KCI – Inspiration

This little house journey was probably first inspired by my love of the children’s book Andrew Henry’s Meadow by Doris Burns.

Andrew was a boy who liked to “build things,” but his family often scolded him for taking their things to use as building supplies.  So Andrew, goes off to a meadow and builds his own tiny house.  Soon every kid in town has joined Andrew and he builds them all houses to suit their personalities. One gets a house built over the creek so he can sail his toy boats; another gets a house in the trees so she can bird watch; another gets an underground house so she can  be with her pets who live underground. As a kid, I was amazed. First that anyone could build their own house, and second that you could have a house suited perfectly for you.

When I built this tiny house, my brother gave me the first annual Andrew Henry Award.  The tiny house inspired him to follow his own dream of buying the boat he’s always wanted. There will be years of renovating before it’s seaworthy, but he’s calling his Florida Trawler “Andrew Henry.”

Interestingly, Doris Burns lived in her own tiny house when she wrote her books.

“According to the blurb accompanying that book, her studio was “a small cabin where she spends the day at work after chopping enough wood to keep the fire going through the day, hauling two buckets of water from the pump for washing brushes and pens and brewing ‘a perpetual pot of tea’”. In 1965 Waldron Island was without electricity, telephone service, running water or merchants. All of her goods and supplies were brought by boat from the mainland.”  Wikipedia (Note – since I still own the book, I can verify that this is what the blurb says.)

In any case, reading Andrew Henry’s Meadow was life changing.  It planted the seed of a tiny house, dozens of books germinated the seed, and Jay’s workshop fertilized it.  The plans made all the difference.  Without them, I wouldn’t have known where to begin.  Obviously, Bob St. Cyr and his class did 95% of the hard labour.  Sure I paid the bills, and I wielded the odd hammer, but the little house only exists because of Bob, Bob’s class (especially Denny and Aaron) and Jay.

Thanks so much.  I’ll send a final blog after all the finishing details and decorating are done.

KCI-bedding down for the winter

We put the little house to sleep in November – we drained the water and locked the doors.  That was pretty much it.

When the roofers came they missed some areas that needed caulking, so we recorded all of these, used some tape to show where the problems were and hopefully it will get fixed asap.

Though the daytime weather was beautiful (13 degree celcius), it was quite cool in the evening.  Still we were toasty warm.  I guess two people in a tiny space generate a fair bit of heat.  We didn’t notice this in the summer because the windows were always open, and even in the warmest weather we stayed cool.  Conversely, we’re staying toasty in lower temperatures.  We didn’t use a heater, though we had a little ceramic one. We turned it on for about 15 minutes, and then it just wasn’t necessary.  We’ve got good sleeping bags so maybe that makes a difference.  Someday, I might install propane. For now, this will do. We’re not staying there in the winter for more than a night or two so this won’t be a problem short term.

My gram's dog bed

I love sleeping under the eaves and hearing the rain fall, it makes me fall asleep with a smile.

The little couch is actually a dog bed that belonged to my Gram.  It just fit through the tiny door.  We had to take the door off its hinges to fit it in, but it worked.  Of course, now I wish the dog bed was a few inches longer so it would butt up right to the walls.  The stool is also ancient.  I haven’t brought anything new into the tiny house for furnishings and that’s satisfying.  I did buy material for the dog bed cushion and stool, but even that was bought on sale and I did the sewing myself.

KCI- Ceiling paneling

We went up a couple of weekends to install the ceiling paneling and the end gables.  We got more proficient and by the second weekend we were flying along.  We won’t be touching anything else until the spring.  So all trim work and baseboards will wait until then. Still, the house looks wonderful and it is worth every penny.  For inspiration, in the last ten years, I’ve had a picture on my fridge of a woman reading in her tiny house, now I can replace that house with my house.  It’s very satisfying.

We’ve got a queen sized mattress in the loft and it feels quite roomy.  I can sit up without knocking my head; however, I’m five feet tall.  My husband has to be more careful.

Mini House Builder

At just 15 years old, Austin Hay decided to build his own Tumbleweed. About 8 months ago, Austin showed up to a Tumbleweed open house and announced that he was going to build the Fencl before he graduated high school. He carefully shared his plan of raising money and enlisting friends and convinced us to donate a set of plans. Jay and I were both so impressed by how persuasive and genuine this young man was.

Over the summer, Austin worked and saved $3,000 to cover the cost of the trailer and beginning supplies.

Two weeks ago, we had a chance to catch up with Austin again when he came to our Tiny House Workshop and shared his story with the class.

He said his long term goal with the house was to live in the Fencl while in college and save money on housing. When someone asked if his house “impressed the girls”, he shyly admitted “not yet”.

Austin just finished the roofing on the house in time for the upcoming rain. Working mostly on Saturday and Sunday, Austin said he’s been having fun with it.

You can read Austin’s blog at minihousebuilder.webs.com

KCI-the move

Putting the battens on has made a world of difference in how the tiny house looks.  I love it now.  It’s gorgeous.

Bob has made some ingenious shelves in one of the bathroom walls.  He’s an excellent cabinet maker, and my cupboards are better than what I have in my house

The tiny house moved to my parent’s property.  Another teacher drove it down and he was masterful.  He pulled that 8.6 foot wide baby into a 9 foot laneway while we stopped traffic.  He made one correction then backed it the rest of the way into its new home.  I just stood there mouth agape.

Today we primed the door and the underbody of the trailer (boy, should that have been done before this time.)

My husband stayed  at the property to meet with the guys who will finish the electrical and the plumbing.  Another guy is putting in the glass into the door.  Next week, someone else will do the roofing.

It’s all coming together which means I can finally sleep.  I’ve lost weight because of the stress -  the kind where you’re so nauseous you can’t eat.  I’m not sure why I thought the sky was falling, but I did.

We’ve still got miles to go, but they’re short miles now.  Before they were the miles that stretched into infinity.  We need to panel the ceiling and do some finishing touches to the kitchen cupboards.  All the battens need caulking, but this is all doable.  Only the caulking and painting needs to be done this summer.  Everything else can wait.

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