PROGRESS & PHOTOS!!!

I'm making progress!!! THE LONG AWAITED PHOTOS....

HOUSE WRAP & WINDOWS INSTALLED!

INTERIOR VIEW FROM BEDROOM

INTERIOR VIEW OF OFFICE/DESK WINDOW

INTERIOR VIEW OF BATHROOM WINDOWS

EXTERIOR STORAGE DOORS (THIS IS FROM UNDERNEATH MY BED)

 

BUILDING STORAGE DOORS 

 

 

BEDROOM WINDOW AND STORAGE DOORS

 THE BOTTOM PORTION OF THE SIDING - ALL RECLAIMED REDWOOD BOARDS THAT WE PLANNED, SANDED AND SEALED

 DOUG CUTTING SIDING

JEFF PLANNING SIDING (other tiny houses in progress in the background)

 ONE SIDE OF PLANNED REDWOOD SIDING BOARDS COMPLETE!!

OLD WEATHERED REDWOOD BOARDS ON THE TOP HALF OF SIDING.
JEFF DESIGNED THIS BEAUTIFUL & UNIQUE USE OF RECLAIMED SIDING!

  MY FRONT DOOR!!

KITCHEN WINDOW #1 BEFORE REMOVED

 DECIDED TO LET THIS ONE GO - DOUG IS REMOVING KITCHEN WINDOW #1

 GOODBYE KITCHEN WINDOW! NEW IMPROVED WINDOW IS COMING!

CUSTOM BUILT WINDOW ABOVE CLOSET, BEHIND DESK. 

LOOKS BEAUTIFUL! GREAT JOB DOUG!!

LOVE HOW THIS END IS TURNING OUT!

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As I am posting this, we are much further along and the siding is almost complete now.
Will download more photos soon!!

AWAKENING...

It's ALIVE...well almost.

The wheels are turning, planning and preparation is happening. After a much needed extended break, the medicine home frame will reawaken and begin growing into a house once again.

Well, it turns out that Jeff's 2015 travel plans have worked out to give him a few months this year to keep building for me! So, the current plan is for Jeff to take over much of the management from me at this point since I have already accomplished the bulk of the research work and agonizing decisions to create a functional house suitable for my needs. This gives me the ability to stay slow, reflective and keep placing my health needs first. It will also mean letting go and surrendering, as I am giving up much of the creative process - but it's for the sake of my own sanity - well worth it. Then I will be taking out another loan to pay a 2nd builder to work with Jeff for a couple months this summer. This will make the project progress much more quickly this year, as well as making the job a lot more fun for Jeff and still work in his travel timeline :)

I recently posted the following to my local communities:
"I am trying to complete the building of my sweet non-toxic tiny home on wheels this summer! We have one skilled builder on the job who is acting as manager and I am looking for a second carpenter/builder to work with him. Tiny house on wheels building experience not required, but general carpentry skills a must. Able to pay $20-25/hour, 35-45 hours/week for 2 months (around 320 hours total). Dates are early-mid July through early-mid Sept. I'd prefer someone who can work the whole 2 months​ ​solid,​ but if you are available some or part of this time, that may work as well. This is a great learning opportunity and a unique project. Please email me if you are interested with a little about you, your building skills/experience and your availability.​ And please pass this along to anyone you think might be interested.​ Thanks!​!​"

I have a gotten a few good responses so far, and have also been in conversation with some other great builder friends, but scheduling during the summer is the most challenging, so we'll see what manifests.

Much gratitude to my family, friends and community for continuing to support this project - I could not do it without you. The next post will be in July with new photos of the next stages of new growth ;)

Tiny Home Hibernation

Wondering what's been going on with my Tiny Medicine Home???
Well, it has been sleepily hibernating for the winter...And so have I.

As exciting as this project has been, I never planned or wanted to work so fast and so much in such a short period of time. My learning curve was simply too steep under a readily approaching deadline, so I was making very big decisions far too quickly about very important aspects of my little home like: design, materials, structural integrity and functional systems. I couldn't do that amount of research with almost no time before the next decision was supposed to be made (and those of you with MCS out there know just how difficult it is to make all these types of decisions when your quality of life depends on outcome of that choice). I was regretting choices and I was exhausted, worn out, in pain, and acerbating all my health problems. And this is certainly the opposite of my healing philosophy - which is to be reflective, slow, aware, gentle and prioritize my self care. The whole purpose of building this house is so I can have a safe haven to help me heal, not so I spend time rushing and stressing out so that I can eventually have a place to collapse from my exhaustion!

Although the choice to pause the building process changes my plans significantly (since my main builder/loving partner Jeff, has other plans for 2015), the choice to listen to my body has already proven well worth the extra financial costs and delays. So for the past few months, I have been recovering and letting my body find balance once again.

I made this decision in mid-October and since then Jeff and I did a lot of cleaning up at the build site, along with weather proofing, wrapping, drying, re-arranging, etc. Here's the house in it's current hibernation stage:

When I am ready to start building again (not sure yet when that will be), I will be hiring someone else to finish the rest of the building. Jeff will still be involved however, helping to supervise and build when he can.

This time around, my plan is to have all my decisions made FIRST! All my appliances, materials, electrical systems, ventilation systems, etc, will be chosen and purchased, so that the new carpenter will be able to complete the house in a shorter amount of time, not waiting for me to figure out the next decision. I am also aware that there are always unforeseen new issues to address, so my completion goal is currently flexible. And I will just do the best I can.

When my little home awakens from it's long slumber, I will let you know what emerges! Thanks again for your continued love and support of this awesome project!

Roofing is on!

As of last Friday I have officially seen 33 fall seasons, and now I move into my 34th autumn cycle. As the trees are just beginning to turn colors and the weather is cooling down (and being quite sporadic!), my little house is needing some fast work to get it weather-ready! I am being forced to "just let go" of all the many tiny details I could agonize over for months more, and just make those choices so that my birthday wish can come true - to complete my first self-designed house and move myself into this little healing home!

The roof was finished just in time before the scattered showers this last week. I chose metal delta rib roofing in an ivory color. Here's my roof:

These are what the panels of roofing material look like:

Here's Jeff working hard, screwing in each metal panel in the very hot sun last week. I am so lucky & grateful for him!!

 We'll be finishing the dormer gable ends with old redwood siding soon...

Coming soon…

House Wrap, Doors/Windows and Siding!

Magical Rainbow Thunder Storms

Wow! Todays events were unexpected and had Jeff and I running circles around the house trying to place tarps. It felt like Hawaii or the East Coast. Besides the stress of trying to keep my little home protected from the rain, it was a magical evening....

It's Happening!!!!

I still can't believe my little home is being built for ME! The framing is up, the walls and roof are being built. It's a real, happening before my eyes. I can start to see the vision coming alive, the doors, the kitchen window, my cute little office nook. I'm really going to live in this one day.

And, how I know even more that it's real is how completely exhausted I am from working so freaking hard! I still have difficulty trying to explain to folks what this project really takes. After my basic self care, it's taking all my extra energy, even though I'm not doing the building itself! My learning curve is steep and all my deadlines were 3 months ago (meaning I'm very behind schedule).

I now realize that I had NO clue what it meant to design, plan and manage the building of a non-toxic tiny home on wheels. Just because it's tiny, doesn't mean the process is tiny! I am learning more than my brain thought was possible in this short a period of time. I am learning about: how my unique brain and body processes information and makes decisions (this is VERY throughly, slowly and anxiously if under time pressure), the critical aspects of designing, letting go and making mistakes (lots of them!), even more about how toxic building materials and products are and how to find and work with truly non-toxic materials, financial limitations and solutions, the true importance of aesthetics, drawing designs to scale, centering windows, how much backsplash I want behind my sink, how to position a door (in my case 3 doors), how to decide the proper pitch of the roof, feng shui and interior flow, getting the right support and team players, moisture concerns and proper ventilation, how critical placement of light switches are, how finally choosing not to have a sleeping loft relates to my birth trauma (yes, I am a counselor! ;), how to decide if the bathroom or kitchen gets more inches (it's not feet in the tiny house)...... OMG, the list goes on & on & on!!!

Below are some photos of the house in it's first stages. The littler tiny house you see in some of the photos is Jeff's newest tiny shack for himself. We plan to sell the house we are currently living in and move into these new ones. We're further along now, so more photos are coming soon....