A woman has showcased the “tiny home” that cost her just $45,000 after converting a shed to create the perfect compact living space.
Kelsey McCain, of Alabama, used TikTok to provide an insight into the property, which offers just 70 square feet of space — including the front porch, which she shares with her husband, two daughters, and their dog.
As well as giving a tour of the house, she revealed the cost of the whole project – aided by the fact that she was given her family’s land and also received a slew of free gifts.
But nonetheless, other social media users were left baffled, labeling the compact space as “inspiring.”
Kelsey McCain, from Alabama, has taken to TikTok to offer an insight into the property, which offers just 70 square feet of space — including the front porch, which she shares with her husband, two daughters, and their dog
In the tour clip, which has been viewed more than 75,000 times, Kelsey speaks directly to the camera as she introduces her “tiny house tour”
She begins by showing the outside of her 14 x 40 barn conversion before taking viewers to her home
In the clip, which has been viewed more than 75,000 times, Kelsey speaks directly to the camera as she introduces her “tiny house tour.”
She begins by showing the outside of her 14 x 40 barn conversion before taking viewers to her house.
“This is our front door and it opens into our kitchen – and our kitchen goes into our living room,” reveals Kelsey.
She pans the camera to show off the open space with high ceilings and laminate floors throughout.
The kitchen appears to have ample counter space for food preparation and is equipped with an oven, stove, double sink, microwave and even a double fronted refrigerator.
And the living room also features a configuration that makes it possible to work in the tight space – with a large sofa, two armchairs and a wall-mounted flat screen television.
Kelsey continues the tour by walking down the hallway leading to the bathroom.
“We have storage space there, we have our hot water heater, we have a roll top bath, we have a shower, toilet and all that other stuff,” she says proudly.
“This is our front door and it opens into our kitchen – and our kitchen goes into our living room,” reveals Kelsey
The kitchen appears to have ample counter space for food preparation and is equipped with an oven, stove, double sink, microwave and even a double fronted refrigerator
Further on, Kelsey says, “When you get out of there, you can turn around and go into my daughter’s room…very toyful.”
The next stop on the tour is the master bedroom built to complement the existing structure.
The mother-of-two explained, “That’s not the 14 x 40 part, that’s a 14 x 14 room we added when we had our second child because it was really tight here.”
“So obviously that adds a lot of extra space.”
The last stop is the garden with DIY flower beds, an outdoor seating area and a smaller shed that houses the family’s laundry room.
And the video caused quite a stir online, with dozens of other users praising it.
One wrote: ‘I love it… very inspiring!’
Another added: ‘Looks great and doesn’t look too small! Love it!
And a third simply said: ‘Very nice and welcoming.’
Others begged to know more about Kelsey’s home, prompting her to post a follow-up clip exposing the cost of the project.
Kelsey continues the tour by walking down the hallway leading to the bathroom
The next stop on the tour is the master bedroom built to complement the existing structure
And the video caused quite a stir online, with dozens of other users praising it
“You had a lot of questions about renovating our tiny house, but the biggest question was about the cost…
“We started this about four years ago in November of 2019 and I went and I got a 14 x 40 shed and it was a repository, so I got a 10 percent discount.
‘And we kept it that way for a few years and eventually we added an extension of 14 x 14 bedrooms.
“It all started with me and my Toy Poodle living here, and then it started with me and my husband and my dog, and then me and my husband and our first daughter, and then me and my husband and our first and second daughter .’
She said the property was 70 square meters in total, including the porch.
Kelsey continued, “We had countless ways to save money with this house. We had a family friend who was remodeling their bathrooms, so we used their bathroom cabinets as our kitchen cabinets.
“They’re a little smaller, but they worked fine for what we needed them for.
“My family used to run a business where they sold a number of windows, so we had some window samples that were actually the perfect size for adding a few extra windows in the main shed…
“We had some setbacks. We got a free sink that belonged to my mom, we have a claw foot tub that we got from my parents that they bought from someone years ago.
Others begged to know more about Kelsey’s house, prompting her to post a follow-up clip exposing the cost of the project
The mother-of-two revealed that when she bought the actual shell, the total price was $9,436.43.
‘Also in the field of plumbing: my family has a plumbing company, so that obviously came in handy.
“And my father did all the work. He built everything, he did the plumbing, he did the electrical, the floor, everything – from start to finish.
“He actually built this whole thing himself. We helped him, of course, but he was the man with the plan.’
She continued, “In terms of buying land, we’re only on family land. I have my parents nearby and my uncle, my grandmother and my cousin, my great-uncle across the street – we just all live very close by, we have a lot of land and we were very grateful to be able to have some land to attract this , because it saved us a lot of money.
So with all that taken into account, when I bought the actual airframe, the total price for just the shed was $9,436.43.
“The total building materials for the main part and the addition ended up being about $35,000.
So in total it cost about $45,000 to do this completely. That said, most of it was done pre-Covid and the additional part was done post-Covid.
“So the whole 14 x 40 was basically the same price as just the 14 x 14 addition.”
She concluded: ‘Overall I think it’s a very comfortable house, even if we have two kids here.
“And every time I moved here and looked for a place to live, there wasn’t really a rental property that was in my budget or near where I wanted to be.
“This was a great option for us and I’m super glad we did it.”