"...Big Plans"

A friend of mine recently asked me about the "big plans" part of my blog name.  Originally I really felt like we (I?) had all sorts of big plans about what we can do when we are "living tiny": traveling, hobbies, ministry, etc.  Those plans are still somewhere in the far recesses of my mind but lately more pressing "big plans" are in our minds. 

We (I...) have big plans that the electrical will be done by the end of the week.  I have big plans that the hot water heater and propane lines will also be installed by the end of the week.  If this happens I have big plans that we can put the insulation in the walls over the weekend.  Then there are the big plans about where the sink will go, where the fridge will go, where I want the not-very-tiny-washer/dryer-combo to go and what we will do about cooking and baking.  When people come to check out our house (strangers who are interested in the tiny house movement) I share all these "big plans".  There are so many parts to building a house (even a tiny one!).  Some of my "big plans" are coming together, some are taking longer than expected, some aren't to far but aren't in the near future and some are going to be "plans" for quite a while yet.

Thus the "Big Plans" in my title...stay tuned for these "big plans" to be more than just plans! :)

Tiny House Issue #2

We're on wheels.  This is not an issue if you want to move your home to another location in the future, which we do, but it is an issue if you want Comcast to come install an internet cable port, which they won't do.  Their solution for us: hide the wheels or install the hardware yourself.  If we hide the wheels with a skirt of some sort than they will install the hardware needed for the cable or we can install the cable hardware and they will come hook it up.  Now, Xfinity has hot spots all over the place, including in the area where our tiny house is.  I asked if we could sign up for Xfinity, pay the monthly fee and use the hot spot.  No, you have to have a cable wired to your house in order for them to give you the log in you need to use their nationwide hot spots.  Somehow this doesn't make much sense to me.  They'll be getting the same amount of money, I'd even pay for an install that we wouldn't have, especially if we don't have to put more holes into our house.  Maybe someone can help me understand the logic.  At this point I am accepting it as one of those issues we run into when we are trying to do something out of the ordinary.  I really should be used to this by now ;)

Just a note about the drums I needed to clean out for our compost:  they cleaned out really easy with some Dawn dish soap and water.  I was really thankful!  I painted the insides to prevent rust and installed the insulation in one of them.  I'm waiting for the caulk to dry and then we'll be in business.

Composting Toilet

We got our composting toilet today and amazingly my children had to go to the bathroom WAY more than usual.  Something tells me they will be a bit less excited when it's their chore to take the compost out ;).

We decided to go with the Sunfrost composting toilet.  It's a super simple design: toilet base with 5 gallon bucket, fan and vent hole to provide air circulation and toilet base lid with toilet seat.  The kit also included the insulation, lids and instructions for 55 gallon drums to be used for the compost.  After I opened the boxes and checked out the kit, I went in search of pine shavings and 55 gallon steel drums.  The local feed store had the pine shavings but didn't know where to get the drums.  I asked Siri to find "55 gallon steel drums in.....".  Siri didn't know much but did direct me to the online yellow pages where I got some numbers for places that might have steel.  One of the places I called directed me to Wilcox and Flegel but the ones they had were brand new and close to $50 a drum.  I knew I could get them used for around $25 so I kept looking.  I decided to drive through the industrial area and see if any businesses had steel drums sitting around.  An electric company had one in their back lot so I waltzed in there and asked if they knew where I could get a used 55 gallon steel drum.  They didn't seem to know where I could get one.  Thankfully, one of the customer's overheard me and suggested I try Pacific Pride next door.  Pacific Pride ended up being run by Wilcox and Flegel and they do sell used drums but they didn't have any today.  The kind receptionist suggested I try LineX next door.  The gentleman at LineX was more than helpful in giving me 2 used 55 gallon steel drums they had.  Yes, gave them, free of charge!  I was really thankful.  I am really thankful.  Despite the fact that I had to drain out the nasty black oil substance at the bottoms of them, I am thankful.  I will continue to be thankful while I try to figure out how to finish cleaning out the residue on the insides of the drums tomorrow.  As thankful as I am, the thought did cross my mind that maybe, just maybe, the gentleman at LineX gave them to me because he didn't want to have to clean them himself...just a thought.  Either way I AM thankful that I didn't have to pay the $50-100 I would have had to pay elsewhere.

Partial Move In and Hanging Out with Friends

The neighbor kids came over to play and visit today.  The girls loved A.'s loft: they sat up there eating cookies, playing with dolls and helping Agalia go through her tubs.  My brother and J. had a great time climbing around the loft area, hanging monkey's from the ceiling and tapping me on the head while I cooked.

A. and friends checking out the backyard from above.

I moved almost all my kitchen things in and there is so much room!  I barely filled the cupboards I have and I'll be getting more.  We still need to get the sink in, a refrigerator and a stove top.  I'm going to try to live with just the large toaster oven and see how it goes.  I used it for a whole year not long ago because our oven was broke so it just might work.  I made spaghetti squash with broccoli alfredo for dinner, all with the toaster oven, and it was pretty good if I do say so myself.

J. and his uncle climbing around the loft areas

5 girls hanging out in the A.'s loft with J. in his.  They were having a great time and didn't even seem to notice the space is small.  J. lined the edge of his loft with tubs to make it feel more like a "fort". :)

Here's my "living room" with my sweet neighbor who helped me get things moved in.  We had kids class bible study in here this evening: 6 kids and myself and we had room for more!

In Comparison...

J. didn't bring his Kazoo to music class this morning and his excuse was, "It's at my Grandma's house.  My Grandma's house is really big!"  

In comparison.... :)

   Before Varathane ..................After Varathane

The Varathaned Loft Area

Varathane is finished (for now!)

I have spent every available minute varathaning every wood surface except main floor boards that need flooring.  Well, every available minute besides the weekend which was full of soccer games, trips to visit family, church and a quick frozen yogurt date with my hubby!  My brother asked me, "Are you still doing varathane?  Why is it taking so long?"  I tried to explain the process of coating, drying, re-coating, drying, sanding and then more re-coating necessary to seal the wood and create a smooth surface.  I did find out coating the floor is by far the absolute easiest part.  The ceilings, now they about did me in.  Walls weren't to bad but my plan for the rest of the walls is to sand and varathane the wood BEFORE it goes up on the walls.  However, I am VERY thankful that Tiny Heights Homes got at least a few of the walls up (I'm thankful for the ceiling to but...yeah, the ceiling and I aren't on the best of terms right now ;) ).  I love the wood they put on the walls and I plan on finishing the rest of the walls in the same style. 

I also plan on getting more pictures up soon!  I've been planning to since I last posted pictures but I got stuck in varathane (yes, stuck! my hands, my feet, my clothes, my hair...it gets everywhere!).  Now that I can take a break from the varathane I will try to get some more pictures up tomorrow :)

Tiny House Issue #1

What seems like a small hot water heater is not small when it is in a tiny house.  On some good advice I researched and purchased the best on demand hot water heater, the Rinnai RUR98iP. The cheaper ones just don't keep the water hot for extended periods of time, like for a shower.  Well, now I have the best on demand hot water heater out there, Chris has a small textbook to read before installing the hot water heater and I'm not sure I'll be able to get into my shower once the hot water heater is installed.  Small world problems.

On the up side, I varathaned all of the ceiling areas and the floors in the loft twice and the ceiling area under the loft once and I am VERY happy that I have only a tiny house to varathane!

Before and After one coat on the ceiling

A section of the ceiling under the loft.  This was the point after coating all those 2x4's and the in between spaces that I was very thankful our house is small!

It's HERE!!!!

The Delivery 

Rob making sure he shares all the necessary information about the house before he leaves.

I LOVE my tiny house!!!

We still need a few things, namely our toilet, before we can move in.  Chris worked on the electrical hook up today and my job tomorrow is to varethane, varethane, varethane.

But I am so excited about my tiny house!  

I know I've mentioned it before but we have been beyond impressed by Tiny Heights Homes.  We highly, highly recommend them to anyone interested in buying a tiny house.  They saved us money, involved us in the planning and building process AND went above and beyond our expectations for a tiny house shell.

I really can't wait to move in and begin living tiny!

  

Tiny House with siding! Yay!!!

More pictures!

Check out Tiny Heights Facebook page for more pictures of the process of our tiny house!

https://www.facebook.com/tinyheights?fref=ts

Yes, I am excited ;)