Friday, September 14, 2012

Check out the Tumblr!

http://livingtiny.tumblr.com/

 I'll be posting stuff about our house that isn't really significant enough to warrant a blog update, and hopefully reblogging things about tiny living.

p.s., we hit 10,000 page views! Holy crap! Thank you all so much for looking at our little house. 

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

"I'd totally do this if I was single!"

On June 2nd, Alan's parents threw a graduation party for Alan's brother. With about 60 people here, most of whom had not seen the house in person, we did a lot of tours! The positive response was almost overwhelming, it was very nice not to be called crazy people! But what we did hear (mostly from people our age) is that they couldn't see how two people could live here peacefully. Well, we have a dirty little secret, and I'm going to show you some pictures of what hides in our cupboards and drawers. But first, some nice pictures and garden updates.

I made curtains. This is in the kitchen!
The hop bine that was just a little green smudge in the last update has grown! There were supposed to be 4, but they never took off. Next year!
This fabric is in the living room and the hallway. They don't really block any light, it just makes things look more finished.
The front door has been painted!
My catnip, chives, and artichoke planter sprouted a flamingo.
A tiny little nest in the honeysuckle, with three eggs. 



And now, the personal stuff. Here's where everything goes, and this is how we do maintain a separation-- our stuff is in our own storage areas, and mixed ownership items also have their own areas.
The junk drawer in the entertainment center. the other drawer has candles in it.

My craft bin-- yarn, embroidery floss, cross-stitch fabric, and some unfinished knitting and crochet projects.

This is an 'us' area-- scrabble board, a scanner we use for scanning film, some craft hardware, Alan's 360 controller for his computer.

Clockwise from left- school stuff, cookbooks, my yarn and fiber bin, knitting supply train case and patterns.


The bedroom cabinets! The vertical part has our toilet paper, our hanging items, towels, and shoes. On top of it is my film development chemicals/gear, and our camera bags. Left to right in the smaller cabinets: Alan's personal stuff, pet stuff and tools/hardware, my personal stuff.

And the dirtiest secret of all.... There's a room out in the shop that's about 10'x10'. And...we use it. 



All of the stuff on the floor in front is going to Goodwill later today. The table has two snakes and a tortoise living on it, and the other tank you can see to the left holds Ralph, my immortal leopard gecko.

Our old futon that we can't bear to get rid of.

The other small secret to living in harmony is that we're not in the house all the time-- we do quite a bit outdoors, and that gives us a sometimes much-needed break.

Alan's desk that was his great grandfather's, so we're keeping it, is now my sewing area. It's a mess right now because I'm in the middle of making a purse. 

 
This is Alan's rock saw/lapidary machine.

And his workbench and toolbox, both of which are very messy right now, as he's also in the middle of a project.

The house from the front. The fence is done, and this area is how a secondary pen for the horse and goats so they can be out with everyone  but still safe. The chair is my reading in the afternoon spot!


The long-awaited and probably underwhelming...

bathroom pictures!

Here it is! Yes, the sink plumbing is exposed on purpose. Since we don't have any small children to worry about, it doesn't present a safety issue, and enabled us to tuck the drawers in there.

This little guy holds headbands/hair coverings/reading materials



The flooring extends up the wall and ceiling of the shower. The rest of the bathroom ceiling/walls are conventional.

The shower pan is 3'x4', and has a custom leg-shaving foot rest.

The sink/fixture is from IKEA, as is the red set of drawers.
The bathroom as a whole is 8'x4'(approx). It was a priority of ours to make the bathroom a nice place to be/look at first thing in the morning, because that really does set the tone for your whole day.

  • The door/enclosure is custom by a local company. A
  • I love the riverrock, it's very easy to clean and doesn't show hard water spots.
  • No, I didn't clean up very much for these pictures, I wanted it to look like it does every day so people can see how useable it is.
  • Yes, two people can be in here brushing teeth/shaving/doing morning rituals, if you're friendly!
  • We love it!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

It's our birthday!

Today we turn 1. In addition to that, it's also the 50th post on the blog!

 I don't really know what to write, but I do want to thank our family and friends who have supported us so much through this. No one ever called us crazy or said we couldn't do it, and we've shown that they were right not to.

Alan and I adore our little house, and each and every time we come home it is an absolute joy. It is such a comfort to be living in a space designed and built with your own hands, to fit your exact needs and wants.

I asked Alan what he was most worried about going into this project; transcript follows:

A:  "I don't know. Probably just the concerns that most people would have about living in close proximity. You know? I don't know. I guess I didn't have any worries, but I can't really say that. Does that make sense? Okay, let me think. I don't know! We always had, for two people, a big place, living on our own. So the adjustment...I was worried about the adjustment. And like previously we spent a lot of time in separate rooms, you know? And I didn't know if we were going to be able to have our separate spaces in such a tiny place. I guess."

R: "What about now? Do you think we have our own spaces?"

A: "No. I don't believe we do. Not physically, but we give each other mental and emotional space when it's needed, which is harder to do than just leaving the room. Does that make sense?"

R: "I guess. Have your worries changed?"

A: "No, in that I don't really have worries about it now. It affirms my want for a small house in the future."

R: "What's been the best part?"

A: "From a practical standpoint, probably the fact it's easy to clean. Intangibly, I think since living in some place this small..the kind of constant exposure [to one another] requires you to be very honest, I guess. We can't hold argument for a week, it's impossible. We're still learning about each other, even after 8 years. That comes, I'm sure, from talking more, which I think is a direct result of proximity." 

R: What's the worst part?

A: "Um. I don't know. I mean, there's storage concerns, but that just helps us get rid of shit we don't need. I miss our old furniture. I miss having a couch."

R: "What about intangibly?"

A: "Well, there was a lot of stress, just family goings-on that would be stressful no matter where we lived, but the kinks basically seem to have worked themselves out."

R: "Is there anything you'd like to add?"

A: "I don't know. That's really hard. I don't see this as special anymore. It's just a house. I guess it's hard as far as becoming more insufferable as it comes to sustainable and greener living. Now I've done it, and I know how easy it can be, so there's really not an excuse for everyone to try."

All of what Alan said goes for me too. I can tell that over the past year we've synched up a bit in a lot of ways, because we absolutely have been communicating more. Though we do still have arguments over the color of the kitchen (I wanted Sonic Lime). We both agree that it doesn't feel like a year at all-- everything's gone by so quickly!

 I had to add a chickenwire fence around the garden, since it was besieged by rabbits. It also gave us a place to put my Sulcata tortoise for the summer, who eats the crabgrass and other weeds, and is supplemented with hay.
 On the south end I've planted four hops rhizomes, which seem to be doing well. The hope is to train them up to the top of the container and provide some shade for the south wall, which does get pretty warm.

And the inside, as of 5/12:




 The bedroom is the same as usual, and had laundry on the bed, so no pictures!


Our to-do list, for the whole property. It's a doozy!

But, I will promise, right here, under threat of..nothing.. that I will finally post pictures of our bathroom by the end of the month. And I promise it will be completely underwhelming after all this time!

Later this week I'll be posting links to the blogs and webpages we got our information from, and some wonderful new designs we've seem lately. 

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Spring planting

It's been a while since I've posted, but we have been busy around the house!

We've mostly been busy with our new addition, a little rescued poodle mix named Stanley who is acclimating to the tiny life quite well-- since he's only 5lbs, we figured he wouldn't take up much room.


We also added lights to the horizontals of our porch, so we have walkway lighting.

The garden is recovering nicely from the winter, and my irises are taking off. We also did some new planting...
Artichoke, chives, catnip in the weir. Mexican feather grass in the stepped pots, tuscan blue rosemary in the green pot.

Back to front: Lavender, ranunculus (persian buttercup), apple mint, ranunculus again.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Page views

Alan posted our blog on a very popular forum and our daily page views have spiked like crazy.

Goons, feel free to leave comments or questions, or even requests for pictures of anything we've missed. Thanks for visiting! 

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Wardrobe finished

Alan picked the knobs and his dad came up with the idea that keeps our socks and underthings from intermingling. Cat is for reference purposes only, does not come with the wardrobe.





Friday, January 27, 2012

A wardrobe change


Why is our dresser gone and the bed piled with clothes?




Because we went to see some very talented workers and picked up this baby. It's a wardrobe custom built to fit our space. 48" wide and about 80" tall, it's a behemoth. We were very wrong when we thought that a small dresser would be able to hold all of our clothes, and it was getting a little ridiculous. 


First, the toekick was leveled and screwed to the wall and supported at the floor.


Since there's no way we could have fit the wardrobe into the house and moved it into position in one piece, it was built in four sections. Two 16"x40" cabinets, and two 32"x40". This is the first section. 


 And the second, a 32" section divided into two 16" spaces. The cubby is for our alarm clock.



And this part is the best idea we've ever had. This section of cabinet has no shelves, and serves as the laundry hamper. A quick right out of the bathroom after a shower and you deposit your dirty clothes on the way to get clean ones.


 The second 16" section. All of the sections are screwed to one another and the wall, and it's very solidly built.


 And the last section. This is why it is built this way-- we needed to still be able to access the breaker box.


 As you can see, we had our usual canine supervisory team in place.


 All the sections mounted and secured, and the clock in place.



 Shelves arranged so that the door to the breaker box opens.

And the all important view from the bed, with all of the clean clothes put away. Much better, and a nice simple look, than a too-small dresser. We are currently brainstorming ideas to liven up the left wall a bit with a stripe of the bathroom exterior color, and/or a long shelf for display purposes. We'll see! 


These are melamine covered cabinets, and the color on the front is from the Arborite company, called Tatami Wasabi. The color is probably most accurate in the first and last pictures of mine.