
really uninspired I guess about what I
could buy as a you know a single person
on my income and I don't know it just
seemed like having a 30-year mortgage
and needing lots of help from my family
to buy something that didn't feel like
me just was kind of like not a good
decision for me and I think because a
lot of my friends are in the stage of
purchasing homes
I almost got swept along with the tide
of it like you know to be a proper adult
I need to have my own home in a big
mortgage and it was just sort of like
trying to pull myself out of that kind
of haze and my brother actually
mentioned to me he was like oh your
philosophy and kind of way of living
would really suit a tiny home and I yeah
I guess I wasn't really drawn to the do
it yourself kind of model you know like
I bought my tiny home for five thousand
dollars out of pellets like and didn't
like my boat and so I was sort of
looking for something that I felt really
self actualizing like this is me in a
living space and obviously I can't build
my like grand design dream home now and
I don't need all that space and I have
all that time to like keep it and so
tiny home to started to be like I can
live really beautifully according to my
values as well as I'm being so much more
affordable yeah so it kind of came
together like that when we spoke to Jeff
about the cost of the build hmm he
indicated that it was around 120
thousand dollar mark yeah and I think a
lot of people hear that figure and
they're very used to seeing $500 pallet
wood tiny homes on Facebook and that
sort of thing and I think a lot of
people sort of get a bit of a shock
factor when they see tiny house prices
that are rising up a little bit what
would you say to people who think that
one hundred and twenty thousand dollars
is too much to spend on a tiny house I
chose to go high-speed because it was
important to me to live and
and a very wooden house with native
woods that have been recycled and have a
master craftsman do it and have
something built that will last a hundred
years so those are my values so you can
like kind of put any of your values into
whatever tiny home you have and people
have very different ones so I think
there's a huge scope to be individual
and this is what works for me
which is yes that's why I'm so delighted
and here it's obvious how happy you are
here the house just fits incredibly into
the section that you've bought it's a
real pleasure to see it all come to life
thank you for showing me around and I
visit you yeah you're really welcome
this place truly has been an absolute
treat for me to visit the first time I
visited the tiny house was at Jeff's
workshop there it was an absolute marvel
of design and engineering but visiting
it this time I can really see how briar
has transformed it into a home this is a
place where I'm sure she's going to be
happy for many years to come
you