Tiny-house dweller looks to upgrade
After 12 months enjoying life with a smaller carbon footprint, Jacqui Barnes plans to upgrade, drawing up plans for a second, slightly bigger ‘‘dream’’ tiny home.
She sold her Timaru house last year and has been enjoying tiny home living since, buying one that was 7 metres by 2.5m for $78,000 and finding a section at Arowhenua, near Temuka, to park it on for $70 a week.
A student midwife, and aged 36 at the time, Barnes had carefully weighed up the responsibilities of being a student and maintaining a mortgage – and she hasn’t looked back.
She bought a house in 2010 and had enough money from the sale of it to buy the tiny home freehold.
Now the big dream is to build her own tiny home once she has put the finishing touches on the one she is living in now.
Barnes said while tiny home living had been enjoyable over the past year, there had been some challenges in winter, which she intends to address with a log burner, carpet and solar energy panels.
She also plans to replace the ladder to her first-floor bedroom with a staircase to create more storage space in the kitchen.
However, the big dream is her own tiny home that may be slightly bigger this time round.
‘‘I absolutely love tiny house living and I wish I’d done it sooner. I’m still living the dream – it’s fantastic,’’ Barnes said.
The tiny home movement advocates for living simply in small homes.
According to the Timaru District Council’s District Plan, in the residential one zone (suburban), one household unit is permitted per 300-square-metre site area, thereby allowing for tiny houses.