When Sophie Goldie was working a consulting job in New York City, she never imagined life would lead her to call a $23,000 Tuff Shed in the wilds of Kentucky her forever home.

But then, like so many others, the COVID-19 pandemic changed her plans.

Her story takes her from the bustle of Manhattan to adventures in Asia to a far quieter life in the Deep South—a migration that came with challenges, but also a fulfilling end.

From renter to nomad

In early 2020, Goldie had just returned from a two-month adventure exploring Mount Everest when she decided to let go of her coveted brownstone apartment

At the time, her consultancy job had her traveling every week, so she didn’t think she needed to pay rent and instead could become a full-time road warrior, living in hotels paid for by work.

“I did that for several months,” she explains. “Then the pandemic happened, and I wasn’t flying anywhere.”

Her first pivot: Buy a Sprinter van. She didn’t want to be “stuck” in another apartment and thought the van phase would last six months.

“Six months turned into three years,” she says.

Shedding light on a new home

The desire to buy land and put down roots hit, which is typically what happens.

“The van life-to-homestead track is pretty common,” Goldie explains.

She was in Idaho when she started envisioning this new life and began her search for land. 

Shortly thereafter, her godsons in Kentucky reached out with an offer. They had hunting land and suggested she park her van there so they could see each other more often. She was skeptical, but figured she may as well take a look.

While her godsons “made a pitch deck” which charmed her, it was the land that won her over.

That, and the fact that they had already purchased a $23,000 Tuff Shed measuring 12 by 40 feet, which gave Goldie 480 square feet to be transformed into something livable.

While Tuff Shed does not officially endorse using its sheds as tiny homes, it offers several models, including the Premier Pro Ranch, that can be custom-built up to 12 by 40 feet—spacious by tiny-home standards.

That size was strategic for Goldie’s godsons: It was the biggest allowable size that didn’t require a foundation, according to county ordinance. A larger size would have also triggered the need for more permits and regulations.

Building a new home for less than $50,000

Goldie arrived in March, the “dreariest time of year,” but was immediately taken with the 100 rugged, agricultural-zoned acres, home to a waterfall and a creek running through.

The land was beautiful, and she thought, “Why not?”

The build-out took two years. The first year, she paid a professional $5,437 to install spray-foam insulation. She installed $515 of windows, including skylights, to add more natural light.

Adding a floor cost around $4,000, and installing the framing and drywall of the walls set her back $4,411 more. She put in a modest kitchen for $1,728. Building out the bathroom cost $1,580—with some savings through Facebook Marketplace. She picked a washer and dryer that cost $2,000 combined.

In the second year, she started finishing the home, “building out the closets and putting in new cabinet faces.” At this point, she was living in the shed. Coming from van life, Goldie found the size to be more than enough—although it was “annoying to crouch down” in the lofted bedroom. The tiny home also gave her space to do yoga inside again.

Six months or so into the second year, she started dating a man who was happy to spend time with her working on the shed-home, which Goldie called the “Taj-Maholler”–a nod to the Southern landscape and, compared to van living, the dwelling’s palatial-like proportions.

All in, the upgrades totaled $47,000.

Still, living in an upgraded shed was a choice that not all of her New York and MBA friends from The Wharton School understood.

“They thought I had a breakdown and couldn’t hack it anymore,” she says.

But much more often, she was getting calls and social media direct messages asking to get on a call. They wanted to ask how to make this happen financially. She also shares her daily life online, which has led to even more people asking the same question.

Their plea: “I want to do exactly what you’re doing.”