Youtube Studio (Tiny Home)

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I am excited to announce and finally start sharing the progress and projects that we have going on here on our new property. I will say that the break from posting here and on my Youtube channel was somewhat welcome as it gave me a little bit of a break to recharge and just focus on my family. I did, however, miss my regular schedule which I had finally gotten used to right before I stopped posting. Of course, that would happen, right? 

I actually would have started posting sooner, but there honestly wasn’t much “pretty stuff” or even enough stuff to share with you.

We encountered quite a few delays and setbacks and some days were kind of hard. Winter was particularly harsh with a ton of rain and we ended up staying at my parents’ home much longer than we had anticipated. Thankfully my parents’ didn’t  mind and I was able to remake their guest bathroom and family room space while we were there. 

We did finally make it up here permanently in January after traveling back and forth for months until everything got done, and by that I mean water, power, septic and internet installations. 

It was nice to finally take a breather and boy did we need it. We ended up placing the kids in school and it was really beneficial for all of us. Nelson still works from home and since we live in a camper on site, it was just way too cramped for him to be working there during the day and the kids being there for homeschool. Plus, we still had a lot of coordinating and work to do to try and get things started on the homestead, so having the kids focused on school so we could focus on everything else alleviated a lot of stress. 

This also allowed them to make new friends and I was able to meet other local moms, so it was a win-win for everyone. 

During this time Nelson and I realized that the building of our forever home was going to take a lot longer than we expected for several reasons. This is something perhaps we will elaborate on more in the future when we are father along. So, we began to shift our focus on what would make things more comfortable for us as a family on the homestead as well as get me back to creating on my channel. 

Hence, the YouTube studio/tiny home idea. This was actually always in the plans, however, it was supposed to happen after we built our house. Now, it was just moved up to the most important thing on the list for us.

Just a quick reminder that you are always welcome to watch the video version of this at the bottom of this post. Simply scroll down. ⬇️

We purchased a 14′ x 40′ building from our local Mennonite community and they did an amazing job. We went to Sloping Hill Structures located in Spencer, TN just in case you are looking for a shed-to-home option. Let them know Yami and Nelson sent you too! They were so nice and they did the work so incredibly fast! We are just impressed with their craftsmanship and highly recommend them if you are in the middle TN area. 

Of course, the interior needs to be finished out which is where Nelson and I come in. 

Here is one end of the building. 

And here is the other. That section to the left will be the full bathroom. 

My idea for my Youtube studio would be that it look and function like an actual home. It would serve the purposes of DIYing, decorating, staging and even filming cooking videos all the while we build our forever home. However, most importantly it would serve as extra square footage for the entire family to enjoy (and spread out) while we are undergoing construction for the next year or more. 

And of course as we progress with the finishing out, I would share the entire progress with you as we go.

I put together several mood boards and even a 3D rendering of what the space will look like once finished and I thought it would be nice to share with you. I worked hard on what aesthetic I wanted for this space and tried to coordinate all the spaces to flow well together. 

I began with the layout of the space. I started with a really rough layout of how I wanted everything to be placed inside the building. I tried several and the one below was the one that made the most sense and best use of the square footage.

Then I began designing the different spaces and here is the main living area. 

It will have a fully functional fireplace flanked by two bookcases. These bookcases will function mostly as storage for my supplies, but the entire wall will work for staging and also as a backdrop during my introductions. 

The dining space will be used for eating but it will have plenty of storage and the table will function as my main working space, whether it be painting, sewing or DIYing. 

For the kitchen I was inspired by the home we stayed at during our last Christmas vacation trip. I shared the tour here and here. And then I found the left image above on Pinterest which had the perfect color scheme (make sure you follow me there if you don’t already). I have never done open shelving in a kitchen before and since this won’t be my main kitchen forever, I thought this would be the perfect time to try it out. 

Nelson and I plan on doing everything except the plumbing (which we already had installed) and you can see all about there in my latest Youtube video. I have already picked out the tile for the bathroom so you will get a sneak peak of that too! 

Speaking of the bathroom…

I hope to keep everything nice and neutral, with a feminine cottage feel. It won’t be overflowing with flowers or anything so my husband will still feel right at home, but since this is the space that I will use whenever I am working, I thought I would make it as cozy as possible. 

We are installing the same shape tiles on the floor that we used in my son’s bathroom as well as our girls’ bathroom in the last house. We really love how they feel on our feet, they are super easy to install and they are inexpensive. Win-win-win! This will be the third color of tile we use so I am excited to see how these turn out. 

Of course, we are not stopping with just the inside. There are plans for the exterior as well. 

I plan on adding an outdoor dining area to the back of the cottage as well. Nelson and I will be installing a temporary pool for the kids so that they can enjoy swimming over the summer so it will be a nice place to have lunches and relax after a day of swimming. We could enjoy evening BBQ’s outside as well and this would add even more square footage to our home footprint making it even more pleasant for us while we build. 

For the front of the cottage, and probably the last thing we do, will be to add a front porch. I found this one on Pinterest as well and I just fell in love. Since our building is wide, I think we can get it close enough to it. It probably won’t extend for the entire front facade because our building is much wider, but we can still get a fairly large space out of it nonetheless. 

 So those are the plans for everything. They are a lot yes. And we have to get everything done by September so we have our work cut out for us. But I am excited to finally have something that looks like a home and we can all breathe a little better with a little more space. 

This gets me looking forward to the holidays as well. I can’t wait to decorate and get cozy by the fire with the family. 

I would love to hear your thoughts about the building and what we have in store for you during the summer months. I am curious to know which space speaks to you the most. 

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 I can’t wait to share more with you as things progress and I will see you back here very soon. 

Until then… adios!