July | 2012 | BIG LAKE ~ tiny house

No work has been done on the tiny house since we finished the floor. We took the weekends before 4th of July and after the 4th to visit relatives up from Georgia. I hadn’t seen my aunt Karen, her daughter Kendra or my aunt Donna in six years. It was nice to take a few days off work here and there and relax at my mom’s house. Pete was with us the weekend before the 4th, but after that I was flying solo as Pete had to represent the Forest Service as Smokey in the 4th of July parade in Munising, Michigan. Sorry, I have no photos, but he was told he was one of the best Smokey’s!

It was nice to relax and visit with family while sipping a gin and tonic on a hot and humid day. I also took Karen and Donna tubing down the Sturgeon River; we had a blast.

This past weekend we moved from one rental house into a new one. This is the 9th time we have moved in 4 years! It will be so nice to finish the tiny house and simplify to the point where moving isn’t such a pain. Even now, we don’t own much stuff, but when you put it all in a pile and get ready to move it, it seems excessive. We did however, take the opportunity to think of the tiny house as we packed and got rid of unnecessary items. We still have a long way to go in order to fit in the tiny house, but it was a great start at de-cluttering. We took three garbage bags of clothes to Goodwill along with a large box of miscellaneous items.

The house we are now renting is owned by a co-worker that transferred to another area. The house is up for sale and we will be renting the place until it sells or until we are ready to move into the tiny house. They are anxious for the house to sell and at the same time we’re hoping we don’t have to move again a few months down the road. 🙂 Thanks Tim and Julie! You have a beautiful home and it is going to be a real treat to live here for however long that may be.

We will be getting started on a new phase of the tiny house today – building walls. We had the majority of our framing materials delivered yesterday. There are a few more odds and ends that we’ll need to get, but for now we have enough to get started. Harvey, the delivery man was unloading our materials with Pete’s help and asked if we were building a shed. Pete told him, “yeah, something like that”. Harvey was a man of few words and didn’t really seem like the kind of guy to be telling about the tiny house. When I asked him if he could accept tips, he gave a disappointed look at the five dollar bill in my hand and it was almost like he was debating on if it was even worth. In the end he did take the tip.

Next up in the planning process is to make a final decision on the windows we’ll be ordering. The windows recommended for the tiny house are Jeld-Wen awning style windows. We will use what the plans call for in most of the house; however, we will put in one double hung so that we have the option of using a window unit air conditioner. We are also switching up the design for the bump out area on the front of the house. At first we were hoping to turn this into a bay window as I envisioned how nice it would be to sit on the couch in the bump out and have a place to put a cup of coffee or tea; however, this no longer seems to be a viable option. The plans call for the large window in the front of the house to be three window sashes; however, the door to the tiny house will only be 1′ 10.5″ wide. A couple of the appliances that we’ve picked out for the house are 2′ x 2′. This is fine as long as we put them in the house before attaching the front wall, but what happens if our washer/dryer combo unit breaks (a good point reminded to us by my mom’s friend Joyce)? In light of this potential future issue, we’ve decided to make the front window one large awning style window. We could go with a double hung, but I’m not a huge fan of double hung windows. I want as much light in the tiny house as possible and I don’t want the view from the inside to be obstructed by extra window frame.

Off to go build a wall.