A Woman Transformed This Tiny Shed Into A Cozy Family Home – Take A Look Inside

From the outside, it’s obvious that Jori Wilkinson’s shed is not the kind you’d buy to store tools or a lawnmower. Still, you probably won’t be prepared for just how amazing the inside actually is. The young mom and her husband have transformed the wooden shell into a beautiful family home – and what they’ve created may well inspire you to do the same.

Jori and her husband, Gage, share this idyllic space with their young son, Kash. Three people in a small shed sounds pretty cramped, right? But they’ve been there since early 2018, proving that you don’t need a giant house to raise a family. But precisely how small are we talking here?

Well, the shed is roughly 400 square feet. To put that into context, the Statista website states that the average American family home in 2019 was just over 2,300 square feet. So, yeah, the Wilkinsons’ home really is quite tiny!

Still, the family have used their limited space to great effect. They’ve even attached a haven-like greenhouse complete with fairy lights and hammocks. Sounds like the perfect place to chill, if you ask us! All in all, it’s a pretty cool setup. But the Wilkinsons’ reasons for trading in their old life may be different from what you’d expect.

Jori wrote a lengthy Instagram post explaining their decision in 2017 – when she and her husband were still in the process of fixing up their shed. And in the message, the mom revealed what had happened to the family’s old property and why they’d decided to start such a project.

“So with the housing market on the rise, we decided to make some money by renovating our home and selling while I was about seven months pregnant!” Jori wrote. “It took us about a month to renovate our floors and kitchen. And I’d done small updates around the house the prior two years of living there.”

“I had Kash, and the next day we were asked if we could show the house,” Jori continued. “I was like, ‘Yes of course!’ We ended up showing it a week later and got a full-price offer! We were stoked! We made a good chunk of money for a short-time investment.”

After that, Jori and her clan gathered up their belongings and traveled to her folks’ home, where they would plot their next move. But the original plan didn’t really appeal to the new mom. “We were going to buy a fifth-wheel trailer to live in temporarily,” she said. “But I was just thinking about how bored I’d be without a project.”

Instead, Jori and her husband got stuck into renovating this little shed. But as much as they would have liked to, the pair couldn’t focus on the project every day.

“It hasn’t been easy only having weekends to work on [the shed],” Jori explained. “But it’s so worth it! We will have a beautifully designed tiny home we can take wherever we please! Much better than a trailer in my opinion.”

Anyway, by now you’re probably wondering what the inside of the house looks like. And as we hinted earlier, it’s pretty special. The porch on the way to the front door is a sign of the amazing things to come. Not only is this area relatively spacious, but it also has a lovely view of the surrounding greenery.

The gate at the front leads you to the decking. And as you can see, it’s all white – making it really light and airy. Up here, you’ll find a couple of benches. The perfect place to relax and enjoy the incredible view.

Yes, the porch overlooks several trees, with some hanging right next to it so you can feel truly immersed in nature. Imagine relaxing out here on a beautiful summer’s day. You’d never want to move! It’s a truly wonderful sight. And Jori shared how she feels about this area in a YouTube video.

The video was posted on the Living it Country channel back in June 2020. And in the clip, Jori reveals all about her home. “You probably think I’m crazy for having a white porch,” she says. “But I think it really brightens up this small space that we have here.” She’s not wrong! Though the young mom did admit that it’s not the easiest to maintain...

“I do have to repaint [the porch] once or twice a year,” Jori explained. “But I’m okay with that. [And] I’ve added these curtains, which kind of act as a screened-in porch.” It really adds to the aesthetic, wouldn’t you say? The netting makes the cozy space feel even more serene.

With that, it’s about time that we took a peek inside the converted shed. As you stroll through the front door, you immediately enter the living room, which has a couch on the left-hand side. To the right, you’ll find a flat-screen television above a cozy fireplace.

And to the left of this spot, there’s a little cubbyhole covered by a net curtain. According to Jori, there aren’t any other spaces like this inside the house. It’s great for storage and is currently home to a vacuum cleaner and the property’s hot water heater. So it’s essentially a mini-utility closet.

And you may have noticed the dark wooden panels framing the fire. What’s going on here? Well, Jori offered a bit of insight into this choice in the Living it Country video. The mom’s explanation makes so much sense...

“I used to have a full-sized mantel,” she says. “But I had to take it out because the door was hitting it when it would open. [So] I just used some old shiplap and made that false one there.” Talk about thinking outside the box! That’s one way to make the best of a smaller space.

And Jori has obviously tried to think of ways to make that part of the house seem bigger than it really is. Behind the sofa, she’s created what looks like a window into another room. There’s even a set of curtains draped overhead! But it’s not really a window at all.

As Jori explains, “Right behind [the couch] is an old door that I refinished and put a mirror in.” Neat idea, right? Bars and restaurants sometimes use similar features to make their spaces look bigger. Anyway, let’s take a peek at the first bedroom now. Yes, this place has more than one bedroom!

This room belongs to Jori’s son, Kash, and it’s located to the left of the living space. A large dark-wood panel appears to be standing in for a conventional door, giving the little boy some privacy. But this space has gone through a few changes since the family first moved in.

In January 2018 Jori shared a shot of the bedroom on her Instagram page. At that stage, a beautiful wooden crib stood against the far wall, and two lanterns hung overhead. Towards the end of the year, though, the mom posted a second picture of the space – and it looked a little different.

The crib had been replaced by a mattress surrounded by a thin wooden frame. It looked like the skeleton of a tent. And in the accompanying caption, Jori explained, “I also recently have been turning Kash’s room from baby to toddler.”

Kash’s quarters look even more different today! His room now has a proper bed, which is raised up on a platform of sorts. To get to the mattress, there’s a tiny set of stairs, and there’s also a smooth panel of wood resting against the frame further along. A slide, perhaps?

“When I built this bed for [Kash], he just turned three,” Jori explains in the video tour. “He’s big enough to climb up there by himself and not fall off and get hurt. It opened up a lot of space underneath for his toys. And the steps going up that I made also have storage in them.”

Who wouldn’t have wanted a room like this as a kid? It’s awesome! And the space below the mattress appears to have an ever-changing light fitted in there as well. It switches between a variety of different colors – from red to a dark blue. A nice little feature to top it all off.

As you head back into the living area, you’ll soon find the impressive kitchen. It’s all open-plan, which again helps to make the space feel a lot bigger than it actually is. But before we take a proper look at the hidden details, Jori shed some light on how it was built – if you’ll pardon the pun!

In the video, Jori notes, “The shiplap in [the kitchen and living room] is from an old fruit warehouse. And the ceiling is from an old grain barn. The actual beams are from a metal roofing pallet that my husband’s dad found for us. They kind of match perfectly to the ceiling, so it worked out.”

In truth, the kitchen is not as snug as you might’ve feared, with quite a bit of space between the worktops, sink, and oven. There’s also enough room along the walls for some shelving. And the large fridge is nicely tucked away in the corner.

“We do have full-sized appliances,” Jori explains. “I don’t have a lot of decorations in here – I actually kind of multi-purpose them. So all of the glassware up [on the shelves] is stuff that we use every day. And then the stuff that’s not so attractive, I have space for in the cabinets underneath.”

At the back end of the kitchen, you’ll notice an opening in the wall to the right. This is actually the entrance to the family bathroom, with a curtain separating it from the rest of the home. And as soon as you walk in, you’re greeted by a bathtub and shower tucked away to the left. Unlike the rest of the house, this small spot has tiled walls.

But the further in you venture, the wooden aesthetic returns. Yes, the bathroom opens up quite nicely, with a sink and mirror sitting at the far end of the space. It’s a cozy little spot, but Jori did have her doubts in the past.

“I wasn’t sure about not having extra storage under the sink in a tiny house,” Jori wrote on Instagram. “But I think it’s worth it. We do have a medicine cabinet built in behind the mirror that gives us a little extra storage.” Plus, there’s a box on the floor to hold the towels.

But where do the family wash these towels? Well, as you step out of the bathroom, you’ll quickly stumble across the laundry room. It’s literally just a washer and dryer stacked on top of each other to the side of the kitchen. We’ve got to hand it to Jori’s creative thinking. Talk about making use of all the available space!

The bedroom Jori and her husband share is located to the right of the washer and dryer, with the mattress taking up most of the area. She says, “This space fits a king-sized bed perfectly. It’s kind of hard to make the bed, but it’s really cozy! And right out this window, we have our little chicken coops.”

Yep, the bedroom has a long pane of glass to the side that offers a nice view of the chickens. But the best view of the garden is seen from the relaxing greenhouse area just off to the side of the property. Jori has really nailed this space. You’re going to want one just like it!

Inside, there are gorgeous plants, rustic furniture, cozy fairy lights, and plenty of windows facing out onto the backyard. It’s the perfect haven! Imagine snuggling up in one of those hammocks with a book and a cup of cocoa. Delightful.

There’s also a giant black shelving unit positioned against the wall and a cozy seating area off to the side of the front door. This space is a wonderful addition to the house – and it looks amazing at Christmas! Jori and her husband have done an absolutely tremendous job.

This family have everything they need right here. And the icing on the cake? No mortgage payments. Imagine the money you’d save if you were to do the same!

Charlie MacVicar and her boyfriend, Luke Walker, also wanted a taste of mortgage-free living. Like Jori, they started to think about what unique space they could transform into a cozy home. And what they’ve created is arguably even more idyllic than the tiny shed. Prepared to be inspired...

Luckily, the pair had a unique option to consider. MacVicar’s father apparently had a stretch of open land in Essex, England. So, she and Walker proposed paying a small fee to him so that they could move onto the property. But the couple had another problem: there wasn’t an actual structure in which they could live!

Turning on the TV gave MacVicar and Walker an idea of how to solve that issue, though. The duo told Metro.co.uk that they watched a program called Amazing Spaces, on which host George Clarke visits people who have turned unexpected objects into functional dwellings. And that spurred a big brainstorming session.

MacVicar told the British publication in February 2021, “We went through different options, such as shipping containers, caravans…” But she and Walker eventually landed on a type of transportation with a bit more floor space – relatively speaking, anyway. In 2017 they bought a double-decker bus to make into their home together.

Have you ever been on a double-decker bus before? If not, then it might be hard to comprehend just how big of a project this young couple took on! Not only that, but they committed to moving into a seriously small living space together. Yet all of those doubts would dissipate when they eventually revealed the stunning fruits of their labor.

MacVicar and Walker’s project was not the first of its kind, of course. The Tiny House Movement has long inspired those in traditional-sized abodes to ditch their extra-large digs for something much smaller. Of course, that would require downsizing belongings along with space, but many involved have found it to be a simpler, happier lifestyle.

Living in a tiny house is also much cheaper over time. So, moving into an extra-small space would help MacVicar and Walker achieve their dream of living together without breaking the bank. Those who had downsized as part of the movement found that they were able to slash their expenses, too.

There are, of course, some costs involved when it comes to moving into a tiny home – buying the property, for one thing. As we said before, MacVicar and Walker decided to make a double-decker bus into their first house together. It took a little while for them to find the right vehicle to buy and transform, mind you.

The couple told Insider that they toured several different double-decker buses that didn’t suit their vision. Some weren’t tall enough for Walker, who stands at 6 feet fall. And even more options required a bit too much work for the fledgling renovators, who couldn’t take on too big of a project themselves.

Luckily, though, Walker and MacVicar landed on the perfect option that was both the right size and in good enough shape for them to handle. It was a Go-Ahead London Volvo Plaxton bus – the bright red kind you see when you envision the English capital’s public transportation. In fact, up until the couple bought the bus in 2017, Insider notes that it had been carting passengers through the Big Smoke!

MacVicar and Walker were able to get the giant bus for a steal, though. They paid the equivalent of just over $3,400 to bring the vehicle home, according to Insider. But that was just the start of the project. Next up, the couple had to renovate it – and this would be a lot more difficult than they’d initially expected!

For one thing, neither MacVicar nor Walker had any experience in building or design. She worked as a logistics coordinator, while his speciality was insurance. The renovation’s initial stages saw them figuring out what to do with a bus still filled with rows of passenger seating. And MacVicar told Insider that it came as “a shock to the system.”

“We got really overwhelmed,” MacVicar told the publication. “Like, it was my first time picking up a screwdriver.” Thankfully, though, things got easier as they moved forward. Friends and family pitched in to help, and the couple hired professionals for the specialized tasks – such as plumbing and electricity.

But MacVicar and Walker had to get their hands dirty once again when it came to designing the vehicle’s layout. Although the Tiny House Movement had kicked off long before they joined its ranks, not many people had converted buses into living spaces. So, the couple had few blueprints to reference as they picked a layout for their new home.

Insider reports that the entire living space measures in at 544 square feet. Apparently, it’s 32.8 feet long, 8.3 feet wide and 14.6 feet in height. MacVicar and Walker took about a year to transform their blank canvas into something truly spectacular. And it cost them a little over $20,000 to get the job done.

The couple did have the good fortune of parking their bus on a peaceful and private stretch of land. In front of their unconventional abode, they have a lily pad-covered pond to themselves. Sometimes, the pair also glide their rowboat out onto the idyllic body of water for a lap around it.

MacVicar and Walker have taken advantage of the fact that they have so much land, too. Yep, they’ve added a pair of unconventional pets to their homestead. The former told Insider, “When you live in a bus you live a weird life, so you might as well have two goats.”

The goats and pond make for great views from inside the double decker bus, though. In fact, the property allows Walker and MacVicar to enjoy a very serene way of life. There aren’t even any streetlights or neighbors around to disturb them. The latter told Insider, “At night it’s like a bonus, it’s really dark, and no one’s around, and it’s really quiet and peaceful.”

Those conditions have allowed MacVicar and Walker to explore the outdoor living potential on their property, too. Part of their renovation project has included a living room outside of the bus itself. According to their Instagram page, they built the deck out of “cheap pallets,” which the pair described as “a bit rustic.”

Alas, there’s not much else rustic about the outdoor living room’s setup. The pair can cozy up on a sleek powder blue sectional sofa and watch a movie on their TV. Take a good look at this adorable corner – it gives you a hint as to what the inside of the bus looks like.

Though what about the rest of their outside space? Well, Walker and MacVicar have a slew of other additions that make their unique homestead even more functional. There’s an outside table that could double as a workspace for either one of them, as they both clock in remotely. An outdoor shed presumably provides additional storage since life on a bus doesn’t come with that much space.

MacVicar and Walker did face a few challenges when it came to perfecting the interior of their new tiny bus home, mind you. Curves on the vehicle’s top floor made it impossible for them to buy stuff straight from the furniture store. Instead, they had to have everything custom-fit to their abode’s unique dimensions.

Downstairs, Walker and MacVicar had to raise the flooring so that they could fit all of the proper plumbing and gas pipes beneath it. But the couple did leave some elements of the original bus intact – they kept the driver’s seat and the floor curves that accommodate the wheels. That way, the pair can still drive their bus if they want to.

For now, though, the pair have parked their bus in Essex, and they’ve made it into a cozy home. Walking onto the vehicle’s first level, you’ll find yourself in the kitchen – one that has all of the bells and whistles you’d expect in a 21st century abode.

Beneath the countertops – which flaunt a marbled pattern – the couple has a washing machine and oven. The bus also boasts a microwave, stovetop and fridge so they can handle cooking that’s quick or more involved. And, once the pair finish up, they can sit at the table across from the counters, which seats three.

Peering down the hallway from the kitchen, you can see another piece of the first-floor living space. At the back of the bus, MacVicar and Walker managed to squeeze in a cozy sitting room. They have two cushioned benches that stretch toward a wood-fired stove – the perfect place to curl up on a cold winter’s night.

Downstairs also contains the vehicle’s only closed-off room – the bathroom. MacVicar told Insider that they had to keep the layout open to make their tiny home feel as spacious as possible. As she put it, “I think the more stuff you build, it’s going to make the bus feel smaller.”

You’ll see what she means when the bus tour takes you to the upstairs portion of the living space. A climb up the vehicle’s built-in steps will take you into the couple’s bedroom. Impressively, it features a free-standing tub, as well as a built-in double bed flanked by a pair of nightstands!

Though Walker and MacVicar did need some help to make their bus home what it is today. For one thing, they required a crane to lift the Victorian claw-foot tub through the vehicle’s emergency window and onto the second floor. And one of their grandfathers even pitched in to build the custom bed frame!

Surprisingly enough, that’s not all that the lofted living space has to offer. The couple managed to work a walk-in closet into the upstairs floor plan, too. There’s room for a full rack of clothes, as well as a full-length mirror for outfit try-ons. And ample natural light floods in from the vehicle’s side and back windows.

Along with each of its functional living spaces, the bus has all of the comforts of a modern-day abode: electricity, WiFi, running water and gas. MacVicar told Insider, “Anything that we would normally have in a house, I don’t feel like we’re lacking in the bus. We’ve made it work.”

But there’s one feature of her unique living space that MacVicar ranks above the rest. And that’s the claw-foot tub, which sits right next to a second-floor window. Looking out over the idyllic landscape, she explained, “You just forget that you’re on a double-decker bus, and then you just have to sort of think, ‘Wait a minute, I’m having a bath on a double-decker bus.’”

Life on the bus does have its downsides for the couple, though. The biggest problem is that the vehicle isn’t insulated like a regular house would be. So, Walker and MacVicar find it tough to keep the place warm in winter and cool in summer – in spite of having the heaters and A/C units required to do so.

Though the couple continue to add projects to their to-do list to make the bus even more functional than it already is. For example, they added the wood-fired stove after moving in – probably to combat the winter chill. They also plan to add to their home’s exterior features by building an outdoor shower over the summer of 2021, according to Insider.

Neither MacVicar nor Walker feels any strain living in their tiny home, either. In fact, the former felt that their bus has more room than some traditional properties they’d toured in the past. MacVicar said, “I remember looking at some flats with my boyfriend, and to be honest, it feels like we’ve got a lot more space than some people that we know.”

The two did have a bit of practice before moving in, mind you. Each one had apparently lived at home with their parents before moving onto the bus, so they got used to confining all of their stuff to a single bedroom. The rest of the space was, of course, shared with their family members.

So, shockingly, the bus renovation made MacVicar feel like she hadn’t downsized her life at all. She told Insider, “It was upsizing, really. For me, it felt like we’ve got more space moving into the bus than when we lived at home.” Life on their quiet patch of green space has given the couple a chance to slow down, too.

Peering out of the windows and seeing the countryside gave MacVicar a reason to pause and reflect. She said, “I love being able to look outside and see my goats and have a more country, outdoor living sort of space.” MacVicar added that change “has been the best thing” for them.

And that’s why MacVicar and Walker have no plans to change their lifestyle any time soon. The former said, “It honestly has been the best thing we’ve ever done. Some days I sit here and I think, ‘Oh, why am I living in this bus, this is so annoying.’ But the majority of the time, I think we’re just so grateful…”