The little house life
A Southland couple has repurposed their possession-driven life to become conscious consumers in a small eco-home.
Lessons from a couple who went from large to little & why they love it
HEIDI HORTON is drinking orange juice from a fancy tumbler. The tumblers, a wedding gift, were once saved for special occasions. Now, in the downsized smallfootprint Southland cottage she shares with husband Matt, there’s no room for a second set of glasses. As a result, life tastes a little bit special every day. At 65m², Devon Cottage is technically too large to be a tiny house (most definitions say they should be 35m² or less). It’s still much smaller than the national average of 149m² and minuscule compared with the average size of homes built in the last 15 years (205m²). It’s tiny compared to their previous home, which had four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and two living areas. “We built (our first home) just after we got married. We were planning on having kids and thought a big house was a prerequisite,” says wedding photographer Heidi. “We tried for three to four years to have children and spent a lot of time at medical appointments. We were so unhappy.” When they started looking at their life goals without children, they realised materialism drove much of their decision-making. “We felt that friends and family were busy ticking off their life achievements and we had to keep up. But we’d become excessive – we had two spare rooms filled with junk, and we didn’t use more than a third of our house.” It was a relief to sell up and downsize, but it was a massive undertaking, says Heidi. After a successful garage sale, they donated two truckloads of clothes, books, and household items to the local op shop. Even so, 900kg of other stuff
went to the landfill. “That broke my heart. I’d spent my hardearned money following trends and buying stuff. In the end, it was just junk and filled up a hole in the earth.” Their new minimised life meant a rethink. Did they need 15 big fluffy towels? A single-bed sheet when they didn’t own a single bed? Would they ever find a use for three sets of dinnerware? No. Experiences have replaced possessions. Now, walking their bichon frise cross, Henry, spending time with friends and family, and being in nature while doing her photography work are what give Heidi the most pleasure. Books on organising by Marie Kondo (The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up) and Francine Jay (The Joy of Less ) helped with the practicalities of downsizing. But much of Heidi’s inspiration comes from her late father George, who grew up during the Great Depression and was thrifty and resourceful throughout his life. The retired schoolteacher was a lot older than most of her friends’ fathers (Heidi was the daughter of his second marriage). As a teen, she cringed at his homespun outlook. Now she wishes she could ask for his advice. “My dad felt we’d become a throwaway culture. He was so resourceful. He had a massive veggie patch and was always tinkering away. I wish I’d tried harder to learn some of his skills. “When he was young, his family couldn’t afford to buy him new socks. Eventually, his socks would have more darning in them than original sock. These days, socks are so disposable they’re available in the supermarket.”
DOWNSIZING HOME & DEBT
Heidi and Matt’s goal was to downsize, pay off as much debt as possible, create a home that reflected their unique tastes, and be self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables. “We looked at tiny houses and whether we could have something on wheels, house buses, all kinds of options, but we still wanted land so we could have a garden.” They analysed how much of their first home they used. “We weren’t living in two-thirds of it,” says Heidi. “So we looked at the spaces
we did spend time in and how could we downsize that and make it work better. We did a lot of measuring, especially the bathroom and the lounge. We also knew we wanted a pitched ceiling to make it feel more spacious, and we wanted indooroutdoor flow.” By the time they met their architect, they had a plan for every detail, from the floorplan to the roof, cladding, and wall linings. Heidi had created a Pinterest mood board, and even worked out the placement of every window. One surprise in this small house is the size of the kitchen. Devon Cottage is about a third of the size of their first home but has a bigger kitchen. “We knew we weren’t going to have a dining room or dining table, so we thought we might as well have an oversized kitchen bench that seats four. We put a bit more room between the two benches, so it’s way more workable as we both love to cook. We’ve got a pull-out pantry, which is a lot more useable and practical for us (than a cupboard-style one).” Builder (and now neighbour) Gav supported the couple in their quest to do as much of the building work as possible. His team did the foundations, floor, framing, and roof. Matt and Heidi worked alongside Gav on the interior. Heidi’s work on the concrete floor saved them thousands of dollars. “We wanted it to look really raw, and they said ‘you could just sand it yourself, so it’s smooth when you put the sealer on it’. So I polished the floor, and I never want to see an orbital sander again. It was a lot of late nights, and I had to work around the builders, but that saved us about $5000.” Mechanic Matt took a month’s leave and worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week. “We did the numbers, and we worked out if Matt took one week off work, his pay was the equivalent to what we were paying the builders to be onsite for one day. So he took four weeks off, and that helped us save tens of thousands of dollars (in labour). “I’m sure a lot of builders wouldn’t appreciate having the client onsite all week long, but we were really lucky (with Gav).”
PROJECT GARDEN
Next on the to-do list is planting a selfsufficient garden, a bucket list wish for Heidi. It will include large vegetable beds, an orchard, a wildflower meadow, and a chook run. “I’ve got a tunnel house on order, and a little bit growing very slowly in the veggie garden – that kept me entertained during the lockdown. “We’ve got big plans for this place.”