According to Stephanie Seferian, the host of The Sustainable Minimalists podcast, minimalism is the intentional choice to live with less. Tim Davidson is one of the people who made this choice. And he hasn't looked back ever since.
In 2017, Tim was given 60 days to move out of his family's vacation home in Florida. At first, he thought about buying a traditional-sized home. But as time went by, Tim realized that something that big would probably result in unused space, unnecessary belongings, more taxes, and more money.
Davidson decided to focus just on the necessities: a bedroom, living area, small kitchen, and access to the outdoors. So a tiny home looked like the perfect solution.
More info: tiffanythetinyhome.com | Instagram
In 2017, Tim Davidson's family told him he had 60 days to move out of their vacation home in Florida
Image credits: tiffanythetinyhome
"I really learned about minimalism through the Netflix documentary as well as religions that try to have less materialistic things," Tim told Bored Panda.
"I've always kind of been attracted to minimalism without knowing that I was attracted to minimalism. I typically had fewer things than the average American but enough where I could still slim down my lifestyle and really become a true minimalist."
Experts see at least several potential advantages to minimalist living. For example, less clutter means less time spent cleaning and organizing, and more hours in the day for family and friends.
"By maintaining a clutter-free environment, you're able to increase focus on productivity thus reducing stress," Caleb Backe, a certified health and wellness expert for Maple Holistics, told Oprah Daily.
This increase isn't just psychological: a 2009 study by Darby Saxbe and Rena Repetti found clutter can actually increase cortisol levels, a.k.a. your stress hormone. Therefore, freeing your home from stuff may help you free your mind as well.
Image credits: tiffanythetinyhome
Just before the deadline, he bought Tiffany, a 270-square-foot tiny house
Image credits: tiffanythetinyhome
Tim picked Tiffany because of the layout and the stained glass throughout the home—his father used to make stained glass lighting fixtures for a living.
"I just felt that it was a perfect fit for me. The layout of the home was exactly what I wanted, it functions very well, and has everything I need."
Tiffany cost Tim about $70,000.
It got its name from the colorful glass light fixtures
Image credits: tiffanythetinyhome
The living room area is accented with a folding leaf table. As far as seating goes inside Tiffany, she has a cozy custom upholstered bench with matching foot stools that double as seating at the leaf table.
If there's a need for a little bit more space, the stool's card table legs fold in so they can be tucked under the bench and out of Tim's way for some yoga or just to gaze up at the dark reclaimed woods and white walls that hold up the barrel ceiling.
Image credits: tiffany_the_tiny_home
The home has two lofts, a full bathroom, a living space, and a kitchen
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Tiffany's space is well-utilized. Whether it's the sliding drawers under each step or the 12'' deep custom headboard behind the queen-size bed in the master loft, Tiffany has a vast amount of storage to hold its residents' tiny treasures.
Another really cool and useful feature is the removable, Japanese-inspired cedarwood soak tub. The tub is surrounded by 46''x 30''Amalfi tumbled subway marble tile and sits under a full range overhead shower head.
Image credits: tiffany_the_tiny_home
But Tiffany is also smart. She has a Lutron Caseta wireless system. This means Tim is able to talk to Amazon Alexa and Nest products in order to control features throughout the home.
After getting Tiffany, I started looking for a permanent piece of land to live on
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In the kitchen, Tiffany is equipped with walnut butcher block counter tops, an oversized farm style sink, 10.3-foot fridge, and a 20'' propane stove which makes cooking a painless task. It's also hard not to look out of the huge custom double-hung Low Emissivity windows to see what is going on outside.
Image credits: tiffanythetinyhome
He ended up purchasing a tiny island in Florida for $200,000
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Tim found the island on Zillow. "It was raw land and not being used as anything, didn't even have an address," he recalled. "I ended up knocking on the owner's door that was selling it and started negotiating pricing from there. I then had 60 days to figure out if I could build a tiny house on there with the city's permission. And I was able to successfully build a tiny house on a foundation."
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Eventually, Tim realized Tiffany probably wouldn't survive a strong hurricane
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Tiffany also has the NOAH Certification. This means it incorporates nationally recognized safety, construction, and energy efficiency standards currently used by the Home Building & RV industries. Inspections are also video documented and archived whenever Tim needs them.
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So he got a 320-square-foot home for $90,000, which is shaped like an octagon and is really sturdy
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"The octagon home is made by a company called Deltec Homes," Tim said. "It's a high-end prefab home built in Asheville, North Carolina. It being an octagon helps with aerodynamic intensity winds such as hurricanes. This doesn't allow wind to create pressure on a single wall and allows the wind to move around the home."
The roof trusses are like spokes on a wheel so if one truss tries to pull up, the others act together in order to keep the roof down. "It's to last 50 years with a 99.9% success rate. It's arguably the strongest tiny house ever built."
Davidson rents this home on Airbnb to utilize all the space he has and help pay for his living expenses.
This is how the second tiny house looks inside:
Image credits: tiffanythetinyhome
Image credits: tiffanythetinyhome
Image credits: tiffanythetinyhome
Image credits: tiffanythetinyhome
Image credits: tiffanythetinyhome
Image credits: tiffanythetinyhome
Image credits: tiffanythetinyhome
Image credits: tiffanythetinyhome
Image credits: tiffanythetinyhome
Image credits: tiffanythetinyhome
Image credits: Shellmateisland
Image credits: Shellmateisland
Image credits: tiffany_the_tiny_home
Image credits: tiffany_the_tiny_home
People love Tim's tiny paradise on Earth
