Tiny is a relative term. After living in a 65-square-foot van for half a decade, the thought of living in a house with just over 300 square feet felt like a significant upgrade! In March of 2020 when the world came to a halt we were in New Zealand in the middle of a van-life road trip.
After receiving a shrilling text from the Ministry of Health outlining a 4-week quarantine we found ourselves locked down in something the size of a shipping container, all the while paying rent on our home back in San Diego. With ample time to think about our lives, we began weighing out the thought of building our own tiny house.
We spent the rest of the quarantine designing our dream home using Pinterest as a mood board and a free online program to build a 3D scale model.
A few months later we returned to the states and promptly purchased a 26’ trailer from Tiny House Basics. They worked with us to draw elevations from our 3D model which were essentially the blueprints of our home. Laysea’s father is a carpenter by trade, who specializes in renewable energy and green home technology in Florida, so he was eager to jump on the project and assist us in the build. He towed his Airstream trailer (that he designed & renovated) to San Diego to the property that we found to build on. His knowledge and creative energy was crucial in building our home, and this home would not have been possible without him. (Hughes Construction, New Smyrna Beach, FL).
Designing the house and deciding which areas were priority was also a large factor that made us choose to build the house ourselves. We prioritized a large lounge area and minimized the kitchen as this is what fits best with our daily lives.
One of our primary goals in building our home, in addition to ultimately lowering our overhead monthly cost, was to lead a more sustainable lifestyle.
We are proud to say we built our home completely off solar power and continue to run the whole house off solar panels and batteries thanks to Goal Zero and their Home Integration System. We incorporated lots of different eco-friendly products such as wool insulation from Havelock Wool, a composting toilet, greywater filtration, energy star certified appliances with a retro look from Unique Appliances, and lots of reclaimed teak wood all over the house including our gorgeous exterior siding, flooring, stunning hexagon countertop, and floor to ceiling bathroom tiles, all from our friends at IndoTeak Design.
Our jobs as professional photographers and videographers allow us to travel at least six months of the year for work, and we really feel that we’ve created the perfect place for us to come home, relax, and catch up with friends in our community.
To view the behind-the-scenes and the making of our tiny house, as well as where we go next, find us on Instagram (Laysea Hughes / Travis Burke)
Written by Laysea Hughes and Photography by Travis Burke for Tiny House Magazine Issue 112.
