all you need is less
In late 2018 my dream of living in a tiny home came true! I found a tiny home in San Diego to rent which is almost unheard of since it can be difficult to find and afford land in Southern California especially park a tiny home without breaking any laws. It is actually illegal to live in an RV or tiny home in San Diego county, yet the housing market continues to rise preventing people to find affordable housing. There have been many attempts from people to build tiny home communities like Habitat Tiny Homes, but unfortunately failed. I really hope San Diego changes up their laws because I love this city and I love living in a tiny home! Although my dream is to build one from my own design, I figured why not rent one out to get the feel of it beforehand so I can figure out exactly what I want. So here begins my journey of living in my very first tiny home.
Click on the video above for a tiny home house tour of what it looked like before I moved in.
MEET “THE LITTLE DOVE”
The tiny home I rented was orginally built by Zen Tiny Cottages and a wonderful woman (another ginger I might add) had this built especially for her and her young daughter back in 2015. It’s 28 feet long, 8 1/2 feet wide and 13 feet tall which is approximately 208 square feet of living space including two lofts which add an additional 100 sq ft. It was featured on HGTV Tiny House Hunters as well. Check out my tiny home house tour below.
THE LAND
The tiny home I am living in is parked on a private gated property near San Diego. It is actually illegal to live in an RV or tiny home in San Diego but since this is parked on gated private property and is used as an “accessory dwelling unit”, we can get around the law. Despite this crazy law, I couldn’t of asked for a more perfect setting to live in one of these and guess where I found it? Craigslist! Many people disregard this site but over the past 5 years living in San Diego, 12 out of the 15 places I’ve rented from I’ve found on Craigslist. Of course there are scammers everywhere on this site, but if you search smart, you can find exactly what you need.
initial DESIGN
The flooring is laminated faux wood, the cabinets are from white particle board and the trim is unfinished plywood and cedar. I like the interior because it is a blank canvas where you can add your own personal touch when you move in.
THE KITCHEN
I am in love with this tiny home kitchen! Since I eat a raw food diet, I don’t use the oven or stove so I turned that into additional counter space to dry my dishes. The counter top is butcher block wood and has more than enough space for my juicer and blender. Since I make 100% of my meals, it’s important to me that I have a good kitchen setup. I added in shelves above the stove to store my mason jars and dried fruit. I did find that the butcher block countertop absorbs water easily which can create and it’s very hard to keep dry especially if it isn’t sealed. The tiny home that I build will definitely have granite or quartz.
Can you tell how much I love mason jars?
APPLIANCES
These are two appliances I cannot live without… My Breville citrus juicer and my high speed Vitamix blender. I’ve owned my blender for over 7 years and it still works like new. I also have a Breville centrifugal juicer that I use on occasion but these two are my “go to” appliances that are built to last. I love starting my day with freshly pressed fruit juices!
the stairs
The stairs leading to my loft also double as a storage closet for me. I keep towels and bulky items in here and I find that walking up and down the stairs is easy. I like the big steps versus the little ones. This helps prevent slipping. I covered the bare wood with carpet panels so I can walk up and down the stairs barefoot.
I’m not gonna lie, walking up and downstairs in the middle of the night was not fun or safe, especially being half awake, but the size of the stairs made it easy going up and down, especially the hand railing to hold on to. Safety first!
THE FRUIT SHELF
One of the very first questions I asked myself after deciding to move into this tiny home was, “where am I going to store all of my fruit!?” That’s right. I’m a foodie or “fruitie” as I call it. My dream has always been to be able to let the food I eat breathe and ripen with plenty of air and sunlight. The rack I use was purchased from IKEA is part of the OMAR series and has been the perfect storage area for the food that I eat
THE LIVING AREA
This tiny home has a couch that easily converts to a queen size bed. It is tucked away perfectly in the corner of the home and has a huge amount of storage underneath the cushions where I store my shoes. Who would of thought a sofa bed also converts as shoe storage?
MY OFFICE
My desk doubled as my dinner table is from IKEA and is part of the ALEX series. The bottom step of the stairs also doubles as a seat as well just in case I wanted to have a party for two. This work and eating space gives me plenty of room for myself and the work that I do. By the way, I’m an insurance agent if you ever need help with protecting some of your biggest investments.
THE tiny BATHROOM
The small but mighty tiny home bathroom is equipped with a Nature’s Head composting toilet and even has a full size bathtub where I soak in epsom salts after a long run! It is plumbed and wired to incorporate laundry with a 24" washer/dryer combo unit from Edgestar. I feel it’s pretty empowering to use a toilet that is essentially “off grid” and require any water. Every time we flush a regular toilet, we are essentially flushing down at least 1 gallon of fresh water into the sewer system to carry our waste. With this toilet, there is no pipe used for transport to a waste water treatment plant, where the water is strained, cleaned, chlorinated and then sent back into our rivers, given to farms as fertilizer, buried in landfills or incinerated. Using this toilet increases the ability to stay off the grid and to reduce our need for a precious and dwindling resource, water. So how do I use it? Let me show you…
This sink was used for two things: tooth brushing and hand washing. The water pressure wasn’t strong so it felt like washing your hands in a drinking fountain. I definitely preferred using the bigger kitchen sink just feet away. The mirrored cabinet held all of my products and the small horizontal mirror was just enough mirror for me.
composting toilet
I used the Nature’s Head composting toilet which uses zero water. There is an optional fan that uses a small bit of electricity. This composting toilet is the best composting toilet out on the market. It separates the liquid waste from the solid waste into two different containers. Trust me when I say it doesn’t smell! When you use the toilet, you can urinate normally which goes into the front container but when “nature calls” (haha), open up the hatch to do your business to direct your solid waste into the correct container. Both men and women have to sit when using the toilet. Watch the video below to see how it really works.
master bedroom loft
When I sleep it like it dark. Vampire dark. So I purchased a room divider from Amazon and hung curtains to open and close the shades for that perfectly dark bedroom even when it’s daylight out. The master loft perfectly fits a queen size bed and I actually don’t mind the 3 foot ceiling. It took a couple of weeks to get used to when I got up in the morning because I would hit my head going downstairs but now I am comfortable maneuvering my way downstairs in the middle of the night or early in the morning.
In the summertime it can get extremely hot in the lofts, especially if you have the curtains closed for darkness so I installed a window AC unit that kept my master loft cool at night.
storage loft
This extra loft can be used as a guest bed or for storage. This is where I store extras I cannot live without like my herbal pharmacy collection, cycling gear, ski gear, my steam sauna, extra household items and electronics. Everyone needs some extra space for their “stuff” and this second loft works perfectly for that!
clothing and laundry
I had a 30 inch closet with two tension rod bars that I can hang clothes on. Below is the washer/dryer combo unit that I used. I’ll keep it real, I am not a fan of this Edgestar washer/dryer combo because it doesn’t dry your clothes after a 2 hour cycle which I feel is way too long. To fix this issue, I ran a delicate wash cycle and then air dried my clothes outside since the dryer can shrink cotton easily. The California desert sun dries almost anything quickly!
mechanical specs
The back of the tiny home houses the AC, electrical system, and the hot water tank which was powered by propane. There are off grid options, but luckily for me, I was hooked up to electricity and water. Besides my kitchen appliances and computer, I hardly used any electrical so I felt feel solar panels would work just fine. If I was completely off grid, all I would need is a water tank for the shower and sinks. Off grid is doable but you have to prepare head of time how much water you would need.
HEATING AND COOLING
The tiny home came with a digitally frequency controlled variable capacity ductless wall mount mini split system. I rarely used this unit because I lived in a warm temperate climate. It was only hot for a an hour or two during the late summer months and at night the temperature reached a bone chilling 50 degrees. It’s 70-80 degrees during the day and 50-60 degrees at night which makes San Diego one of the best cities to live in a tiny home, if only they didn’t make it illegal! Read more here.
Was it worth it?
Click the image above to read more about the pros and cons to tiny home living. It’s certainly not for everyone but it’s best to know all about it before you invest in tiny home living.
tiny home builders
There are a lot of companies out there who build tiny homes so be sure to find the right one that will build your dream home for you. Here are few of my favorites that I hope to work with in the near future.
More resources on tiny homes
I hope you enjoyed learning more about how I live and more about tiny home living! This way of life may not be for everyone but it can definitely help improve our world with the option to reduce and minimize how we live, especially with the rising home and rent costs in certain parts of the country. We can even help out our homeless population by creating tiny home communities and more affordable housing. Even if you are not able to fit your large family or life into a tiny home, let this way of life be a reminder to you that all we need is less (stuff) and when we can appreciate life with less, we start to focus on more important things in life other than stuff.
