Credits
From Nikole Wilson
James and Julia Stewart worked on expanding their tiny house three years ago when they were pregnant with twins. They knew that their current living arrangements will be insufficient for the kids on the way. So the couple planned ahead and converted their patio into their twins’ nursery. Patio though small, provided enough space to create a room for the girls.
Major constraint in the entire planning process was the shoe string budget. Two kids together was an added expense for the couple plus renovating and adding another room in their already tiny house was a challenge which Julia took upon herself.
“I’d taken this a challenge and I’m glad that I made it happen. Though I had to give up my favourite place (the patio) in the house, the accommodation for the kids was a necessity. And also the money was in crunch.” She says.
Julia used some free goods and supplies and also some run down materials to build the room. The kids’ nursery had bunker bed format complete with drawers, storage and space to keep baby stuffs. The couple drew designs on the furniture and painted them on their own. These baby theme drawings made the room livelier at the same time quite economical for their budget.
Old pallets were used to create the bunkers which would serve both as cribs and later as beds. “Though kids were quite young at the time the house completed, we knew that they would need their own space as they grew up. So we started planning right at the beginning of the pregnancy and were ready to welcome the kids in their new room.” says James. To top it all, we even invested in a high-tech cousin a baby monitor www.mylittleme.com/bes... as a modest way to keep an eye on your baby at all hours of the day or night.
The biggest obstacle came in the form of giving entrance to the room within the house. With limited space to accommodate the beds and other required furniture taking out space for the door was quite a task. Then Julia came up with the idea of sliding doors. That saved us lot of space and was easy for us to keep the toddlers from unlocking the doors or in fact locking themselves inside, the couple told us.
Many people disapproved of James and Julia’s decision to bring up the girls in the tiny home, the couple felt that working in their budget and on their ideologies was more important than what people thought. Today they are happy as a close knit family, doing things as a unit.
James and Julia want to create more space for the little girls, Sarah and Sharon. The space that want to create for the girls will also be small and also on small budget but will give them their personal space and independence to do their own thing.