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.

Upgrades

We went on a bit of a shopping spree and finished up the interior, outside of artwork. 


 And I finally got a chair!  Alan's is white and not usually so hippiefied, but we had company and his cushion needs to be washed.

 A smaller bookcase replaces the one in the kitchen area, allowing the computer to come up off of the floor.

 The kitchen, spruced up with a new rug, our new dining room chairs, and our heater.

 My knitting, crocheting, and needlework projects all fit in the pink bin. We didn't buy it to fit that cubby, it was a complete coincidence.

The cats tend to cluster around the heater in the morning and enjoy the view afforded by the bird feeder.

The blog update...it's...it's coming from inside the house!

We moved in! Nothing is really 100% done yet, but it's all finish stuff. Though we are almost completely moved into the kitchen, the handles still need to be put on (currently in progress), and our drinking classes unpacked. Our other storage bit in the bedroom was put up last night, and the showerhead and controls were installed. 


What still needs to be done: Baseboards and trim around the doors, silicone toilet in, bathroom sink drain installed (the flange we had in mind is backordered and they decided not to tell us..), finish swamp cooler frame, finish installing the last board on the deck (up next to the house), seal the deck, install the cat box cover/bench, touch up paint, and wait until tonight/tomorrow to move furniture in because of the floor varnish. 

So, here are some pictures in no particular order. 

Alan and the dog atop what is now called Mt. Sealy Posturpedic

Adaptation

I figured I should write something about the mental process of building and moving into a tiny house, and why I think it's a good fit for us.

I'm excited for the change to a smaller home (our current apartment is "only" 700 sqft, so it's not particularly large). It means a deliberate inventory of every single one of our possessions, down to the last ball of yarn or pantry item, and deciding what we actually need. I've seen it referred to elsewhere as intentional living, and I really like that. It takes the very basis of your day-- moving around your space-- and makes it something you have to mean to do, not something that just happens. It means thinking about everything you bring into your home, which means you save even more money, because nothing fits.

It also means that decor wise, you have only a few small areas to make your style known, so you must have powerful, expressive objects and colors, making your personality even more apparent. In our case, since our home is not prefab, the floor plan reflects our lifestyle as well-- we have a large kitchen and bathroom because we cook quite a bit, and very seriously enjoy our shower time. The bedroom storage can be small because we don't own a lot of clothing, preferring to keep our wardrobes simple (and sometimes way too similar), mostly jeans, t shirts, and formal clothing that can be dressed down for business casual purposes. The way we decorate the living area will also have a big funky touch, because, well, we're living in a shipping container. French Country just isn't going to work.

As far as the colors go, we are going with light wood, white, and bright blues, greens, and reds. This will make use of every bit of light coming through the windows, and keep the interior bright even with artificial lighting.

My only regret is that due to our timeline, our kitchen cabinetry is going to come from IKEA and not be handmade.

A great part of this project is that it gives us an excuse to expand into our outdoor space. Since the conex is raised off the ground, we have to have a patio. So, we've decided to make the patio 5' deep, 20' long, and roofed and screened in. This is part of how we will handle having 3 cats in such a small area-- they will have a catflap out into a built in bench on the porch, which will contain their litterbox. They'll also have supervised access to the porch (it's not very safe for small animals out here with the snakes and coyotes, so they will remain indoor only), and window ledges for lounging wherever we can fit them.

I don't see the house being small as a downside. Firstly, it's wonderful if you're lazy, as you don't have to move much to do anything! Second, if you have room to cook, to relax, and to work, you have everything you need. It does help that Alan and I are very comfortable with one another, and communicate well. It also really helps that Alan is preternaturally patient and calm, in contrast to my somewhat anxious and blunt personality. We fit together well, and have no problem spending time together with no T.V. (we've not had cable for two years). We are pretty private people, and don't have people over very often, so a house with next-to-zero entertaining space is just fine by us.

Everything in the house is being designed to allow us to stand and work together. If we couldn't do this.. we wouldn't even attempt to live in a tiny house.