Tiny House/Gallery on Wheels - More than a Dream?

One Sketch of ObscurAbode Dreams

Recently I was feeling really down due to health problems. I wondered, will I ever get to live out my dreams of a tiny home/gallery on wheels? And I was chatting with my bro, Milo about it. We had a moment of clarity when I asked if he'd like to help me build the Tiny Home/Gallery on wheels we've been talking about, live in it until we some day help him build the cob home of his dreams, and let me bunk with him when we run gallery showings.

I love this guy.  We aren't related by blood, but I love him like a brother and  we sort of adopted each other when he was 18. He is one of very few people in the world who I have told they could live or crash here in our home if they ever needed to. Strangely, Milo is the only one of the 3 non blood relations who hasn't taken us up on it. I say non blood relations because the same holds true for my sister, but we've never lived together as adults.  Milo is currently staying with some friends of ours in exchange for his help in turning their yard from dirt nap to sustainable desert oasis. He has a great site called Vegan Meal Adventures http://veganmealadventures.com/ which I have mentioned before, yet he doesn't hassle me for being a meat eater because he knows how much I love and miss my veggies and how I long to eat them once we get my allergic reactions sorted out. He is also one of the few people who really gets all my health problems yet doesn't treat me like broken glass. And last but not least he's an artist, and we have a common love for tiny homes, and sustainable living. Why we have never discussed the possibility of teaming up to make our dreams a reality before this? I have no idea, but I'm glad I gutted up and asked the question. And his response was an instant YES! No hesitation.

Dreams of Creating a Tiny Sustainable Lifestyle

We agreed that we will not build anything until he is out of school and my health is more under control. So that gives us till Fall 2014 or so to brain storm, plan, fund raise, save, scrimp and make it happen. In order to move from dream to reality, we decided the first step is to share all the sketches and inspirational photos we like with each other, so I set up a google docs folder, and we are using it to brain dump all our ideas, hopes, goals, dreams, and inspirations towards a tiny home/gallery on wheels. Originally I was thinking of calling it ObscurAbode, but we're going to toss other names around like Pinwheel. We figure the name will come together when the house/gallery does.

I suspect a few things will hold true: Our design will be creative/artistic as we are both artists, meticulous as we both tend to research, plan and prepare with attention to detail, as self sustainable as possible, innovative, and accessible to people with disabilities. The rest is going to come together after we both share what we need, want and hope to see in this project.

It presents a unique challenge to create something which is both a house that feels like home, and a gallery which is open to the public. For one thing, we have been discussing how to make the most use of vertical space and still have it accessible to people with mobility issues. This is important not only because I will be staying there on occasion, but more importantly because we want the gallery to be wheelchair accessible. Two of our most fun and innovative ideas have been inspired by thinking about people with disabilities as relates to our tiny home. One is a chair rail/lift system which can be used with or without power to move around the home both vertically and horizontally, and another is an accessible fold out restroom/changing room/shower. Both are very exciting and we are looking forward to making them a reality. In the mean time, I am sketching, playing with a floor plan app on my cell phone, and considering building tiny models so that we can visualize our ideas in 3d. Will my dreams of a tiny house/gallery on wheels come true? Stay tuned!

Tiny House, Big Heart

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tiny-house-big-heart?c=home

I am nowhere near being able to have my tiny home/gallery/art studio to go, but I think the artist in the video I linked to above is heading towards their dreams in a wonderful way. I'm broke right now due to medical bills, but as soon as possible I hope to make a  donation towards their tiny house :) Please watch the awesome video and check out their perks.

Finding my Joy, Simplifying my Life

Micro Action Happiness Brain Storm

For the last  several years I have put extra emphasis on my health,  and for the last year I have  had  the goal in  mind that I would  be more independent and self  sustaining. One way in which I have been doing this is learning to cook healthy foods, and more recently to garden. I'm getting pretty good with my composting and recently moved into Aquaponics and now worm farming. Also, I taught myself to knit on looms, and started making all sorts of knit Peace Full Creations along with my paintings, tiny sculptures, and the like. My art brings me joy.

In recent reading I took a couple micro actions proposed by Tammy Strobel in her book "You Can Buy Happiness and it's Cheaper than You Think."

Detail of Happiness Brain Storm/Rough Sketches

First she asked how I define happiness and that resulted in a brain storming session and some rough sketching of tiny home plans. as  you can see above and to the right.  During my brain storm session I broke it down into several main areas that bring me joy:
- Being as Healthy As Possible (Eating Healthy, Exercise, DeStress)
- Being Creative (Photography, Painting, Sculpture, Knitting, Cooking, Gardening, Trying New Things)
- Community (Friends, Family, Knitting it Forward, Animals/Fur Family, Workshops)
- Living Within My Means (Sustainability, Not over committing, not creating debt, learning useful skills)
- Time For Myself (Hammock Time, Reading, Meditation, Manifestation Journaling)
- Travel (Getting Out of the House, Seeing New Places/ Things, Meeting People)

Side and Top View Sketches

In some ways I am already doing these things such as focusing on my health, family, and becoming self sustaining, and then there are others I have been neglecting such as travel. All in all, the brain storm session was very empowering and I recommend anyone try it. I also noticed that every time I sketch a tiny home, my vision of my Tiny Home/Gallery/Art Studio/Community Center/Camera Obscura aka ObscurAbode becomes more clear and I feel that much closer to my dream.

Another micro action I completed recently was to write down how I can simplify my life. At first  it seemed a lot like my previous  brain storm, and  things I'm already working on like be healthy, spend time with loved ones, but then I started getting down to some specifics and things started falling into place:

ObscurAbode Sketch 03 Layout Plans

- Organize my stuff (Bedroom, Loom Knitting Supplies, Art, Books)
- Get my Peace Full Creations in order
- Clarify/Organize my Calendar (Simplify Schedule for Knitting Groups, Specific work days/times, One day off with Patch, one day off with Carlie, Specific morning routine)
- Plan trip to CA
- Make a specific tiny home plan (Finances, Supplies, Time Frame, IndieGogo or Kickstart Plan, etc.)

I got started on each of these to some extent. The loom and knitting supplies are better organized, Carlie and I decided that the profit from Peace Full Creations will go to the Tiny Home Fund, I decided which days/times will be work and which aren't, worked on my calendar, and worked on another more specific floor plan for ObscurAbode (Sketch 03, above left) so it already feels like I am heading towards my goals. More work is needed, but things are really coming together!

Induction Stovetop Has Arrived

I have been dreaming of a tiny home for years, and more recently began planning how that could become a reality when they sent me a kitty in a box! That's one of my kittens of course, Squeakers aka the Princess.  She seems to believe they shipped the boxes merely for her enjoyment.

Of course it was actually a box of Nuwave induction stoves and the free items which came with it. Included in the box were 2 NuWave Induction Cooktops, an induction cookbook/instruction manual, 2 nonstick metal pans, 1 multi-piece cookware which can be used in a variety of ways including as a steamer, and 1 cast iron skillet. Basically, my tiny home's kitchen in a box! Or at least, the items in the box set me in the right direction.Eventually I will also get a Blendtec blender and an induction oven.

So this weekend was exciting when planning turned into doing as our first small piece of our tiny home arrived. Although two actually came together because it was a buy one get one free deal, I will probably only be using one in my tiny home/galllery. Normally I would simply buy one if I only need one, but in this case Carlie and I decided to buy one that we are using now and one which we have set aside for my tiny home. It is exciting and I feel like the dream is finally becoming a reality even tho it is only one small piece of the puzzle.

We spent most of the weekend at the annual Front Yard Art Bazaar that Laurie Provost puts on, but tonight Carlie cooked up some of the veggies we got at Market on the Move and some sausage we needed to use up on one of the induction stove tops. She loved it, and especially enjoyed showing me how much less heat is wasted in using it, and how much safer it is to cook on. I will try using it this week myself.

I had set today aside to rest up after the busy weekend, so I finished reading the 2nd chapter of Tammy's book about simplifying. I am working through some of the micro actions, and will write about those in a future blog post, so stay tuned!

Radically Simplifying

I am so excited, in the same day, I got my first item for my tiny house ordered, and received this book from a friend. BEST GIFTS YET!!!!

I did several happy dances this day. So far, this book is really good and is challenging me to get back onto track in the simplifying of my life, minimizing of  "stuff" and being as healthy as I can be.

When my first piece of my Tiny House arrives I will take a photo and share more details. For now, let me just say my tiny kitchen will be simple, minimalist, possibly a bit steampunk, yet completely gourmet ready because that's how I role.

The friend who gave me the book asked me to document my path towards building and living in my own tiny home, so I am back to my Bare Simplicity blog and promise to post more often.

Alternatives to the traditional tiny house methods

Prefab Shed/Tiny House

I think I will be going with SIP panel homes for our first tiny house build for ease of build, and surprisingly, overall cost. I found the one on the left available through Direct Buy for $2500. Of course you have to have a membership to Direct Buy, so hat is not accessible to everyone. One manufacturer who has created a light weight, highly insulated and relatively low cost SIP is SING core panels. You can find them at http://www.singtinyhouse.com/ and are one route I was considering for this first build. First I am working on a cost comparison from start to finish of the build.

So far the cheapest build I've seen is 8,000 for a tiny house that was built using traditional materials, some of them scavenged, reclaimed, recycled, or upcycled and that home is not finished yet. However, alternative build methods seem to be finding even cheaper ways of building a tiny home.

Pallets and Plastic $500 Tiny House

Some people have been working on building an entire tiny home out of pallets. One man and has 2 designs he's working with for that idea that he says would be free to build and can be found on his website http://www.tinyfreehouse.com/ but he is currently in a holding pattern. One would be  bit too drafty and not strong enough for my liking, the other has a bit more potential, and of course you could use the dip cloth method of dipping a material such as fishing net material, burlap, or other material that is natural fibers and has holes in it, in a sustainable, light weight cement like mix to put over the pallets, and you'd have a non traditional looking tiny home. This would not work for a tiny home on a trailer, but since the first home we'll be building will be on a cement slab in someone's back yard, I thought we would look at all alternatives.

Straw Bale Tiny House

A slightly modern looking take on the tiny pallet house is found on Lloyd's blog and pictured above: http://lloydkahn-ongoing.blogspot.com/2011/01/tiny-house-built-of-pallets.html and cost $500 to make, so certainly the cheapest method. The version pictured above seems to be using some sort of plastic to make the place less drafty and more private although I believe the original was built. Unfortunatley Lloyd did not link to the original article.

Another low cost alternative method is straw bale building. Sometimes these are built by an individual, a couple or a whole community. A friend of mine is going to be setting up a trip for a group of us to go help build a sustainable farm some of her friends are working on in exchange for education on their sustainable practices a place to stay while there, and vegan meals. I may need to bring some alternative food sources to keep myself healthy while there due to my allergies, but I think it's worth a shot. I may not be able to contribute as much physically as others due to my disability, but I'm stubborn and persistent when working on projects, and I'm creative and get things done. See my food blog,  desertfoodlover.blogspot.com if you're curious about better healthy through yumness as I like to say. More on that later. If you'd like to try living in a tiny straw bale house, check out this straw bale village: http://tinyhouseblog.com/straw-bale/tiny-straw-bale-village-getaway/

Well there are more, but that is all the time I have for now. So expect an alternative building methods part two post in the near future as I continue investigating, planning, pricing and generally doing the prep work for our upcoming build. Please post any links to low cost tiny house building methods in the comments section!

Ideas I Love from Other's Tiny Homes

This video was just shared with me today by another tiny house enthusiast, and I love some of the creative ideas! Especially the "Garage Door Bed" and "Basement Bath" plus it's a cute tiny guest house with some other good ideas: http://vimeo.com/23527235

Which brought to mind other links I haven't yet shared here of other people's tiny homes which I find inspirational. I especially like the combination of useful, sustainable practices with aesthetic appeal. The following have some great information and good people willing to share their experiences:

There is of course the Tiny Tack House, which has it's own FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/227728120641729/ and Melissa Tack posts great 3d graphic designs for tiny house lay outs frequently which are just wonderful. If you're planning to build a tiny home, I highly recommend this page.

Then there is the Tiny r(E)volution which I've mentioned in a previous post about his podcast. Tiny r(E)volution is run by Andrew and his wife who are building their own tiny home and eventually plan to build some other tiny add ons to create a still small and beautiful space to share as a whole family. Their facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/tinyrev

Andrew recently shared about some people who are new to the tiny house community, Together Simply. Of course, I love the name. You can find them on blogspot here: http://togethersimply.blogspot.com/

I would also recommend you check out http://tinycasita.blogspot.com/ as well as http://tinywhitenorth.com/ and www.costaricamountain.blogspot.com

Oh and I shouldn't neglect to mention Tiny House Design: http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/2012/07/28/tiny-house-fire/ who have a post about a tiny house builder whose tiny home on a trailer was parked behind a farm that burnt down, and thus BURNT DOWN. Tragic! So if you would like to donate towards her rebuilding her tiny home, please do so! I did, and will continue to contribute whenever I can. The tiny house community can be very supportive of each other, and that's one of the many things I love about it. Some day I will build my own tiny home and be able to commune with my fellow tiny house neighbors around the world via the internet!

And in case you just can't get enough of looking at tiny homes, don't forget the Tiny House Blog, which is not in itself so tiny. Tons of photographs, articles, and more: http://tinyhouseblog.com/

Tiny Home Thought Process

Kit for Shed I think would make a great tiny home

For a few years now I've been watching people build Tiny Homes and wishing we could have one of our own. We are not quite ready to do that yet ourselves, but I am still moving forward with my investigation and planning. We ended up spending the money I was saving for tiny home living on a car. Not sure it was the best choice in my life, and maybe I'll discuss how I feel about our choices and which car we ended up with in a later post.  I am living as best I can in what we currently have, which is a large house we rent, and as if we will some day have a tiny mobile home. 

For now, I have decided to continue my pursuit of building a tiny home, and to continue my goal of building it for as low a cost as possible by doing the ground work necessary before we could build one.

At the same time, I am investigating the possible ways to help a local non profit build a tiny home for minimal cost. For now I will focus on a non-mobile tiny home, because it turns out the non profit's area does not allow for RV storage, and even tho it would look like a tiny home, or in some people's mind it would look like a shed even if it were mobile, they are not wanting to push those boundaries. They are however able to build on a concrete slab, and have the skills to build one.

The tiny house would allow them to have a separate space for the house manager to have her (or his) office and living space. I have decided a multi-phase building plan may be best for this particular situation. Step One: Build the foundation and shell. For the purpose of this blog entry, I'm only going to focus on building the structure, not it's foundation. This would actually mean we would need to build an air conditioned structure with finished windows, window screens, a door, and a finished look over all. The finished look is important in this case for the purpose of keeping neighbor appreciation & cooperation by adding to the property value rather than taking away from it.

It would have the added benefit of being a beautiful separate space for the house manager. A place to call their own, have private one on one meetings with clients or volunteers as needed, and possibly encourage clients to work towards having a tiny place of their own, while having the smallest impact on the world we live in as possible. It could also be used by the non profit to educate neighbors, friends and others about the wide variety of possibilities with tiny house living. This structure could be easily turned into an office and/or living space without cooking space or restroom either by building furniture out of free sources (such as pallets) for the cost of the hardware, or with a few trips to stores like goodwill if we chose no to finish the interior any further.

Since I've been doing the research anyway, I will post soon with a list and cost comparison between the various options I've found for tiny homes.

Vacation in a tiny home?

We have a thing for visiting California. Especially the sunny southern beaches. Unfortunately,  we often find the prices do us in. So during this visit to my mom's i asked her to take us to the back bay cottages. They aren't cheap, but we have been wanting to try living in a tiny house before committing to one. This seems perfect!

They have 3 styles and sizes. Prices vary depending on what is included, size, and time of year. If we each save a couple hundred bucks we could have a relatively low cost vacation and see how we feel about tiny living. More photos and a url to come.

Check it out here: http://www.newportdunes.com/cottages.html