Baby spells end to tiny house living
A globetrotting couple who have been committed to living tiny for years, are now planning to build a bigger house as their family grows, writes Joanna Davis.
Emily and Peter Maher have lived together in the United States, England and New Zealand, and have been committed to the idea of living tiny for years, but their growing family is forcing them to expand their housing footprint.
With a baby due in December, the couple are selling their second deluxe tiny home, and planning a new build on their own section in their adopted home, Wānaka.
A covenant in their new subdivision prevents them from placing a relocatable home on the 300m2 site, but they are also thinking of resale value, and so plan to build a 150m2 home to passive house standards.
The couple met in Nashville, Tennessee, but were living in Denver, Colorado, for 15 years in a 111m2 home when they realised they ‘‘barely used half the house’’, Peter says. They hardly ever entered the guest bedroom and downstairs bathroom, he says.
They then moved to Peter’s home country, England, to open a cafe in Truro, Cornwall. Living in a tiny flat (less than 30m2) above the cafe really sold them on tiny living, from a practical and philosophical standpoint.
Their next move, as US-born Emily’s UK visa was running out, was to Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019, where Peter gained a ‘‘one of a kind’’ immigration visa in the Edmund Hillary Fellowship entrepreneurship programme.
In their first year in Christchurch, the couple house-sat in 45 locations, spending a total of $1000 on accommodation for the year (in-between house-sits).
Not wanting to rent, and unable to buy a house as new immigrants, they worked with B&W Tiny Homes to build their first relocatable home.
The couple designed the home and begged company owner Shane Jones to build it, as his company mainly focused at that time on making trailers.
‘‘We designed it,’’ Peter says, ‘‘and the beauty was [Shane’s] dad was a retired builder and came out of retirement to help.’’
After living in that 27m2 home in Lincoln, just outside Christchurch, they decided to move to their dream location, Wā naka, so they had their second tiny home built by the same company.
Emily says Wānaka felt like home. ‘‘As soon as we rolled into town, it was just like Denver: bright sun, snowy mountains. It kind of just had an at-home feeling for us.’’
For their second tiny home build, they ‘‘learned from the mistakes’’ of the first one. Additionally, they wanted it to be slightly bigger and higher spec.
‘‘We told them we wanted to have a bed that goes into the ceiling, I want an office, and we wanted it built for Wānaka weather,’’ Peter says. ‘‘They took on all of my specifications.’’
The home has NZ Foam spray insulation in the walls (R3.6) and ceiling (R4.29), with 50mm of polystyrene in the subfloor. The heat pump, a Mitsubishi HyperCore LN25, is specifically designed for colder temperatures.
The bed can be raised by a motorised pulley system operated from a cellphone, turning the bedroom into living space by day.
The couple returned from a March and April visit to the US, pregnant and decided it might be time to upsize. ‘‘We have lived here thinking about a baby,’’ Emily says, ‘‘and we could turn Pete’s office into a nursery. [...] but we thought maybe we should sell this house while it’s new and beautiful and in great condition.’’
The couple plan to house-sit in Christchurch over summer, with the benefit of Emily being able to give birth at a birthing centre, which Wānaka currently lacks. They then plan to take the baby to visit relatives in the US and UK before returning to Wānaka next year.
Emily says they have not wanted for anything living in a smaller space.
‘‘To me, it’s like living in a normal home, just shrunken down a little. Pete knew better than to build a house for me to live in that didn’t work.’’
Peter says living smaller has been an intentional choice for the couple, one he recommends to young adults starting out. ‘‘Don’t get in the property market straight away. See if you can live in this. Living frugally shows you what you can live with and live without.
‘‘We’re not consumers at the end of the day, we’re humans. I call it essentialism.
‘‘You can actually live life a bit more fully. You’re outside more. You’re catching up with people.’’
The house is for sale with an asking price of $220,000.