72-year-old Gloria is on a fixed income but she was able to build herself an exceptional tiny home with an enormous sun room.
It all began for Gloria when she saw a tiny house video online. She was so amazed by the tiny house living that she started dreaming about having one.
Her traditional home was about 1800 square feet, which she realized was too big for her and her two fur babies. After all the daydreaming, she got up on her feet and started to work on her dream tiny home.
At present, she is living her dream as she now owns a beautiful tiny home that costs $85,000 in a tiny house village in Tennessee.
It was only a quarter of her old house but it has everything she needs. She designed it herself according to what she needs in her daily life.
Gloria has a beautiful garden where she grows herbs and fruits and vegetables. She also has a vast dog pen for her two furry friends to protect them from coyotes.
There’s a patio on the side for some barbecuing and when it gets too sunny, she just needs to pull down the big shades.
There’s enough room for everything inside Gloria’s tiny house, which she calls Tiny Taj. There is no spot in the house where it’s crammed and messy.
She worked hard on organizing her things to make her tiny house look cozy and spacious.
Her bed area is roomy and comfortable; with a queen-sized bed and a fireplace to keep her warm in the winter.
Behind the curtains is a 5×5 picture window that brings in natural light and makes the room even livelier.
She also has some pull-out spice racks and under her bed, there are two drawers where she keeps all her canned goods.
Gloria’s kitchen is very well thought out. She wanted to make good use of the space so she hung her pots, pans, and knives on the wall.
Her kitchen has all the things she used to have: a coffee bar, a big sink made of crushed granite, induction and gas cooktops, a dishwasher, and a water filter.
She even has a full-size refrigerator and freezer, which are jam-packed with food to share with her friends.
In the middle of the room, there is a special ladder hooked up to the wall. It leads to a storage loft where she keeps the things she doesn’t need every day.
She has all the bathroom items she needs and a closet area with all her clothes neatly hung. It also has cubicles filled with baskets where she keeps her folded clothes.
Gloria’s bathroom is sized perfectly as well as her 4×6 foot walk-in shower. She has a full-size wash dryer and an inflatable soaking tub which she finds very convenient. This is also where her tankless water heater hides.
The most exciting area of her tiny house is the spacious sunroom she had built separately to make room for her favorite furniture.
In this room, there is an interesting piece of furniture, a Christmas tree that looks like a mannequin which she also decorates for Easter and Halloween. It also has a shoe rack where she keeps some of her shoes and a soft, comfy couch for her two dogs.
The sunroom is Gloria’s favorite part of the house because this is where she hangs out with her friends. They come early in the morning for coffee and sometimes stay until cocktail hour.
Gloria is proud of her sunroom because it lets her enjoy the things she loves despite the smaller space. “Just because you’re going tiny doesn’t mean you can’t have a good living,” she said.
At the end of the day, going tiny is mostly about affordability for Gloria. She is now 72 years old and on a fixed income so she couldn’t afford a big house.
Another good thing that she sees with tiny living is the community environment. “Once I retired, if I was not working, I rarely saw at all. Here, it’s very community-oriented. That’s what it’s all about.”