hey guys welcome back to my channel where i take you on tours of tiny homes
and showcase people living alternatively today's tour is of a gorgeous tiny home
built for a solo mom who is redefining her version of the american dream home
so we're going to meet jen learn why she downsized and hear about how much she loves
her new tiny house lifestyle the end product was better than any picture i gave them hands down
you see when jen downsized she was able to sell her large home and use the money
to put in a few high-end luxury items that you seldom see in tiny home builds
if you like these kind of videos make sure that
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every time i post a new video but right now let's check out this mom's amazing tiny home
hi everybody i'm jen and i'm so excited to show you trailhead tiny my not so tiny mansion
i was living the american dream i was married i had two kids 3 000 square foot house
i got a divorce three years ago and the question comes into play how do i afford a home on a single
income i knew about tiny houses definitely there's a draw there to simplify your life i could do that
my kids are going to be gone soon and i could follow them anywhere they go i thought well i'm
going to have money from the sale of the house i might not even have a mortgage if i like find the
right you know kind of fit for me we found the sky on craigslist and i got really excited about it we
started planning and i bought the shell and then a lot of time passed and nothing was happening
because my builder was just a guy on craigslist who i didn't vet in any way shape or form and
then i realized i need to get the ball going here so i started emailing other builders in the area
mitchcraft tiny homes in fort collins totally saved me answered all my questions had so many
ideas for me helped me figure out financing even things that i didn't think to ask he really helped
me through i signed a contract with them he went to pick up the house i gave them a ton
of ideas i made a visual thing for them to go by so they knew what the end product was going to be
the end product was better than any picture i gave them hands down
my kids are actually going to be out of the house in a couple of years they're teenagers graduating
high school and my daughter was going to be the only one actually living with me so really she
was the one i had to win over she and my son came to help me move in they actually hadn't seen any
progress on the house so when they walked in the day it was delivered they were like what like they
did not realize how nice it was gonna be it's like any other house on a small scale and you get to
customize it any way you want to but your parents don't have to spend like 80 years paying it off
i was expecting to spend about 150 000 it was a couple months after
the pandemic shut everything down things were delayed things cost more it was another
20 grand which was a surprise but i got my house it's perfect it was worth it all
i can't wait to show you all my favorite things on the inside come on in
welcome everyone to the inside of my tiny house sometimes i call it a tiny kitchen on wheels
this is the whole reason i decided i could go tiny if i could have my dream kitchen on a tiny scale
i was sold and it is by far my favorite part of this house when people come in the look on their
face always makes me so happy because they say first of all this isn't what i thought you meant
when you said you were going tiny second of all your kitchen definitely has more storage than my
kitchen one of the things i love about the space is all of the windows and all of the natural light
that floods this area i rarely turn on a light until the sun goes down in this house it's so
well lit the skylights above are solar powered one cool thing i love to show off when people
come over i call it my party trick is i have this nifty remote control and at the touch of a button
i can close my skylights it's very jetson i love it it's nice to cool off the space on a hot day
i actually love this circle shaped eating slash work area before the project went to mitchcraft
i had actually hired an architect to help me plan the space and he came up with this round idea for
me i eat here i work here when people come over we have happy hour here and we can all see each other
i work from home full time so it was really important for me to have a space
to put some office things like a printer papers my computer electronic stuff both of these drawers
slide out and there's even a hidden outlet right back there so i can print i can do whatever i need
to do i can put my computer here take it out when i'm printing and when i'm done it slides back in
and it's out of sight this kitchen was originally supposed to have butcher block countertops
but towards the end of planning i said hey what would the cost difference be if i went with quartz
because that's kind of the look i'm really going for and he said it's going to take so many man
hours to craft the butcher block it actually wouldn't be much more if you just went with quartz
i also have this great open shelving that my architect came up with it feels like it really
sets the mood for the farmhouse theme i can set out all my little you know my glassware and my
friend actually calls it my bar because i do have my whiskey that i have to use when i'm crawling
under two axles to attach my water hose moving on i love this section here with my farmhouse sink i
will say though this particular one is fire clay and if you drop something in it the fire clay wins
so just know when you get like a real good sink make sure you don't have any casualties when i was
planning the space really i was waiting so long for it to be completed and i was excited and i
was trying to visualize what a morning is going to be like waking up in my loft and i had this
vision of like i'm gonna come down my tiny stairs every morning and i'll have my coffee station set
up here and i'll have my lovely little kitchen to wake up in and i do that every day i love it
i do not have a green thumb at all but my daughter loves plants she's constantly bringing plants home
and when we moved into this space my land host came over with all of these vine plants that
were 15 years old no pressure for me to decorate my space with and i thought oh my gosh it really
brings the space to life and my daughter started putting in in these high places
where she thought they looked so great so she gets the job of walking across the counter top
every few days to water it it's kind of funny but it does keep the space looking
a little more colorful and gives it some life so i like it i do have an off-grid
unique propane stove it's run by a little battery down here and my propane tanks in the back and
i actually only have to fill up those tanks like every three months or so it goes a good long time
i'm five eight ish my daughter is five ten and my son is six feet so when they come over to look for
food they it's low they basically are like sitting all the way down on the ground like little kids
looking fruit it cracks me up every time it gives me a chuckle but really this is all i
need for food in this space it's worked out great for me storage stairs are where it's at it's all
hidden away i had no idea what the configuration was gonna be and this is what i have it is the
most functional pantry i've ever seen because i can get all the way to the back of my pantry
and if you ever thought you needed to go down to three pairs of shoes
in a tiny house i'm here to tell you you do not have to do that
voila
welcome to the crown jewel of my tiny house the bathroom or as i like to call it the tiny spa
an absolute must for me in this house was a soaker tub
as i went to research actual tubs and try to find a small one they were crazy expensive
but everyone has these cool trough tubs now and it fit my aesthetic and it's the best little soaker
tub and the first question i had was is it going to retain heat and the answer is yes you're going
to come out sweating it's amazing after a long day on the trail i love this thing this is my
washer dryer combo which i love especially because it will go straight from wash to dry and i don't
have to come back home or stop what i'm doing to switch the load it's pretty great that way and
it actually faces across from where my clothes store which often is a really handy way just
to put things right where they go straight out of the dryer super efficient i love my separate
toilet like everybody says there's no smell but i still have poo pourri because it's funny
come on up to my master loft and i'll show you what it looks like
i knew wanted to have a king-sized bed in this space it's super handy to have all of the space
when visitors come my daughter sleeps with me they get her loft there's all kinds of ways to
reconfigure this when visitors come over i'm on a journey by myself but should i be in a
relationship and have to cohabitate here i wanted a king-sized bed i want a little space up here so
that is why it's king size i also have all these great cubbies bumping it up that extra little bit
gave me the added top row that perfectly fit all of my trucker hats that i wear on the
trail i do love this skylight above my bed the first night here i felt like a little kid looking
at the stars i i just sat there gazing out but that's all magical until the sun comes blazing in
at 5 a.m in colorado so i was thinking about how am i going to do this i do have an eye mask that
i put on and i often give visitors eye masks when they come so they can sleep in if you want to know
how to cover your windows and match your bedroom it just so happens that king-sized pillow cases
fit the bill all i did here was get for my windows little curtain rings and tension rods and hung
them up and they happened to be the perfect size i was so thrilled with that and this one actually
also was the perfect size all i did was get some little sticky hooks and it's a perfect solution
i'm not going to lie when i stood in this space i felt like i forgot how small it was going to
be and i kind of panicked and i didn't think anything would fit here but it's amazing when
you define the space how it suddenly works so i had mitch put this great fireplace in for me
that was on the top of my wish list it kicks out a lot of heat has some little vents here
if you feel like changing the color if you're into that hey it does that too if you feel
like changing the color of the rocks it's a disco fireplace my kids get a kick out of it is a little
cheesy it doesn't matter it's a fun conversation piece and it makes me smile anything in my house
that makes me smile i love i have a 50 inch tv that can swivel out so that i can watch something
watch the news while i'm cooking or making my coffee in the morning he put these little shelves
in for me so i have book storage and have a little knick-knacks that are off the floor and i have so
much space in here that i actually can roll out a yoga mat i can do my feed up trainer i can do any
of my on-demand workouts in here it also meant i got an actual sofa a nice sofa and has a foot rest
also i have a hanging chair because i keep seeing them in tiny houses and it's such a great way
to add an extra space when people come over and it's one of my favorite spots in the house at the
end of the day or between meetings i like to sit with coffee or glass of wine and hang out
i was really happy that it actually fit right in the space between my storage stairs and my sofa so
it's completely out of the way when i don't need it the storage stairs leading to my daughter's
loft are super handy i've got room for sunglasses and keys this is a coat closet it could also be
a regular closet and my daughter loves that when she comes back and forth
between my house and her dad she can like take all of her clothes and put them in these and
not have to carry her heavy bag up and down the stairs um and this is spider and this is skelly
and skelly has fallen on us twice today and we're we're getting in the spirit with this one
welcome to my daughter's loft which she decorated herself
her number one requirement when i asked was to make sure she had space to put plants up
above the cubbies and the wall divider so she's got all kinds of little plants up there that
she's managed to keep alive so far she keeps a few clothes and personal items in there and she even
put a rug up here to make it feel a little homey she's got her own artwork and things she stays
up here most the time when she's here she's like on her bed organizing things she loves the space
this is the outside of my not so tiny mansion it's very modern farmhouse inspired i had seen
this crazy good chevron that they did on another build and i thought what if we put that around my
french doors this section of the house just brings it to life it would be so boring without it really
the trailhead comes in at 34 by 10 feet wide with two pop out lofts that make it 36
for the extra one foot on each side she has a total of 18 windows if you include the french
doors and four skylights across the top two of which will open all the way to the roof for access
so because she's a big house she is on a triple axel
trailer fun fact right here is where the water hooks up to my sink which is right here
and in the winter when my water froze on entry i had to crawl under the house right there
and shimmy under two axles to hook it up myself and i've never felt so
powerful in my abilities as a homeowner um yeah not so fun but i could do it myself and my tip
to you is don't hook up your water behind your wheels a house this big also has big storage
on both sides of my house i have the same
amount of large storage i have room for all my toys what more could you want
you can survive on one income no matter how much that income
is you get to define your lifestyle now i'm at a place where i don't have to compromise
i can put my foot down on things that matter and i don't have to be in a relationship to afford it
i decided i'm at a place where i've gotten married and had kids and had dogs and had
the american dream that didn't actually work out it can be whatever i want it to be this is what
it looks like your house can be a school bus your house can be a tiny house your house can be a van
and that does not mean oh you're cramped up inside this little crazy thing because your
life is not inside your house your life is going places your life is experiencing new things and
people and seeing things you can't do that when you're anchored to a mortgage when it works for
you you're going to be happier and you're going to live your best life like you get one shot
thanks for watching this week's video make sure to like share and subscribe and
i will see you soon with another tiny house unique home or alternative lifestyle video
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