Tour Michelle and Sandra's Cat-friendly Tiny Home
Hi, I'm Michelle and I'm Sandra, and this is our tiny, cat-friendly house.
We reside in Sanford, Florida. We've been living in our tiny house for three and a half years now, which was built by Movable Roots.
It's 28 feet long with a bump out making it 29 feet, 13 feet 6 inches tall, and 8 feet wide, staying within legal limits for road travel.
Living in 12 Oaks RV Resort
We're currently parked at 12 Oaks RV Resort in Sanford, Florida. The resort is very tiny house friendly, and there are about five other tiny houses in the area. We love it here for its shady spots, oak trees, and natural beauty. We use this place as our winter base, staying from November through June or July, and then we travel in the summer.
Our travels
Our tiny house has logged 15,000 miles. We've traveled up the east coast to Massachusetts, through Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and even attended the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in New Mexico. We enjoy being "Sunbirds," traveling in the summer and returning to Florida in the winter.
The challenges of tiny house travel
Traveling with a tiny house is a learning process. Michelle had never towed a trailer before, and I had only towed boats. Our tiny house weighs 19,000 pounds and has three axles. In the first year, we had no problems, but in the second year, we had to replace all six tires.
Fortunately, as a retired state trooper, I know how to change tires, and we've since upgraded our tires to handle the weight better. We also travel with two spare tires, which came in handy once when we used both on a trip.
Customizing for our cats
One of the highlights of our tiny home tour is our catio. The cats have a door they can use to go in and out as they please. Inside, the house is 350 square feet and full of features to keep our cats entertained. Kobe, the gray one, loves to throw his toys off the loft and fetch them.
Interior design and custom features
Living room
In the living room, we prioritized comfort, with recliners and a TV. We used a storage bench from home and built additional storage for our bikes. The back wall, which was supposed to be a window, was converted to a regular wall for privacy and to hang artwork.
Kitchen
Our kitchen is a full galley style with quartz countertops and custom-made cabinets. We opted for drawers instead of an oven, and our microwave doubles as a convection oven.
We lined our cabinets with non-slip material and use Velcro straps to keep doors closed while traveling. One special feature is a cutting board in a drawer, providing extra prep space.
Bathroom
The bathroom, located at the back of the house, features a spacious shower, which is actually bigger than the one in our previous home.
We use an incinolet toilet, which burns waste to ash, eliminating the need for traditional waste management.
There's also a convenient laundry chute leading to our washer-dryer combo and plenty of storage space.
Master loft
The master loft has a standing area designed for Sandra's height and a king-size bed to accommodate us and our four cats.
A skylight and side windows ensure the space feels light and airy. The loft also features a closet and additional storage drawers.
Cat loft
The cat loft includes our litter robots, a cardboard VW bus for the cats to play in, and an exhaust fan to manage odors. It's a perfect retreat for our cats when they need some quiet time.
Our downsizing journey
Before going tiny, we lived in a 2400 square foot house in Baldwin Park, Orlando. The maintenance costs and physical strain of upkeep made us reconsider our living situation.
Watching Tiny House Nation inspired us to downsize. The tiny house on wheels appealed to our desire for a simpler, more mobile lifestyle, allowing us to travel with our cats.
Choosing a tiny house over an RV
We chose a tiny house over an RV for several reasons. RVs had a lot of wasted space and would have cost us around $200,000 for the size we needed.
Tiny houses, on the other hand, offered a more permanent and customizable living solution. Our tiny house cost about $180,000, with the truck adding another $75,000, totaling just under what we would have spent on an RV.
Benefits of tiny living
We decided to evaluate our decision after a year, but we quickly realized we loved the tiny house lifestyle. The simplicity, reduced cleaning, and the ability to travel with our home and cats made it worthwhile. The flexibility of our tiny home tour lifestyle allows us to explore new places without sacrificing comfort.
Tiny home tour
Thank you for joining us on our tiny home tour. We hope our story inspires others to explore the possibilities of tiny living. Which feature of our home do you like best? Comment down below.
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