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. 

Friday, January 20, 2012

Just a few random pictures

I realized I had never shown our christmas lights on! 

The new front of the house, daytime. 

A slightly better view of my currently pitiful garden. 

Monday, January 16, 2012

Back on January 20th

Like the title says, we'll be back in a few days. My camera is being replaced, and had to be ordered. We may have some exciting things to show you!

Friday, January 13, 2012

We turned 8 months old today.

On Friday the 13th of May, we poured the very first concrete pier.

My little garden. Red kale seen on the left (and interspersed), then Red Hot Poker, then pansies, then irises.
The front steps. The concrete piece will be a big planter, and my succulents that are barely hanging on will stay atop the poles. What has been cleared of gravel will eventually be concrete.

The living room. Please excuse the weird things lying around, today was sweeping day.


And this...is a preview of what is coming in the next couple of weeks. It addresses our biggest miscalculation in the construction of our home.

In the shot of the living room you can see that we have carpeted the kitchen. This was a foot-saving measure for the winter cold, and will not be permanent! A big pretty rug may eventually go there if we can find one for a decent price, though.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Well, poop.

My camera has been sent of for (theoretical) repairs, but the person working the counter informed me that my warranty (which would cover the problems I was having) would likely be voided due to a crack on the back screen cover (which doesn't affect anything). The upshot of this is that we may be without a camera to call our own for a while, since we can't really afford to buy a new one right now.

In the mean time, imagine....

Our garden now has some small (~1year old) Red Hot Poker bushes, and yellow iris rhizomes with some brave little leaves on them. In there are also some clumps of pansies, and tomorrow I am adding in some small red kale plants for a bit of unique color. By our stairs are now three telephone pole pieces to hold my succulent pots, and a LARGE reclaimed section of a concrete irrigation weir which will hold some soon-to-be-determined flowering plant(s).  Our front stoop area will be concrete poured around this section of weir, connecting the landing pad at the end of our steps with the walkway and 'garage floor' on the north end of the house.

I will try to borrow a camera tomorrow and get pictures of all of this. 

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Technical problems

Of course, right after I make a promise, I may have to break it. My camera is having some serious technical issues; we are going to Best Buy, warranty in hand, in a few moments. We'll see how it goes.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

It's a carport!

Actually, it's a purlin horse shader, but who's counting?

Here you can see our driveway and small garden, which has now been planted. Pictures of that area (looking somewhat pathetic due to the season TOMORROW!)

It's on the north end of the house, and has only two walls- west, and a roof. This blocks the worst of the prevailing wind, and the gap between the house and the wall of the garage will be blocked off soon. The very leftmost part of the inside of the carport is a big door, so we have easy access out that direction.

--

The intent of the blog was not only to write about the construction of a container home, but the realities of living in such a small space, and I really haven't done that. The truth is, our adjustment period was very short, and there's not much different living here. We do have a small list of things we miss:
  • A sofa. We currently use two Poang chairs from IKEA, and they somewhat lack the hominess of a nice sofa to snuggle on. I am absentmindedly researching very small loveseats. 
  • An oven. We never really used one extensively in our apartment, but there are a few things we would like to cook again. I'm currently pining after a large Kitchenaid toaster oven that supposedly has the ability to bake small breads, and broil meat more quickly than our little toaster oven.
  • More clothes storage. We have seriously miscalculated in this respect. This is going to be rectified by building in a wardrobe of sorts where our dresser currently sits. It will consist of shelves bolted to the studs in that wall, with an end-cap on the hallway side, and some doors. This should take care of the clothes problem, in conjunction with another reduction of goods. 
  • A larger volume of air to buffer our heating and cooling efforts. 

We had to 'carpet' the big metal floor piece in the kitchen for the winter.  I took a large indoor/outdoor rug and cut it to fit the area, as not only were we losing heat through it, it was quite shockingly cold to step on when feeding the cats first thing in the morning. I now occasionally have to vacuum the kitchen, which is still enough of a novelty to not be annoying.

The seating arrangement has changed, and Alan and I now sit together on the east wall, with a small table in between us. The corner that was mine is now where the heater goes, and a small indoor cat tree. We found that we liked this way quite a bit better for watching movies or "tv"(Hulu Plus) together, and never bothered to put things back.


Tomorrow is chore day, and I will post some interior and exterior pictures when everything is clean.