This Tiny Home In The California Mountains Is The Ultimate Cozy Escape

Think of the dreamiest tiny home you can imagine. You're probably picturing the sanctuary Bela Fishbeyn, which a bioethics researcher at Stanford University shares with her husband and 3-year-old daughter, Escher. It's perched on a sunny hillside in California and filled with reclaimed woods, cozy fabrics, and dried flowers. Here, Fishbeyn shares why she decided to move into her tiny mountain escape and how she made it feel like the ultimate home sweet home:

Our tiny house is situated in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Boulder Creek, California. We've been living in it for two and a half years now.

There wasn't much of an adjustment period at all, which surprised me. I had expected it to be such a big transition, but honestly, it wasn't a big deal at all. It was an upgrade from our normal living situation since our tiny house felt so much more luxurious than anywhere we'd ever stayed! Escher was a year old when we moved in, and she's loved it since from the beginning.

The flexibility! Tiny homes make great rental properties. We rent ours out on Airbnb while we travel, which gives us the chance to subsidize our trips. There's so much you can do with a tiny home besides just living in it. It's been a great way for us to use our housing costs as an investment toward the lifestyle we want.

Our general approach when it comes to "stuff" is that it's usually better to have nothing than to have crap. Don't buy it unless you love it or need it.

I wouldn't say that there's anything inherently positive about a smaller space—it's all about what you do with it! Living here has made us more intentional about every part of our lives because it's forced us to think about what's important and what's superfluous.

White noise—it's a great way of separating space, and it helps us all sleep really well. There's also the army of crickets outside at night, and some funky dance music and tons of conversation. And from quails to chickadees to deer and other critters, there's always someone exploring the landscape around our home. Most nights we grill our meals, so lots of smells of meats, cedar, and lime.

The oldest thing in our home is probably my grandmother's jewelry. She brought it over from Russia and gave it to me before she lost her mind to Alzheimer's. The newest thing in our home is our newly dried flowers! Drying flowers is such a nice way of making them last. Our tiny home is filled with wildflowers we've dried.

The reviews we get on Airbnb are amazing! We truly love sharing our space with others and hearing about their experiences. Some recent ones include, "This place is simply magical; we never wanted to leave," "Can't wait to come back!" "Truly a little slice of heaven!" "… a dream come true."