Jon and Christina were in a long-distance relationship before they decided to live together in a small house. Their tiny home is just under 400 square feet. It’s 32 feet long, 8.5 feet wide, and 13.5 feet tall.
The house has an open floor plan, which makes it feel bigger. They’ve found clever ways to store things in the stairs, under the couch, above the washer and dryer, and in the lofts.
Their bedroom is in one loft. The other loft is a space for books, art, and crafts. Jon made a handy mobile ladder that helps them reach both lofts easily and can be stored safely when not in use.
The bathroom is surprisingly spacious for a tiny home. It has a full-size bathtub and shower, a big vanity, and a mirror that opens to reveal more storage space. Jon, Christina, their dog Sammy, and their bird Peter all love living here.
Christina grew up in a small town in North Carolina. She met Jon in the summer of 2015 when he was doing an internship a few hours away. They started talking and quickly became close. Two weeks after they met, Jon moved back to Florida.
They stayed together long-distance for three years while they both finished college. Christina also started her Master’s degree during this time.
Jon and I always planned that one of us would move to be with the other. I chose to move to Florida because Jon started law school there in 2018. That summer, I sold the house I had bought and renovated—it was my great aunt’s old house from the 1950s. I packed up a lot of my things and moved.
I first saw tiny houses on Pinterest and thought they were a great idea. They seemed perfect for saving money and having a movable home without paying a lot for a big apartment. I watched many YouTube tours and fell in love with the concept of a Tiny House on Wheels.
At first, my friends, family, and Jon were not convinced because building one seemed like a lot of work. I dropped the idea for almost a year. Then, Jon and his dad started seeing the benefits of a Tiny House, and we decided to build one ourselves.
We went through several plans for the Tiny House’s layout from when I started my research until we finished building a few months later. The layout wasn’t too difficult to figure out.
The trickiest part was dealing with the wheel wells on the trailer. We managed to design the space so that we could put cabinets and stairs over the wheel wells.
The building of our tiny house went really well! Jon’s dad suggested using Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPs). These panels are easy to assemble because they come already painted, insulated, and textured. They are great at keeping the house warm, with an insulation value of R-25.
We got the walls and roof up in just a day or two thanks to the SIPs! The whole building took about seven to eight months from start to finish. Jon, his dad, and I built it mostly by ourselves, with just a little help lifting the SIPs.
We decided to use new materials for the construction. While I like the idea of using recycled materials, we wanted our home to be very durable.
We designed the house to suit our needs and our family, which includes me, Jon, our dog Sammy, and our bird Peter. Since we both were in school, we needed a big desk that could also be our kitchen table.
The desk was especially important to Jon, and I really wanted a bathtub, two lofts, and a real couch. One cool feature is that the SIPs only take up 3 inches of space for each wall, so we have more room inside.
We also used steel beams for the lofts, which Jon’s dad welded. This design gives us a lot of extra space in the lofts compared to other tiny houses.
Our house is 32 feet long, 8.5 feet wide, and 13.5 feet tall. Before we added furniture and appliances, it weighed 9,800 pounds. Now, it probably weighs around 13,000 to 14,000 pounds. Including the lofts, our home has 395 square feet of space.
If you’re dreaming of a tiny house, my advice is to do your research and try staying in one for a few days. We stayed in a tiny house in Tampa, Florida, for two nights before we started building ours. Also, go to tiny house festivals and talk to people who live in them!
Follow our journey on Instagram at tiny_house_journey.
Read our full story at riexploring.com
