A New Zealand couple named Lloyd and Kylee were struck with the ever-increasing rent prices, so they decided to downsize and build their own tiny home in Auckland.
And the result? A house that perfectly works for this happy family of four!
Lloyd and Kylee watched a ton of tiny house videos and attended a couple of tiny house expos before beginning the construction of their home. Doing so made them realize that they don’t really need many things they have accumulated over the years.
The process wasn’t a walk in the park. It took them five long years just going over the plans for their tiny home and finding a family-friendly house that will give each member spaces they would be able to enjoy.
The exterior walls of the 260 square feet home were painted blue and had white accents for the roof, doors, and windows. The couple had tri-fold windows and doors installed, which wonderfully opens up the home into the outdoors and the stunning view of the farmland.
The lounge area features a blue couch that transforms into a bed. There’s also plenty of storage space under the ottoman and under the stairs, which hold the family’s books and their kids’ toys.
The lounge seamlessly connects to the L-shaped kitchen with full-sized appliances, including an oven and a dishwasher. A feature in the kitchen is the unique blue quartz sink, which Lloyd found on an online auction.
The area also contains plenty of storage in the form of cupboards with soft-close drawers and a little shelf above the sink where they store their baking goods.
Since they have two kids, Lloyd and Kylee sacrificed a bit of their lounge space to build a huge bathroom with a full-size bath, a floating vanity, a washing machine, a dryer, and lots of storage.
The bathroom has a door leading to the outdoors, which Lloyd and Kylee hope will serve as the backdoor once they have a wraparound deck built.
Upstairs is their sleeping loft, which has a total of three rooms.
“We knew that we needed privacy for our nearly nine-year-old and obviously with the baby,” Kylee said. “She was still quite young a few months ago when we moved in, so we needed a space where we could close the door in case she was crying in the night.”
They also designed the house to be as kid-friendly and future-proof as possible. They did that by making the dividing wall between the girls’ bedrooms removable.
The second floor also has a walled walkway for the safety of their youngest, who is going to be a toddler soon.
The ceiling of Lloyd and Kylee’s bedroom is high enough to allow them both to fully stand upright and walk around freely. Up there, a large window offers them picturesque views of the outside.
The house itself cost NZ$152,000 (approx. US$105,000), but if you include the water tank and pump and filtration system, they probably spent around NZ$160,000 (approx. US$111,000) —which costs less than the downpayment required to purchase a conventional home in their area.
This lovely tiny home is truly well-designed! Take a tour inside in the video below.
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Well done. One of the best I’ve seen. I get so tired of seeing the same old floorplans, but yours is refreshing 🙂