- I think I'm going insane.
- What?
- I think this tiny house is making me go insane
and I think the beer will help.
- Oh, god.
- (inhales) Nothin' like the smell of a house.
Hi, I'm Garrett.
- And I'm Nikki.
- And we're fascinated by how other people live.
- So, we're gonna try and find
some really interesting living situations.
- And live there, experiencing a totally new lifestyle.
Thing is, Nikki and I don't actually really know each other.
- Not at all.
- When do you shower?
When do you wake up?
When do you go to bed?
But, we're gonna live with each other.
- As almost complete strangers.
- In an actual complete stranger's house.
This week, we're gonna be living in a tiny house.
(cheerful music)
Tada!
- [Nikki] Oh, man.
- Look at this little guy.
Hey!
- Hey, Garrett.
- Nick.
- Nice to meet you.
- Great to meet you.
- Hi, Nikki.
Nice to meet you.
- Thank you so much for having us.
This is a beautiful part of the country.
- The tiny house was built in April 2016.
What attracted me was the nice wood sidings
and something that would blend in with our terrain
which is very country.
The deck is basically the same size footprint
as the entire house.
- [Nikki] Oh, really?
- [Nick] It allowed us to have kind of double the space.
We have these doors open, these windows open.
You don't feel so claustrophobic.
- [Garrett] That's what I was gonna say.
For such a small space it feels so open.
- [Nick] Yeah and the vaulted ceiling helps a lot.
- Like I'm six foot seven and I do not feel cramped in here.
- Okay, that's great.
- How big is it?
- Eight by twenty, so it's 160 square feet.
- [Niki] Okay.
- The loft, it could be taller.
(laughter)
In 2003 we had a big fire in San Diego.
In a matter of minutes we went from
having a nice home to literally nothing.
People around us that didn't lose anything
kept looking at themselves at
what would happen if I lost my things.
Really, not that big of a deal.
Matter of fact, I felt liberated.
It's got everything in it, all the plates
and anything you could possibly need.
- Bottle opener, that's really all you--
- That, yeah the church key and the--
- It's a very good use of space.
- Yeah, I guess you sort of have to, huh?
Every little corner you have to find a use for.
- A lot of people live in places of this square footage.
This is 160 square feet.
It's not a lot of space.
And this way it gave people an idea
of what they did need and what they didn't need.
- Okay guys have a good time. - Alright thanks so much Nick.
Thank you.
Oh okay.
Great.
Thank you.
- In we go.
Okay.
I call top bunk.
I think I am a good roommate.
I keep pretty clean, I'm pretty quiet,
I like to keep to myself.
The only thing is that I'm very big.
- I don't know how you would sit up in here.
- Oh man, yeah my head is right there.
- So, I have lived with roommates on several occasions
but never more than a year.
Because I didn't like it.
- Fine, only one of us needs a privacy curtain
and then we're private from the other person.
- Where's Garrett from?
- She mentioned that her parents live in Washington.
- Something in the Midwest like Chicago.
That feels right, right?
- I don't even know what part of town Niki lives in.
- Garrett feels like the kind of guy who would like,
live in a big house with like a bunch of dudes.
Probably, maybe a lady.
- I wanna say Niki lives in a
two bedroom apartment with a roommate.
- So, I imagine every living situation for him
is too small because he's huge.
That I do know.
You would not be able to have sex up here.
I don't know.
- No, I don't see how two people
could possibly have sex up here.
Especially if one were gay.
- Only one?
Only one is gay. - I'm not gay.
- Oh, you're talking about us.
- If they're opposite genders.
- Oh, I'm not even talking about us having sex.
- I'm talking about people.
- I know.
That's what I'm saying.
- That's--
We're trying to see how it's like for us to live up here.
It's impossible.
I'm really excited to see what it's actually like
to try and live in a tiny house
and not be able to like escape.
- But again, I'm doing this with a practical stranger
that I work with so ideal scenario?
I don't know.
- I'm just always excited to see how other people live.
- Oh, man.
We're really gonna get to know each other, aren't we?
We're here for two nights.
- We just moved in.
- Should we have like house rules?
Try and keep your shit pretty tidy.
- I keep myself pretty tidy.
- Also, I've like never lived with a boy before.
- You haven't?
(mmm-mmm)
- Are you comfortable there?
- I'm bored.
- (laughs) What?
- You're probably gonna be the second girl
that I've ever lived with and never hooked up with.
- Gross.
Oh also, my fiance made cookies so we have cookies.
- Your what?
I had no idea Niki was engaged.
They're really good cookies.
Have you had them?
- I have.
- What are we gonna do tonight?
We should get some booze.
- I don't drink.
- You don't drink?
- I don't drink.
- What--
Okay, so we have like no space in here, right?
We don't have space for this fucking pine cone.
- It's decorative.
- We like, I think that's rule number one in a tiny house.
- No decorations?
- No fucking decorations.
Like, even the fact that these horse heads are here.
They look very nice but those should be extra pots.
- Look at you.
You're starting to think like a tiny house man.
- The tiny house has been kinda neat.
I mean, it's so small like, I'm staring
at Niki's bed right now.
I'm above our kitchen and bathroom.
As much as Nick said he thinks like a family of four
could live in here, that's insane.
- Like one person in this tiny home can't do something
without the other person knowing.
A lot of forced intimacy and
it's a lot of forced time together.
- So far, living with Niki has been good.
She seems like a hard person to impress.
- Garrett seems fine so far.
Like, he seems like a pretty chill person.
- I basically had a full-time job of playing volleyball.
And like got to meet the president because of it.
- Wait, what?
You met Barrack Obama?
- Yeah.
- Wait, what?
This is the coolest thing about you.
- If you win the national championship,
you get to meet the president.
I'm getting to know Niki a little bit better.
- Well, so like I'm like a film school drop out.
- Oh, okay.
- I was just one of those people who
just didn't do well in college, ya know?
- Okay.
- I like super didn't fit in.
- But, I'm getting a better sense of who she is
and she's a cool person.
There's a bug in here.
- Day one in the books.
- It's a pretty weird little huff I got up here.
- You okay?
- It really feels kind of like a coffin.
I think I'm gonna wake up in the middle of the night,
bash my head on the ceiling, and knock myself unconscious.
Good night, Niki.
- Night, Garrett.
- Oops.
- Oh, my god.
(laughter)
So, it's the morning after day one
and last night I think went pretty well.
- I came outside to give her privacy
cause there's really no other place to go
to give her privacy.
- Last night I realized I forgot to bring toothpaste
so I've been using Garrett's.
But I mean like, roommates right?
That's what you do?
Are you gonna fit in the shower?
- Depending on how high the tub is.
- Good luck.
- Thanks.
Okay, it's certainly tiny.
- He's just like showering like right there.
- Oh my god.
How am I gonna--?
I feel like I'm gonna get shampoo on the ceiling.
- Oh my god.
- I don't have any clothes.
- Why?
- They're all upstairs in my little hobble.
- How are you gonna climb the stairs like that?
- It's fine.
Look, I'm doing it.
- I'll stand this way.
- Listen, we don't have any space.
- I know but you could've brought
your clothes into the bathroom.
That's what I did.
- I'm learning.
- You know I feel like you really do like
sacrifice comfort to live in this space.
Don't you think?
- Yeah, I'm starting to get that feeling.
- Do you cook?
- I make the world's best scrambled eggs.
- What?
- Yeah.
Scrambled eggs.
- Who's told you that?
- I've told it to me and then every time I've said
to somebody I make the world's greatest scrambled eggs,
nobody's ever said, "These are not the best scrambled eggs."
This is not the best utensil for this.
- Are you making excuses already?
- Yep, yep.
These are actually a little over done.
Usually it's best with like toast and like some tomatoes.
- Thank you.
(laughter)
Yeah, scrambled eggs.
- Dammit.
- How was last night for you?
Oh god, that sounds like we just had sex.
(laughter)
- Very funny way to ask it though.
(upbeat music)
- So tonight, we're making chicken wings
with the limes from Nick's tree which is pretty cool.
I think we can become friends.
Like, I think we'll be friends after this.
He's not like the type of person that
I find myself around all the time.
- I think I might get drunk tonight.
I think it's a good idea to get drunk in your tiny house.
- This is like a nice, relaxing lifestyle
of like, pick fruit from your garden,
put it in the food that you make, eat it.
It's like very rewarding.
So like, I get it.
- I've never been more proud of anything in my life.
I can't believe I got this to work.
- Really?
- When I said I would do this,
I had no idea what I was doing.
But, it's working.
(laughter)
- Oh, look at these criss-cross grill marks I got here.
- It's like burger king.
- Oh, that's good.
- That's pretty good.
When I woke up this morning I was nervous
about what we were gonna do all day
and we ended up filling it pretty well.
Niki and I went outside to read because we thought
the sun was setting, it would be nice to read
and we ended up just talking for like two hours.
- Garrett and I maybe first spoke
to each other like three months ago.
And like, here we are telling each other
what our dreams for the future are for our lives.
- I got to facetime with her fiance.
Hello.
- [Niki's Fiance] Hi!
- It's so nice to meet you.
- I'm like not always the best at meeting new people.
In like this one on one setting, it's been really nice.
Hey, Garrett.
- Huh?
- Do you wanna do sheet mask?
- I've never done one before.
- Yay!
(laughter)
- Oh, it's so goopy.
Yeah, it's a little small but--
(laughter)
- I don't know about tiny house living.
You just like--
Everything you're doing is like this.
Cause you're like there's a person here
or like a wall there or like stuff here.
- And that there's no privacy whatsoever.
I don't know if I could actually
live in this tiny house even by myself.
It seems like a crazy non-starter.
Oh, shit.
We didn't even have like our clothes here.
Like, if I had more than two days worth of clothes here
I have no idea where I would have put them.
Niki, what are you doing?
- We had this like box of lights and they were
on the couch but now I can't find them.
- Niki, this house is like 180 square feet.
- I know.
I don't know where it went.
As like a permanent, long-term living situation
I just don't think it's for me.
- [In Unison] Morning.
- Coffee?
- Yeah, that would be great.
This tiny house surpassed some of my expectations
and kind of fell short in others.
Working was really inspirational.
Like, you have this unbelievable view.
That said, because it was so small and cramped
I had to get out of here.
Like, I couldn't work on anything for more than one hour.
- It's been nice but it's too small.
To tiny house livers, good on ya.
I respect your lifestyle.
- Bye, tiny house.
(upbeat music)