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It’s been a while since we’ve featured an Earthship home here, and it’s so exciting to see yet another version of these incredible, innovative, and eco-friendly homes built primarily with tires and packed dirt. Amy fell in love with the concept after volunteering to build a school out of sand-packed soda bottles and learning more about alternative building methods.

She took a hands-on course in New Mexico and then brought her skills back to Australia, where she teamed up with Martin Freney of Earthship Eco Homes — and many friends and volunteers — to build her very own 1,400-square-foot dwelling. While not “tiny,” her small home shows how trash can literally become treasure in the form of a warm and inviting home.

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Off-Grid Sustainable Home Built w/ Tires!

Images via Living Big in a Tiny House

The greenhouse provides much of the heating for the space.

Images via Living Big in a Tiny House

She can grow food in the greenhouse space.

Images via Living Big in a Tiny House

Here’s the main living area, where she has plenty of room for entertaining.

Images via Living Big in a Tiny House

VIDEO: The Ultimate Self-Sufficient Urban Home: South Australian Earthship

Highlights:

Amy’s volunteer experience building a school from sand-filled soda bottles completely changed her perspective on life and building, and led her to learn more about Earthship homes.
Earthships are sustainable home designs that use tires, packed earth, cob and recycled bottles to create a home that largely heats and cools itself.
Amy’s home is completely off-grid, with a massive solar array and rainwater catchment system.
The house cost about as much as a stick-built home in Australia, which was about $250K (USD). But likely many more man-hours! She had volunteers come to build the initial tire wall structure.
The home has two bedrooms, a spacious bathroom and an open concept living/dining/kitchen area.