North Carolina Tiny Home: How She Built Her Fresh Start
Updated: 1 day ago
For two years after her husband died, Chris stayed in the house they shared, a 3,000 square foot rancher on a couple of acres. He had handled the grass and everything else outside. "I've never cut grass in my life. I will make that confession," she says. At the two year mark it became clear the house had done its work. Today she lives in a North Carolina tiny home she had built for herself, in a community that looks like a neighborhood rather than a campground.
At a glance
Community: Simple Life, Hendersonville, North Carolina
Before: a rancher of about 3,000 square feet on a couple of acres
Layout: one of the wider models, no loft, high ceilings
Outside: a large porch, a side patio and a 10 by 12 shed
Cost: about $166,000 with upgrades, plus around $900 a month in lot rent
Two Years Before She Could Let the House Go
The house held her up first. "It was a place of refuge for those first couple of years after he passed away, just grieving and mourning and processing all of that," she says. Then the upkeep stopped making sense. What made letting go possible was a line she had heard once and kept. "The memories belong to us, not to the house. So no matter where you live, those memories, they belong to you. The house is just the vehicle that you're in."
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Four Communities, and Why This One Felt Like a Neighborhood
She toured four or five communities first, and most read as temporary. "They felt like campgrounds," she says. "I love to camp, but I don't want to live in a camp. I want to live in a home."
Simple Life in Hendersonville was different. "It's paved roads, everybody's yards are done nicely. It's like a real community, just tiny." She visited three times before choosing a lot. She had found the town in the first place by winning a Facebook contest for a two night stay, entered half seriously.
Ben and Cheryl's tour covers community living day to day.
Why She Had a New One Built
The resales were not quite what she wanted, so she picked a lot and had a new home built, which surprised her on price. "It was actually more affordable to do it that way," she says, "and I was able to pick everything that I wanted."
What she picked was mostly restraint. Laminate counters were standard and granite was a couple of thousand more. "As long as it looks pretty, that's all I care about." She did pay for a fireplace, a side patio and the largest shed allowed, and the fireplace earned its place the first winter when the heating could not keep up.
The Wide Model, and No Loft
Two choices shaped the house. She wanted one of the wider models, "because it doesn't feel so cramped," and she did not want a loft. She had slept in one while touring. "I felt very closed in," she says, and the steep steps "felt a little sketchy at night" for someone who gets up in the dark. Skipping the loft bought ceiling height instead, which is what makes the main room read as bigger than it is. It also cost her the storage a loft would have held, and she knows it.
Another couple made the same call in this no-loft tiny home.
A Kitchen Sized for One
The island was not optional. "It was really important for me to get an island here because I don't really have room for a dining set," she says. It is her prep space and her table, with two stools where she eats most meals. Everything is full size except the dishwasher.
She owns four plates and four bowls, and gave away about 90 percent of what she had in the old house. Her rule for anyone going tiny is furniture that pulls double duty. "Anywhere you could have a piece of furniture that does more than one thing, that's really helpful." Her ottoman opens for storage, and she has hosted about eight people at once.
The Desk That Runs a Business
The corner by the window is where she spends most of her days, close to seven days a week, running a grief support business for widows from a standing desk. The trouble with an office in the living room is knowing when to stop. "Sometimes I can just get carried away and it'll be 10 o'clock at night and I'll still be working, because it's all right there in my living space." The fix is already in the yard. The 10 by 12 shed becomes her office once it has electricity.
What It Cost, and What the Lot Rent Covers
Her model with upgrades came to about $166,000, and she paid for it outright on purpose. "I knew I didn't want a lot rent plus a mortgage."
Lot rent runs around $900 a month, and she knows how that lands. She ties it back to why the other communities did not work. "While it is high, you do get a lot for it." The paved roads and kept yards are part of what the fee pays for.
Our tiny home cost guide collects five real budgets.
The Small Rooms, and the Porch She Loves
The bedroom is small and she is fine with it. A queen fits, on a frame about 14 inches up so bins slide underneath, and the closet holds everything she owns. "It keeps me from buying stuff I don't need." The bathroom has the same high ceilings and a very small tub. She had wanted a tub, since baths became part of how she took care of herself after her husband died, and none of the homes she toured had one. "Now I know why, because it's so tiny."
The porch is the part she names first, large and unscreened with a ceiling fan and a small dining space, where she eats breakfast once the weather turns. Inside, the color scheme came off Pinterest, pink and green with some blue. Her mother, who died about six months before her husband, loved pink. "I think about my mom a lot as I decorate."
What She Would Change
She is straightforward about the misses, which is rarer in tiny home tours than it should be.
A transom window opposite the door, for more light.
A comfortable sleeper sofa, if one exists. She is still looking and asks viewers for recommendations.
The washer and dryer set flush to the wall, which would take different venting.
A longer bathroom counter, with somewhere to set a blow dryer besides the sink.
Shelves above the refrigerator and the pantry, both out of reach now.
The shed office finished, which is a budget question rather than a design one.
One tip needs no budget. After a shower the towel goes straight into the dryer and stays there until the next one.
What Tiny Living Taught Her
"I don't need a lot of space to be happy. I just want a place that is comfortable and beautiful and homey." She has also learned she can manage more than she expected, including living alone for the first time, which she now calls a gift. "I'll always grieve. I'll always have a hole where my husband should be in my heart. But I just needed that fresh start, and it's been really amazing."
FAQ
How much does a North Carolina tiny home cost? It depends on the model and the upgrades. Chris paid about $166,000 for her new build in a Hendersonville, North Carolina community, including a fireplace, a patio and a shed, plus around $900 a month in lot rent.
Can you have a new tiny home built in a tiny home community? In many communities, yes. Chris looked at the resales in hers, then chose her own lot and had a new home built instead. She says it worked out more affordably and let her pick the finishes herself.
What does lot rent cover in a tiny home community? It varies by community and by lot. Chris pays around $900 a month in hers, which she calls high but worth it for what comes with it, including paved roads, maintained yards and a neighborhood feel rather than a campground feel.
Can you work from home in a tiny home? Chris runs her business from a standing desk in her living room, close to seven days a week. It works, though stopping is the hard part when the desk sits in the same room as the couch. She plans to move it into her 10 by 12 shed once it has electricity.
Is a tiny home without a loft worth it? For Chris it was the deciding feature. She slept in a loft while touring and felt closed in, and the steep steps felt unsafe at night. Skipping it gave her high ceilings that make the main room feel larger, at the cost of the storage a loft would have added.
Chris's grief support work for widows:
Website: theredeemedwidow.com
YouTube: @theredeemedwidow
Facebook, Instagram and TikTok: @theredeemedwidow Clayton Homes: https://bit.ly/claytonhomestht
Simple Life Community Community: https://bit.ly/SimpleLifeCommunity
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