Julia's Journey to Tiny Living

Nov 11, 2015
2 min read

" I first heard of tiny houses my freshman year of college when when of my neighbors in my dorm told me about then. I started saving money and collecting ideas and four years later I had enough to get started. I knew there were plans available but wanted something very customized to include all of my ideas so I approached my friend Adam who is an architect about designing it. He had never designed a tiny house but had done regular houses so he drew up some plans and contacted a contractor friend to manage the build. "

" The house is build on a Big Tex trailer and is about 8 feet wide, 20 feet long and 13 feet tall making it approximately 200 square feet. Some people count the loft in the calculation and others don't so it kind of varies. My builder, Blake Smith (http://www.cleantag.net/read-me/) was great and lived down the street from my regular sized house at the time so I was able to go over and help whenever he was working on it. He and his team did a great job and we worked closely throughout the build.

The overall process took about a year from the time we started planning to the time I was able to move in. I moved in right before my 23rd birthday and have been in it for about six months now. I live in Austin, TX and since our city has some pretty strict zoning regulations I have had to move it a couple times. I finally found a great spot in a friend's backyard just outside the city limits. They even let me use their pool! "

"A couple of my favorite features of the house are the bottle cap mosaic bathroom floor and pantry. The bathroom floor took several days to complete but I'm thrilled with how it turned out. I love the pantry because it doubles as a door to the bathroom, saving space since it is build like a sliding barn door."

" As for logistical questions that I get a lot - I have a composting toilet, a tankless hot water heater, hook my house up to a water hose in the yard, have a separate electric meter, and since I use biodegradable soap they're able to reuse my used water to water plants. I have a full sized bed up in the loft and my couch can turn into a twin size bed. I'm not completely done yet - still working on putting in a kitchen table that folds down from the wall and then a porch. "

Photo Credit

Samantha Bennett - SamanthaBennett.net

Special thanks to Julia from Austin for sharing her Tiny House journey with us :)

For more pictures and updates follow on Instagram @juliaschulze1

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