Her 300 Sq Ft Tiny Home Feels Bigger Than Her Old Apartment
Before Laura bought her tiny home, she lived in a 465-square-foot studio apartment. Her 300 sq ft tiny home is smaller, but somehow, she says, it feels like she has more room.
"I think I have actually more space here."
That didn't happen by accident. Laura measured everything before bringing it into the house. The couch, pantry, dinette and refrigerator were all planned out first, sometimes months before she actually bought them.
Getting to this home took years.
Laura was caring for her mother through cancer when she passed away in 2015. Laura couldn't afford to keep the home on her own, and after losing all four of her jobs, she went through a period with nowhere to live.
Eventually, she saved enough to move into a studio apartment in a 50-and-over community. She had been there about a year when her aunt, who was also ill, asked Laura to come live with her. It took her months to say yes, but eventually she gave up her apartment and moved in.
Her aunt passed away in 2023 and left Laura the house. By then, the neighborhood she remembered from childhood had changed dramatically.
"I was threatened every night. I didn't know if I was going to be dead the next day or not."
Laura decided to sell. She found the Charleston model from Incredible Tiny Homes and was able to pay for her new home outright.
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At a glance
The Charleston from Incredible Tiny Homes, about 300 square feet on wheels
About $89,900 base, roughly $152,000 with the off-grid package and her changes
Owned outright, paid for by selling the house her aunt left her
Solar, a rear water tank and a tankless water heater, switchable to grid power and city water
Why a 300 Sq Ft Tiny Home Can Feel Bigger Than 465
The furniture here was chosen for the house rather than carried into it. Laura measured several times before buying her couch, which pulls out into a bed and has storage built in. She had wanted leather and ended up with cloth, but it fit properly and left room for the floating shelf. The dinette set and its two chairs came from her aunt's house, and she kept them knowing they would fit the gap between the living room and the kitchen. The pantry came from Wayfair after more measuring.
Two of her changes were structural, and she asked for both before the house was built. The plan put a living room window where she wanted her television, so she asked them to leave it out and give her a solid wall instead. At the back she had the bedroom window replaced with a full door, for a deck she will add once she has her own land.
She spends most of her time in that living room, looking out of the window. Since moving in she has seen wild turkeys, a red fox and goats coming down the hill.
A Kitchen Measured to the Inch
The kitchen has a two burner stovetop, soft close cabinets and drawers, and a farmhouse sink that Laura rates as the best thing in the room, for the pull-out hose and the window above it. A convection toaster oven she had bought long before she had anywhere to put it turned out to fit the counter exactly. The air fryer, a small waffle maker and her mother's mixer live under the sink.
The refrigerator took the longest. She wanted the freezer on the bottom, and it took months of measuring to be sure of it.
"It was the best day of my life when I got the refrigerator."
Inside it she keeps four magnetic spice racks she found through a YouTube video about Amazon finds. She cooks with a lot of spices, and she gives most of what she makes away because, as she puts it, "I like to see the expression on people's faces when you give them food." There was a cookout recently where she grilled chicken legs outside and everyone brought a side. Her neighbors keep asking for her recipes and tell her it never comes out the same, which she puts down to her mother, who could make anything taste good.
"I think a lot of love come out of me when I do my cooking."
About the Sponsor
Disclosure: this video tour was sponsored by MRCOOL.
MRCOOL makes mini split heating and cooling systems. Laura's builder installs them in all of their homes, so the unit came with the house rather than being something she added, and she had been looking into mini splits since she first started researching tiny homes. She says it heats or cools the whole house quickly, and it came with a remote and a phone app, so she can change the temperature and schedule from outside.
MRCOOL also sells DIY mini splits for installation without a technician, with quick connect line sets pre-charged with refrigerant.
You can see MRCOOL's mini splits here.
The Bathroom, the Bedroom and the Back Door
The bathroom is across from the kitchen, with a standard shower, a sink, the toilet, and a vanity and shelf Laura put up herself. She thinks the size is right. The one thing she would change is the sliding barn door, which she finds loud, and she would fit a pocket door instead.
Her bedroom is at the back. The queen bed came from Wayfair and she assembled it herself, along with the two armoires beside it. A closet-sized laundry space holds a washer dryer combo, and behind the door another closet holds the tankless water heater.
"At the end of the day, this is my sanctuary. This is the one place I know that is nothing but total peace and quiet and calm."
Out through the new door she has built a sitting area, with artificial turf the landowner let her lay, two Adirondack chairs, a gazebo she assembled and a privacy screen. Two storage containers she put together hold her grilling gear and Christmas decorations.
There was a garden out there too, with a portable composter and buckets of vegetables. She did not plant it this year because she was working too much to keep up with it, and she intends to get back to it.
What She Is Working Toward
Laura's plan is land of her own, and she is specific about why.
"My major life quest is to one day have my own land and to be able to grow foods that are naturally grown and don't have pesticides in them and to be able to give them out freely to people."
It traces back to when she had nowhere to live.
"I was homeless and I didn't even have food at one time and I had neighbors who bought me food. I had a best friend who bought me food. Thank God for Debbie."
For now she has the house, which is hers in a way nothing else has been.
"I literally own this home. It's actually mine and I'm very grateful for that."
Asked what she would change about the house, she named the sliding barn door and a light fixture, and that was the end of the list.
"I wouldn't change a thing. I really love my home."
Questions About Living in 300 Square Feet
Can a 300 sq ft tiny home feel bigger than a larger apartment?
Laura lived in a 465 square foot studio before buying her 300 sq ft tiny home, and she says the tiny home holds more usable space. Every piece of furniture was measured to fit before she bought it, so no floor area is wasted.
How much did Laura's tiny home cost?
The Charleston model was about $89,900 at base price. The off-grid package and her door and window changes brought the total to roughly $152,000. She sold the house her aunt left her and paid for it outright, so she carries no mortgage.
What does an off-grid package include on a tiny home?
On Laura's home it covered solar, a composting toilet, a water tank mounted on the back and a tankless water heater. She also paid to be able to switch sources, so the house can run on grid power and city water or on its own solar and tank.
Can you change the floor plan on a tiny home before it is built?
Laura made two changes to the standard Charleston layout. She asked the builder to leave out the living room window beside the front door so she would have a wall for her television, and she had the rear bedroom window replaced with a full door for a future deck. Everything else came as standard.
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