Life on the road in an off-grid 32’ tiny home
Vince and Ayse are a retired couple from Ottawa, Canada whose dream is to enjoy their retirement exploring North America. They spent years researching the tiny home movement, staying in tiny homes, and traveling to different builders. When they came to us they had done A LOT of research and had a great idea of how the right tiny home could serve their lifestyle. A custom tiny home was the only option.
It’s our honour and passion at Fritz Tiny Homes to take a client’s dream and work it into reality. Let’s share all the details of how so much was accomplished a small space.
We started knowing that this home needed to be built upon a gooseneck trailer as Vince and Ayse wanted to hit the road. A gooseneck is safer to tow than a bumper-pull and the foundation allowed for a creative floor plan.
The entrance at the back of the home (1 of 2) has a built-in deck and stairs that drops down. This gives our clients a covered deck to enjoy the view and morning coffee from wherever they land.
As you walk in this main door, painted a fun warm yellow, you’ll find a front hall closet to your left with room for a vacuum, outdoor wear, and shoe storage. Tucked in here are the panels and controls for the full off-grid solar system. With full grey water and on-board water tanks, this home is fully functional wherever Vince and Ayse want to roam!
The space is bright and inviting with solid walnut touches complimenting the fir beams and flooring. Large windows and intricately vaulted ceilings invite nature and light into the living room. The couple loves movies so a custom fit blind (Maxxmar) pulls down and becomes the big screen for the living room projector with a sound bar mounted below the window. Vince and Ayse have grown children and wanted some extra sleeping space in their home. The living room sofa (the Gemini from Resource Furniture) conveniently pulls up into a bunk bed whenever anyone comes for a visit!
As you move into the kitchen area you’ll see a custom walnut kitchen table for the couple to eat and play cards at, with built-in drawers on either side. This custom kitchen table also has a slide-in coffee table that nests underneath that they can pull out at any time. Ayse loves drawers more than shelves so multiple storage drawers were created for the kitchen space. The walnut countertops provide a beautiful warmth next to the Furion cooktop. The hood vent above provides more room for cookbooks or kitchen décor. A custom slide-out pantry fits vertically next to the refrigerator, complete with adjustable shelves. We love the light that Ayse chose to bring in some colour from her Turkish heritage!
In this home there are no internal fender wheel wells that we’ve worked around as the floor is built above them. This provides room under the floor for 100 gallon fresh and grey water tanks as well as additional gear storage.
The bathroom in this home is small but mighty at 5’ x 8’! This spa-like space invites you in with custom concrete tile and a sink vanity by Phoenix Concrete. Above the sink hangs an anti-fog, LED backlit mirror. A Blauberg ventilation system in this space circulates the air throughout the home, with another one in the front hall. More storage space is provided in the bathroom along with a washer/dryer combo. Next to the composting toilet is a heated towel rack to keep towels fresh and warm (Warmly Yours). Ayse’s favourite part is the sunken bathtub.
The master bedroom is just 5 LED lit steps up above the gooseneck in the full standing height loft. The angles of the roofline of the home are mirrored in a backlit mountain-like headboard with his and hers reading lights. There are beautiful windows on either side of the bed along with built-in bedside tables and a huge custom wardrobe with hidden seasonal storage. If you know where to look you may even find a full size desk; this bedroom converts into a home office.
When you step outside, below the master bedroom gooseneck area is what we’ve called the “Gearage”. Vince and Ayse love their E-bikes, kayak, cross country skiis, and tools so designed a space to store it all. Custom sliding bike racks make loading and unloading simple (and cool). In the gearage you will also find on-board batteries for the solar system and a Growatt – essentially the brains and invertor of the solar system that tells the generator when to charge. As well, this space stores the particulate and U.V. water filtration, the IBC combi boiler which provides on demand hot water, as well as the hydronic in-floor heating. And again, there’s more storage for whatever the couple needs to tuck away!
Focused completely on the client’s lifestyle, this gorgeous, high-functioning space can function year-round, anywhere. What a fun journey it’s been to picture life on the road in a tiny home, Thank you, Vince and Ayse, for stepping outside the box with us and allowing us to create this home for you!
