Transforming a Shepherd's Hut into a Cozy Tiny Home

I woke up today and it was so cold in the tent, probably around freezing, maybe a little colder. It was so cold in fact that when I first started making my coffee, my gas canister was wouldn't work. I had to like warm it up in this blanket in order to boil my coffee. So I am ready. I am ready to move into my little hut. I am so ready. Over the last 8 days, I've been busy transforming an old shepherd's hut into a livable cottage where I can hide away from the cold weather. With the help of my friends, we managed to clean it out, reinsulated,

put in a window, a floor, a ceiling, a chimney, and a stove, and it took just about 8 days to turn the hut from this to this. And today is the big day. Today, I'm in. At the end of this episode, I'll tell you how much this renovation cost, and you'll see how magical this hut turned out. Where ball? Yuki has a habit of burying his toys and treats around the property, and then he can never find them. There it is. Where ball? Yes, good boy. The hut looks completely different from how it looked just last week. It's like day and night. I still can't believe it.

It's so cute. Today is the big day because today I am actually moving in here. I am spending my first night in the hut tonight. Which means I need to get it ready. I got a few little bits and pieces done last night in the dark. If there's one thing I learned from a couple of years of living in my truck, is that pretty lights go a very long way in making you feel cozy and comfy. So of course, I needed to get them up

ASAP here in the hut. Then, I moved on to the inside. I recently found this really cool hanger. It's made from cast iron, and it is gorgeous, and it's going to go right here, just above the stove, so that I can hang things to dry. You know, pots and pans, but also socks and things like that. So I'm really, really excited about this purchase. It's going to look so good. And then I've got this plank, uh which is going to become a provisional window sill, because every single inch of storage space really counts. But today is like the big day. So, where do we begin? You know, there isn't really much space in the hut, but

there's definitely more space in the hut than there is in the tent. And I'm really excited because I got myself some like little shelves and a coat rack that I get to drill in now. I'm very excited. Okay, the coat rack is pretty easy. I'm just going to wall that right here next to the door. Also, I just want to address one thing. No, this is not going to become a construction channel or anything like that. I just want to share with you this little journey that I'm on with the shepherd's hut. But I am planning a couple of long distance trips in the very near future. So, so soon enough,

I'll be on the road again. Woohoo! Oh, no. Oh, come on. This screws are off by like 2 mm, and I can't get it on. I should probably not be showing you all of my little failures. You know what I mean? There's enough people calling me incompetent out there on the internet. But, oh well. I am learning just like we all did at one point. When I originally started thinking about the hut renovation, I didn't have much time, and I didn't have much of a budget prepared for this type of thing. I genuinely thought I could spend a lot longer living in my tent, and I probably could have, but it would have meant having to tend to the fire in my stove every 30 minutes of my life to

keep things warm inside. So, very last minute, I decided that the hut could be my salvation. But neither I nor my friends knew whether we could get the renovation done in just a week. You know, a tiny little space means not that much work, thankfully. So I think I'm ready to start moving things from the tent into the hut. That feels major. I feel like my life is about to change. Things are still going to be pretty basic out here. I'm off the grid, so there's no electricity here. There's no running water, no toilet, no conveniences and amenities like what we might be used to in a standard house. And just because I'm moving into a hut

doesn't mean it's suddenly going to be magically warm all by itself. I still need to chop wood to keep the stove going, but the stove in the hut is much better, and the hut itself should keep the warmth in much longer than the tent. I think I'm going to paint this guy. I'm going to do a mix of two colors. This is like a pastel green, mint green, and this is like an off-white. And it's going to give us an antique look. Truth be told, I have no clue what I'm doing here with these paints. Um but that's just a part of it, isn't it? The learning process.

I don't know if it's better to paint it with a brush or with the little rolly thing. I think a brush. And you can see the strokes a bit more. So you may remember the pair of ancient blue skis that we found inside the hut. Here they are. Let me show you. I want to keep them, and I want to put them outside. Kind of like decorate the hut. So I've got two spots that I'm thinking where I could hang them up. And one is here, kind of like in a cross. Here we go. That's one option. Okay. And the other option, oops. Let me show you. It will just be off to the side. The other option is [snorts] to have them like here.

You know, kind of like this. It's not exactly a chalet in the French Alps, but in a way, it's even more special. And imagine how beautiful it's going to look in the snow. And the snow is coming very soon. This mattress is so heavy. Next up, the bed. When I was picturing the hut, I imagined making it look as cozy as humanly possible. So aside from my usual austere bedding, I created a little bit of magic by adding in some cushions and a nice pillow. It was so nice that I ended up having to fight Yuki for who gets the bed. Of course, we both do. I just had a bit of an aha moment, but I don't know if it's going to work.

This is the sofa from the tent, and I didn't really know what to do with because it's not the right shape for this hut. But I have one what I think is an incredible idea. But let's see if we can make it happen. The idea is to stick it, stick the sofa in this corner, so I can be sitting here in the corner watching the world go by from the window. Let's see. Let's see if it works. Please fit. [snorts] Please fit. It be so perfect if you fit. Oh.

Mattress is a little bit long. But it almost fits. Yeah. I think it fits. Oh my god, yes. This is so awesome. I've been making a lot of progress in the hut. Um however, we've got a little problem. So, as you can probably tell by the look of the sky, it is pretty cloudy and it is supposed to start raining in the next couple of hours, which is potentially a problem because I need to take down the tent. Um ideally, well, ASAP. But in order to take it down, it needs to be like bone dry. And it is very dry right now. So, I could take it down, but I would need to hurry because

yeah, once it starts raining, I better hurry then. Well, I have now taken most things out of the tent and it's looking pretty empty and a little sad. Look at it. Aw. It honestly feels like the end of an era. [snorts] My god. I kind of don't want to leave. I mean, I really want to leave cuz I'm cold, but [snorts] this feels a little bittersweet. I've had so many amazing nights in this tent. Such a beautiful summer living here. I'm really going to miss it. Feel like I've just put the stove in and now I'm taking it all apart again.

I don't necessarily believe that all good things have to come to an end, but I do believe that sometimes in order to move on to something great, you have to leave another good thing behind. So, I guess that's what we're doing here. What is that, huh? It's an evil fan, You're so bad. You're so mean. Moving into the shepherd's hut, I was planning on mostly reusing some of the old stuff that I already had like furniture and accessories. Having said that, I have had to make some smaller and bigger purchases. So, in just a few minutes, I'll tell you guys all about how much the entire renovation ended up costing me.

Okay, I can tell that the rain is coming because the wind has picked up, which gives me, I don't know, 5 minutes. Buddy, all the beautiful white canvas tent. So, let's get this party wrapped. Buddy, no. Perfect moment to get the zoomies. Yes, absolutely perfect. Yeah. Well done, Vilk. Nice. Cheers. Good job. Living in the tent has been one of the greatest and most valuable experiences of my entire life. I mean, how often do you get to say that you literally live in the tent without running water or electricity? It has been re-energizing, reinvigorating, an experience that I feel has made me braver, stronger, and more resilient.

So, it does feel a little bittersweet to leave it behind. Hasn't started raining just yet, which is great, but it is getting dark very, very quickly and I have one more mission to accomplish outside today before it does get dark. I want to finish painting the bench. So, I don't have to do anything tomorrow with the bench. So, it can just dry overnight and then tomorrow it'll just stand there and look beautiful. So, let's see how fast I can paint it. Okay, we're done. How long did that take? Let me check the time on the camera. 2 minutes and 28 seconds exactly. Well, I guess this is it. I'm a little nervous to show you how the place looks now, but I really love it. I feel like a

kid the night before Christmas. Welcome to my batufka, aka a shepherd's hut. And let me give you the tour. This is a very, very small space. It's 3 by 4 m, not even, which makes it about 12 sq m. It's tiny. This is the heart and soul of the hut, this beautiful cast iron stove. We've got a wood rack right here. A little kitchenette area, as you can see, I still haven't really figured out the kitchen situation. I guess that's coming next. I don't need much space, but some shelves would probably help. Vilk is in that corner right there. He likes to have a view of the entrance and he also doesn't love to be in front of the heat, so that's a really nice cool

spot where he can keep an eye on the door. Over here is the cloakroom. So, we've got a nice coat hanger and a shoe rack. Currently, I only have one pair of shoes here with me, but that's fine. I've also got a curtain here blocking off the door. This is just for extra insulation from the cold. The door is not very well insulated. You can like feel the wind coming in on the sides, so yeah, I think I'm going to have to insulate it at some point. Anyhow, over there is my cowboy hat, of course. This space, I haven't really figured out what I'm going to do with this space yet. I think eventually there's going to be a little desk there by the window, a desk and a chair, a tiny little workspace.

I think I need that. My absolute favorite part of this entire hut is the bed or the lounge area. I don't know what it is. I don't know what to call it, but it is a huge, enormous, long bed/sofa. So good. I want to hang some pictures up on that big empty wall. I even know exactly which pictures I want to hang there, so hopefully by the time the next episode comes around, they will have arrived here. I'm also thinking it would be great to have some more bookshelves. I have a million books and the current shelves that I've got are just not very good for that. So, bookshelves are going to go in at some point as well. And here is another

thing that I really, really love about the hut. This is a cast iron rack. It's got these really handy hooks, so you can hang things like mugs and a candle and pots and pans and anything else your mind can dream up. I love it. It's just so handy. It's so pretty. And of course, I can hang more fairy lights on it. On the floor, we've got a bunch of carpets. Um and we've got Vilk. And then we've got this, which is a little stool. And then underneath the bed, there's tons of storage. So, things that I don't want to see out here go under the bed. So, this is it. This is the shepherd's hut.

I still can't believe that just over a week ago, this hut was nothing more than a shed. It didn't really even make sense in my mind to have this as a hut. I don't know, I just couldn't picture it. And now, look at it. The difference is incredible. It's like two completely different buildings and yet they're not. You know, it really goes to show that it is worth putting in the time to renovate things, to bring them back to life, to bring back that original sparkle. I am just so incredibly excited about this tiny home because I feel like it has so much soul, so much spirit. I really feel like right now I am living the Carpathian tradition here in the Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Europe. These butzufkas, these

shepherd huts, have been a part of the Carpathian life throughout generations, throughout centuries, and now I actually get to live in a butzufka of my own. I don't know, I just feel really connected to this place, and this culture, and this history, and I'm very proud to be able to call it mine. Wow. How do you feel about your new home, huh? You like it? Good boy. You like it? Do you want to go to the tent, or do you want to stay here?

You want to stay here? Yeah? Our place. Well, I guess he's quite keen to warm his little paws by the fire. I'm going to join him. [snorts] Yay! Welcome home. So, how much did all of this cost? Well, let me break it down for you. Technically, the hut was free since it was on my land when I bought it a couple of years ago. I know that's not exactly free, but let's just say that it is for purposes of this video.

I spent about $400 on building materials, 350 on the window, 120 on the vinyl carpet, 250 on the new decor and accessories. By far, the most expensive thing about the entire hut was the stove and chimney. That set me back about $1,500. The ceiling was free because we used the old wooden cladding that was on the outside of the hut. So, excluding man hours and little bits and pieces that I've probably forgotten about, I spent a total of approximately $2,600 on renovating this hut. Not bad for a tiny home.