We’ve been living in what we call our ‘jungalow’ (yes, that’s a reference to Justina Blakeney’s Jungalow!) for just over a year now. When it all begun, our 5m x 6m space in Perth was more like a forgotten pool room and bar, used by my partner’s family as a storage space.
Early last year, with a spark of inspiration, the entire family got to work on ripping apart the old interior. The aim was to make this luscious outdoor room a liveable and cosy home for Dinah, Glenn, and I.
Every millimetre of this space was put together by us or by someone we knew – from the windows, to the walls, to the floorboards, skirting, and ceiling.
It’s hard to forget the torture of plastering the walls ourselves and the hours Glenn put into laying the floor perfectly on his first ever shot at it.
With the shell of the room ready, a solid few weeks were spent on the best task – finding ethical decor! Looking around right now, I’m proud to say that there is very little in our eco home that makes me feel guilty (with the exception of a few IKEA pieces, regardless how detailed their sustainability report is).
One year on, our compact eco home is (probably) finally finished. I’m so happy with how the space has turned out. We have finally infused all our love for mid-century design with our passion for plants and ethical living into one compact home!
I now spend nearly every second of my time here. From work to weekends, much of my inspiration comes from this space. It is where my blog and marketing consultancy began, and where it will continue to thrive. That is, until we upgrade to an even more sustainable home with an awesome office space. Don’t worry, those plans are far, far ahead in the future!
For now, welcome to the jungle…
Entry
Dinah, my 5-year-old rescue cat, will be first to greet you when you enter our tiny eco home! Next, it’s likely that you’ll meet Morty, our resident Monstera. However, in such a small entry space, there isn’t room for much! We managed to squeeze in our shoe rack, a small teak mirror, and tidy tray to collect our keys when we get in the door!
Dining
The convenient thing about living in a compact home is that you get a full view of the room right from the front door!
Next to the entry sits our gorgeous, genuine teak dining table, inhereted from Glenn’s parents. We picked up the vinyl chairs secondhand and then spent a summer afternoon spraying them ourselves!
You’ll find me working from this dining table most weekdays, as well as chopping vegetables here most evenings (when we’ve run out of space on our kitchen counter!).
Kitchen
I had so much fun figuring out ways to design the most practical and usable kitchenette! Within these cupboards you’ll find all of our increasingly zero waste food and storage solutions, our EcoSouLife and Bambu dinnerware, our portable oven and electric fry pan (major compact living hack!), and our 5L container for daily water storage.
This tiny kitchen and bar fridge has absolutely everything I need to live a healthy, vegan life!
Wardrobe
A large aspect of ethical and sustainable fashion has to do with minimalism. This means reducing (or building) your wardrobe to only pieces that you absolutely need and what you will wear a million times over. Having a tiny home and an even tinier closet certainly helps with this!
However, I still really need to reduce the number of shoes and jeans I own (but don’t worry, half of them pictured belong to Glenn!).
In our tiny shared wardrobe, you’ll find some amazing ethical and sustainable pieces by brands such as Boody, Theo the Label, Arnhem Clothing, Opia Byron Bay, Everlane, Mr Simple, Patagonia, Oli Clothing, Fjallraven, and Vege Threads, as well as plenty of thrifted items!
Dressing
Every tiny home could do with extra storage space! My mid-century inspired dressing table also gives me plenty of room to store all my cruelty-free and certified organic beauty and wellness products. In these drawers, you’ll find plenty from Nude by Nature, Hurraw!, Happy Skincare, Ethique, Wotnot, and Zuii (and I’m sure that’s not all!).
Bed
I wanted to make sure our bed “room” was a simple sanctuary of sorts, especially as the rest of our compact home can get so messy at times!
Our gorgeous forest green linen is from Sheets On the Line and is made from the finest organic Belgium flax.
Our mid-century inspired (and hopefully everlasting!) bedside tables are from West Elm, while the cute London prints hanging above our bed were designed by fellow blogger, Montgomeryfest! You can also learn more about my relaxing salt lamp and the best place to purchase one in my earlier blog post, The Hunt for Ethical Australian Homewares.
Living
The living room: the space that ties it all together! Admittedly, this section is my favourite space in our eco home for two reasons:
Firstly, there are so many retro vibes going on here! Secondly, here is where you’ll find most of our ethically sourced decor.
The sideboard, wicker chair, and corner shelf are all inherited, while the teak sofa is a D.I.Y. job! The happy, yellow Armadillo & Co rug is ethically handmade from sustainable fibres, while our groovy prints by Fremantle artist, Amok Island, are framed in recycled timber frames by Mulbury.
That stunning pouf is sadly made from leather. However, it was crafted entirely by hand by a highly skilled leather artisan in Marrakech, Morocco, so this makes me feel a little better!
With the inclusion of all of our ethical decor, I have truly fallen in love this tiny room. I could easily spend hours sitting on that rug, chomping on vegan nachos, and watching all of the Mad Men!
Office
As a digital consultant and blogger, I need all the desk space I can get. When I’m not working from our dining table, I’m sitting at my bamboo desk overlooking the garden and veggie patches (a perfect view, if I say so myself!).
It’s true that a house is not a home until you hang (or, in my case, place on your window sill) a horseshoe for good luck. This not only acts as a pretty, golden accent but as an ode to my Irish roots as well; a humble reminder to stay true to who I am.
The Eco Home
I feel endlessly grateful to all the souls who have helped to bring the jungalow to life. I can’t wait to continue living out our dream here and to remain inspired to live more ethically and sustainably!
You can see more of our compact eco home over on my Instagram and more tiny home tips in the eco living section of my blog. I can’t wait to share more inspiration with you!
Questions, advice, or messages of love? Leave a comment below!
Full disclosure: The post includes affiliate links. This means that I may make a commission if you click through and make a purchase. This does not, in any way, change how much I love every single piece of my tiny home, including the wonderful items within it.