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!

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!

ObscurAbode, The Dream

I have a dream! A dream of a Tiny Home/Camera Obscura/Artist Studio/Gallery/Community Resource Center on wheels which I can move from place to place interacting with other artists, building community, sharing and learning skills, Knitting it Forward with others, and holding Gallery Shows for local artists wherever I go.  I think my inner nomad needs a chance to come out. As a young person, I was privileged to travel around the US a bit with my family, and to Germany as a teen to see a bit of the world, but the travel bug was not really satisfied before my disability kicked in.

Now that I am starting to be healthier but am still have so far to go, I have decided that I want to learn to be more self sustaining by growing my own food, and creating objects people can barter, trade or buy from me to help me make my dream a reality. I have begun doing that with my Peace Full Creations. Please "Like" the Facebook page!

As far as the Gallery, it would be called ObscurA, and I plan to have a sign on the house that says ObscureAbode, and has a sign that can come down or move over to cover the last few letters so that it will then say "ObscurA, the Gallery is Open", or "Welcome to my Abode". I imagine it would be a rotating show. So that if I was parked somewhere for a month, every weekend would focus on a different artist, with the final show focusing on myself, and several other artists. Some artists have already said they want in on the deal, which is fun and exciting. If you are an artist and you'd like to help make this a reality, let me know.

As part of manifesting this dream, I did a quick and dirty sketch up of a tiny home/gallery on wheels which you see above, but it is nowhere near the reality of what I will build. For one thing, after much investigation, I changed my plan to have the entrance on the short side, and a fold down porch on one of the long sides, that wraps around to the front porch (short side) ... that may make no sense in your mind but I will sketch it out in the future. For another thing, I have been wanting to make it all in copper tones, with a steam punk aesthetic. At first I might have to build it bare bones, but eventually it will come together into the creative home/gallery I envision. In the mean time, I thought I had better post about the dream here, and hopefully my fellow tiny home enthusiasts, artists and friends can send out positive vibes to make it happen all the sooner!