Downsizing!!!

Hello! We are back in action. We have gathered a bit more wood from Craigslist. With the possible start date of May 2014 fast approaching, the next step for us is to downsize our current house.  Like most of you we have tons of stuff. We have been fortunate to have moved twice in the past three years. Every time we moved we relocated to a smaller and smaller apartment. This is good because it made us really give up "stuff" to fit into our new abodes. Currently we are in about a 900 square foot A-frame cottage. It has an upstairs with a slanting ceiling and you have to take a bath or a sitting shower due to the ceiling slope. the down stairs is pretty conventional with a large living room and a galley kitchen. The living room is a long rectangle room, which is slightly larger than our tiny house foot print would be. I looked at the room one day and asked my husband to help measure out the tiny house onto the living room floor. We taped the dimensions using painters tape and now we have a true idea the size where we need to fit all our possession in. It is a perfect size but not without purging more items from our current house. So off to work I go!
This brings me to the wonderful world of purging. What needs to go, what needs to stay, what can I live without??? All questions I have to answer. Actually it hasn't been all that difficult and the hidden benefit has been since I have less stuff, I have less stuff to worry about. I have less uncompleted projects, and less stress to have to fix, clean, or do something with all this stuff. Amazing! I will warn you that sending clutter off to others is addicting.  And if you true find that you sent something off and you end up needing it, well you can pick most household items at the local thrift store. I will now bring in the term "Renting". I have many items at took up alot of room, such as a large canner pot for water bath canning. I spent $6 buying it from the thrift store. I "rented it" for $6 for a season, and I sent it back to the thrift store, where next year, depending on if I do large amounts of canning, I will rent another one for a similar price. It is worth it to me not to have a mammoth of a pot that I used for 2 months, hovering over me on top of my fridge, reminding me it will be another 10 months until I may or may not use it.
          Next I tackled my closet. Today I have a lot less clothes than I use to. At one time I had a very large walk in closet (the size of my current bathroom) and it was full of clothes. When I moved, alot of the clothes went to the thrift store. At this house the closet is very small, but I made mention to my husband that when we move to the tiny house our closet will be a bit smaller and will need to fit both of us. With this I am taking a harder look at what I actually wear and what it just there to fill the "just in case" scenarios. Such as, I have two little black dresses, which I have not worn either of them since I got them. They are there "Just in case" .....right....just in case what? I needed to attend two dresses for dressy functions that had all the same people in the same week? Somewhere a skirt would not do? As of yet I haven't even been to one such event. So this weekend I will try on them both and decide which one will be set free to the thrift store, where it can be loved by someone else. 
        Take a look at your closet. Do you find that you where the same pants all the time, yet you have 10 pairs of pants? So the question would be why would you keep things that don't fit, is being dated in your closet, you don't love, and is taking up space. Set it free!
This is how I am now downsizing my house. I am sending things out that I don't love, but someone else might. Things that no longer work for my space.
          Every once in a while I will have something that will make it to the door of the thrift donation and I just can't take it in. My Serge would have been one of those items. I left it in the car for two days pondering why I am so resistant to let it go. I thought of the last time I used it? (3 years ago). Do I love it? (NO I have a love when it works and a hate when it gives me fits).  Would keeping it help me achieve any goals? (No) Does it do something that my sewing machine couldn't do? (Well not really since I know how to french seam).  You can see the line of thought. With that I took it to the donation center the next time I had a car load full and I haven't looked back since.
          Instead of giving it away, I have sold some items too. This extra cash gets deposited in the tiny house fund. Take a look at selling on Craigslist, Ebay, Etsy, or the local consignment shop. You may find some hidden $$ that you didn't even know you had.
I will try to keep you up to date on the progress. I really wish I had before photos of my house awhile ago. But I was not wanting to show the world what a clutter bug I had become, however now it would have been a freeing photo of where I started and how far I've come.

A Place to Build and Live

We have been given a great gift today. Friends of ours with a large plot of land have asked us to come and place our tiny house there. We are undoubtedly excited about this option. A place to stay and build as well as the ability to help form a veggie garden at their house. I am looking forward to next year to the start of our tiny house lives living small.
Currently we are continuing to downsize, to fit into a 8 X 20 foot space. We have approximately eight months to get it all in order. Time to buckle down for the adventure.

Wall Paneling found!!!

As per the usual I was on Craigslist yesterday perusing the "Free" section. I just happened to go over to "Materials" for a brief look, and what do I see but an ad for a good bit of tongue and groove wall paneling. Is worth putting a bid on? Is it enough in dimension to take care of our needs? It has been my idea to paint the lower level of the tiny house white and have exposed wood for the ceiling. I have seen a few tiny houses done this way and I love the look.When I mentioned this to Matt, he said, in that case, yes we should contact the seller of this wood. He did some basic math to see what the amount we were looking at and what that would cover in our tiny house. Once he was satisfied on the numbers, he replied to the ad, and received a reply. The man selling the paneling took it out of a house that he deconstructed. He saved the wood in hopes to use it, however now he needed the the space and thought it would be a long time until he could possible use paneling. Due to those dilemmas he posted the ad to sell the paneling. He invited us to come have a look at it yesterday. He gave us the address and mentioned that we would know the place when we saw it.  That sounds intriguing doesn't it!
Upon arrival the man, Dustin, pulled up behind our car. We were infront of a large building of wood and metal, built to conserve in every possible way. Dustin is in grad school for architecture and drew the plans for the house. His brother and him, built the house from 2008 and it is still under construction. Here is the link to the house  http://pdxlivingbuilding.com
He escorted us to the side of the building to unveil the pile of paneling.  Possible made of birch, most pieces were 3.5" by 15'. It was all striped and denailed by his hands. He did alot of work, althought there is quite a bit more work yet to be done. We talked about it for awhile, agreed on a price and set about getting a truck to bring it home. Matt and I live with one small car. We have put loads of things into the back that we bet would not fit, but in this case, there was no way. I rented a uhaul for the last load of plywood, and I rented another one for today.

 

Here it is piled in the garage. It is ready to be sanded or planed. The pic below is one board planed. 

It is rather handsome with all those electrifying waves.

 I wanted to mention that so far we have spent very little money and look for recycled materials as much as possible. From day one, I have kept a journal, documenting the price paid along with contributor's contact information. When we do finish building our tiny house, we are going to throw a party, where all contributors will be invited. I am adding Dustin to the list. Thank you for salvaging this stack of wonderful beauty.

Plywood and wood slats

This has been a particularly good week for the tiny house. I found some high end plywood online via craigslist and made a connection with a carpenter. It will be perfect to use for cabinets. The man's name was George and he also has interest in building a tiny house. We shared information on the workshops we attended and are keeping in touch for more supplies as well as updating each other on information. Thank you George!

Saturday I found free some slat wood flooring. I am planning on using it to make the counter tops. A friend lent us his truck. We got the flooring loaded up and transported it to the house. Thank you DT!
Matt and I spent a few hours this Sunday pulling all the nails from the slats of wood. I have them now bundled nicely, organized in the garage.

 

Its the small things

I have the tiny house on the brain and since my husband was out of town playing Men's Roller Derby, I took the time to search out some items. I found quite a few delightful additions to the tiny house. Although I am mostly a Craigslist type of girl, it didn't keep Ikea from slipping into the picture. Here is the bounty list from this weekend:

• A wall mount ikea table Norbo (craigslist)

• A heavy duty expandable two sided bathroom mirror (goodwill)

• Wall storage Fintorp (Ikea discount area)

And the weekend would not be complete without a healthy dose of Internet cruising for ideas on tiny houses. I found two gems:

• Halley's House: She has a knack for tiny house problems, and their solutions.
  

• How to make your Tiny House Safe: This has good all around advice.

oh my what have you been up to?

Ok, so it has been a while since my last posting, and oh so much has happened. We live in the north west,  Portland to be exact, and well it rains here. Finally spring has come and we can emerge from our wet cocoons to enjoy life in the sun. Since it has warmed up and the sun is out, we took the opportunity to take the nails out of all that reclaimed oak flooring. Yes, it is now stacked and organized in the garage with the sink and the front door. 
And what else have you been doing, you may ask. Well we took a stay-cation and stayed in a Tiny house in Portland. It was a dream vacation for us. We got to try out all the bells and whistles in this little gem, and took down a list of things we liked and didn't like.  We ate out, had some quality talking time, and relaxed. It was the best vacation.

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Photo by Christopher Tack

Tiny house workshop

So since I last wrote I have had many adventures. I purchased a front door with hardware, a door jam, and key to the dead bolt included. I obtained two double paned windows and had a large contribution given to the tiny house fund by means of my parents.  If that were not enough I found that Portland Alternative Dwellings (PAD) is have a tiny house workshop at the end of February. I promptly signed up and am counting the days.

sick and slow

   It is that time of year where everyone is sick. I have just gotten over three weeks of illness resulting in a week of high fever and a trip to the doctor's office where he told me to rest.  With the help of some strong prescribed cough syrup, I spent practically five days in bed, emerging a little worse for wear, but recovering.

   Now I am on the hunt again for great finds for the tiny house, and I think I have decided on a Japanese soaking tub, as the tub/shower combo for the house.  It is the perfect way to have the ability to soak if you want to, albeit sitting up, but also can be the shower floor. I think it's a great solution to the bathroom conundrum of "how to fit a tub in a tiny house".

Craigslist

   Tonight as most nights, I trolled one of the internet's best spot for free junk...Craigslist. I found a man that was giving away 20 pieces of wood paneling. When my husband came home, we jumped in the car to make our way to tonight's treasure. After arriving, we were greeted by the house's owner, Brian. He escorted us to the back of the house, where he had all the paneling laying against the house. There were two other Craigslist-ers there, a couple, taking all the scrap metal they could fit in their truck. Scrap metal must be pretty profitable since I see trucks all over town, filled to the brim, with large amounts of metal objects.
As Matt examined the paneling, we chatted with Brian about what we were looking for and how we intended on using it. After a short time, Matt came to the conclusion that the wood was too thin for our purposes. We continued to talk with Brian. He described the history of the house and all the work he was doing on it. He took interest in our cause and told us he might have something we could use. He led us to the garage were there sat a solid wood shelf box with three square nooks. It was a perfect size for a tiny house and good quality. We thanked him for the shelf and loaded it into our small car.  Another winning day!

One night in a tiny house

  
    Last night I slept in a tiny house. This one in fact. Here is a gallery of photos. It was lovely albeit tiny, measuring 8' X 14'. It had all the comforts of home, running water, electricity, a shower, bathroom, kitchen, sleeping area, and a reading nook.  I stayed at the tiny house by invite of Diana, a close friend, and she introduced me to the owner. We quickly spouted off questions about the house's construction, amenities, and the lifestyle. She graciously answered all our questions, then left us to inhabit the dwelling, which she calls home.
    I found the tiny house to be a oasis of solitude. We talked the night away over topics and triscuits. We fantasizing what it would be like to live in our own tiny house, what we would like to have built in each of ours and what it would take to achieve such a task.  We conversed through, the attributes of stainless steel vs recycled old wood, necessity of tub vs shower, and pondered where would you put all your important papers. Our banter continued as we headed to the loft to sleep under the stars, sharing the bed with a handsome orange tabby.  The loft was the cat's domain and he begrudgingly let us sleep there. After the last word was said and sleepiness took hold, the wind began to rock the tiny cabin with a gentle sway. This was unnerving at first then I relaxed into a soothing rocking carrying me off to sleep.
    In the morning, we woke up assessing the gray dreary Portland morning through the loft's skylight. Time to get up, time to gather our things, and time for coffee. As we sipped our steamy cups, we looked out the reading nook window, and day dreamed.  I pondered the beginning of this tiny house journey and how last night solidified my resolve in the end result...someday there would be a Tiny Casa I could call my own.