hey guys welcome back to my channel where i feature unique spaces
in today's video we're revisiting tim in florida on his private island
in a previous video i took you on a tour of tim's tiny house on wheels which he still lives in
full time today he's showing us his foundation tiny home which he uses to host airbnb guests
this video is a continuation of my channel's partnership with airbnb where i show you some
of the most unique rentals around the country and share the stories behind the hosts that own them
so without further ado let's jump right
in my name is tim and this is shellmate island
before purchasing shellmate island and hosting guests i was living in
my own tiny house in an rv campground for the last few years living in such a small space
really helped me understand the benefits of tiny living and i fell in love with the concept of
minimalism i wanted to share that feeling with others so i had the idea of shellmate island
offering a unique vacation rental to my guest is rewarding in so many different ways first i
love sharing the island and the concept of tiny living with others i really like to show people
what tiny living can bring to them and also be able to see families and friends create memories
that they'll hopefully remember for a long time but also financially it helped me cover
almost all my living expenses i'm able to park my tiny house here
enjoy the property enjoy people and offer them a glimpse of an alternative lifestyle
it's really a win-win situation for me and i'll continue doing this for many years to come
so i found the property itself on zillow and the property itself was for sale for two years and
just an astronomical price so i actually went and knocked on the seller's door and
introduced myself and asked to you know i was interested in his property but i wasn't
willing to pay what he was asking for and the reasons why didn't have utilities i
had a contract with him and was able to get 60 days to figure out if i was able to even
build a tiny house out here and in that process found that it was a good fit for what i needed
the structure itself took 24 hours to build since it was a panel
system but the overall project took about a year and a half
so the location of the homes in sarasota florida siesta key which is the number
one beach in florida on the property itself on shellmate it's an acre and
a half so there's plenty of space to do different things in the cabana area hang
out eat and play some games as well as the nice firepit area i find most people enjoy
the house itself is 320 square feet and it can sleep four people
two and one bed and two in another bed
some of the unique features of the tiny house would be the lighting i did
it is rgb tunable white so what that means is that it does every color in the rainbow
as well as every kelvin temperature so what i'm able to utilize
that with is change the calvin temperature or the whites of the lights to mimic the natural calvin
temperature of the sun outside throughout the day so it can start as like a nice warm
white and throughout the day at noon a nice cool white and then go back down to a warm white and
what that does is help with like circadian rhythms and sleeping patterns as well as feel like there's
more light in a space especially at being tiny i think it helps utilize it not feeling as small
it's 320 square feet but the cool part about it is that it's an octagon and
what that means is it's good for high winds for hurricanes down here in florida it doesn't
allow the wind to have a single panel to have pressure on it so it really is more aerodynamic
as well as the roof truss systems are like spokes on a wheel and they all meet in the middle
and the nice part about that is if wind tries to lift up from one of the corners
the other trusses or spokes on the wheel help reinforce it to keep the the roof from flying
off over here is the grilling area i have my hydroponic system that i just got and i'm growing
some kale and lettuce for the first time and the squirrels are starting to eat some of it which
i guess i don't mind but they don't get the higher ones and then i built a diy wood fire pizza oven
this is the cabana area it used to be an old boat port i didn't want to tear it down and
so it was crooked it still is crooked but it's more reinforced now let's check it out
so the cool part of this area is everything in here was free i'm a big craigslister
but it's a nice area to get out away from mosquitoes and out of the sun i redid the roof
to help be more reflective to keep the heat off as well as seal it
so over here i have a fire pit living so close to siesta key i wanted to make sure that i
had kind of like some sand on my area and so i brought in white silicone sand which resembles the
siesta key sand so it's kind of nice being able to come out here and you know roast marshmallows
and have a campfire with friends and still be able to like kind of kick the shoes off and still feel
like you're at the beach over here is the banana trees so i really like having this here because
i obviously the fruit trees but it helps with privacy and then the rest of the property is
mainly has privacy through brazilian peppers so it really feels like we're in i'm kind of in
the middle of everything but i have the complete privacy with like no neighbors or anybody snooping
on me and then this is tiffany so tiffany is is set here now yeah it's been working out great
and it's nice being able to be so close being able to have everything one piece of land
and then this is my shed this was originally here when i bought the property
and the original owners built it 50 years ago and it's still standing i think it it's nice i'm
able to keep like my yard equipment my kayaks and you know stuff that i can work on my tools
also i have this nice massive driveway it used to go into the middle of the property i had to
redesign the driveway and i used this like nice white gravel to help with durability and there's
plenty of parking and space for everybody the island itself is an acre and a half and i think
this probably takes up a half when i originally bought the property there was no utilities out
here so i actually had to bring utilities in i had to build the septic tank as well as bring in
water and electric the electric was actually bored underground eight feet underground and
it uses a machine that it's almost like a needle and it pops out the other end
and then i can attach it to the house and then ran water all the way down from the street
come on in
i got a queen size bed here nice soft memory foam mattress cool little teak table i found
on craigslist free and i fixed it up cleaned it up and i think it's great for a nice nightstand
having these two windows is nice in here as well as the lights
with these windows really opens this space up
i kept the top of this wall open in order to let more air in from the ac unit
our pocket doors here nice cool luber doors
being able to have a full length door is pretty nice in here
this is the living room i decided to do polished concrete floors throughout the
home one for the durability of it and two it being the foundation of the home it actually
helps keep the place cooler i found this couch actually online but the cool part
about this couch is that it actually folds out into a full length bed so
it being 320 square feet i still technically have two beds in the tiny house which is kind of nice
this is what i call like the bar breakfast area
i like this area because when that second bed's out i can fold it down in order to create more
room to get back and forth thought it was a great way to utilize this space even more
a 1920 kohler sink so i picked this up at a flea market and then repurposed it
and then i made this cool shelf system with leds i think having that open shelves as well
as that extra space in the kitchen makes it feel even bigger apartment style fridge
and then another pocket door and this pocket door has a full length mirror on the outside
all right now this is the bathroom full flush toilet which is cool
i also have a washer dryer combo in here i like this one just because
it uses heat instead of steam in order to dry seems to dry the clothes a lot better
and then i built this little cabinet area in order to have storage for you know towels and
beach towels and things like that but as well as like having a nice folding area
big open shower it's a weird shape which it was my first tile work and a little difficult but
it's super spacious and i got a rainfall shower head
corner sink i actually found this one online just because it fit the space so perfectly
some of my favorite guest reactions is when they talk about memories it's my first time being in
a hospitality industry but being able to see parents and kids make memories on the island
it's a big investment to build or buy a tiny house and being able to rent one and see whether
you like it or not is kind of a interesting concept that i think i hope most people take away
plans for the future right now is just to kind of stay put i'm enjoying living out here and i'm
enjoying renting to people and hosting experiences and i'm excited to see what that brings
me i hope you guys enjoyed this week's video make
sure to like share and subscribe and i'll see you next week with an all new video