Some Sterling for you

Sterling woke up abruptly from a nap and was crying in his bed and when I went to lift him up his entire belly and the bed and every bit of bedding were covered in his own mess. So into the bath we went (too big a job for the sink) and he loved every minute of it. He loves being wrapped up in his towel after. Can't handle this guy!

our tiny house plan

Have you ever seen anything so cute! We are building a little white house with lap siding, lots of old awning windows, huge french doors, and a tin roof. A little cottage dream. The house will be 26 feet long by 8.5 feet wide and 11 feet tall for the exterior (221 sq feet). 

The look and design of our house is inspired by a mix of everything I love about little cottages and this one. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. Most tiny houses are left wood and often pretty modern. This was my little white cottage dream come to life and so our floor plan and our exterior are very similar. Our house is actually big for tiny house standards. We are over 200 sq feet and 26 ft long. Most run between 16-20 ft in length. The reason for our added length is to accommodate for Sterling and future little babies to come!

Our house includes an 8x4 ft bedroom for Sterling on the front end of the house. We have an open living room and kitchen that is a total of about 15ft long and 7.5 ft wide. The living room will have a built in "l" shaped couch along two walls and a little wood stove. Our kitchen will be galley style with only lower cabinets and open shelving above. We will have a bathroom with a shower, mini sink and compost toilet. There will be a little utility closet for our fridge and washer and dryer hidden between the kitchen and bathroom. Our loft is above the bathroom and kitchen and is about 10 feet in length. We added the dormers to make it feel more spacious. The kids room will have a raised floor of about two feet for added storage underneath and a mini loft above for more storage.

I have every inch of this house (besides what we will do for stairs) planned and designed in my head but where is the fun in sharing it all at once! Can't wait to see this little illustration come to life! Thinking mustard yellow door...or blue or black...haven't decided yet.

Memorial day weekend progress! Almost completely framed other than finishing a couple windows and interior walls.

So proud of this guy! And so excited for all he is gaining in building knowledge and experience.

J is in the kitchen and the window behind him is in the bathroom. Above him will be the loft.

This picture is taken standing in the kitchen looking into the living space. Big opening on the right is for our french doors. The high window in the back is Sterlings room before walled off (you can see the openings for the storage under the floor on either side wall).

There she is!

Our next great adventure

We are jumping on the bandwagon and building ourselves the sweetest, most beautiful, perfect little tiny house!

Since I can remember, tumbleweed houses have been a reoccurring topic of conversation in my family's house. I remember my mom and sister swooning over Jay Shafer's original tumbleweed house and when J decided to take this job for CB&I we actually thought about (I dreamt about, J said no) the idea of living in a tiny house and moving around as he is relocated. We moved on from that little dream and instead moved into a beautiful historic neighborhood and rented a 3 bedroom house with a big back yard. My tiny house dream was put on the shelf for the American dream.

It was back in January that J came home all wound up about how much money we lose on living expenses. Money that is never seen again, down the drain, with no investment or return...which drives J crazy. Something I appreciate about my husband very much is his desire to be the best steward of his finances he can be, always thinking of ways to save, invest, and profit. J was volunteering his weekends to work on a local farm in order to keep our dreams active and gain a better understanding of all that lifestyle entails. It was there where he realized his frustration of our high rent hindering us from accomplishing any savings. This got J's wheels turning and reminded him of my brilliant past idea of living rent free and as sustainably as possible in the cutest, little tiny house. This immediately got my wheels turning on how I wanted to design our first little house and I was completely invested in the plan. By the beginning of February we made the decision and started scheming, designing, and searching for our trailer. It is mid May now and building is already on its way and it is all coming to life!

Now if you have had the opportunity to sit down with J and me, you would know (because it is all we talk about) that all we want is to move back to Maine and live on the coast and become farmers (who doesn't?). This is a true, active, foreseeable goal of ours. In addition to the present benefit of moving into a tiny house, it also plays a huge role in making this dream come to life sooner than later. It would give us the ability to drive and park where we want and other than minimal utility cost, be completely free of living expenses.

There are many reasons to drive people to make the shift in their living conditions and build a tiny house; whether environmental, financial, or for a simpler, quieter way of life away from the social standard of excess, hustle and bustle. The financial benefit of moving into a smaller space and living minimally is our main driving factor in order to pursue our true dreams sooner than later. There is definitely something to be said about paying for a quality of life you desire and J and I definitely do this. We live in complete luxury and are blessed to. We have a gorgeous three bedroom house, spend lots of money going out and buying expensive groceries and drinking expensive wine and beer. We are complete snobs in this area and know it and I have nothing against this lifestyle, I actually very much enjoy it. But since we have started thinking about tiny house living our perspective has completely changed to where we are thinking of every way we can live for free. It is so fun and we are so excited. J and I have always been interested in a self sustainable lifestyle. Not only is it smart and inexpensive but God designed this world brilliantly and made us resourceful and creative, calling us to be good stewards of all he blesses us with. It brings us such joy to try and emulate His pattern.

God could not be more active in this plan unless he literally dropped the perfect tiny house of our dreams fully built and paid for in our front yard ready to drive off with. Truly. The minute we committed and relied on His grace to bring this idea to life, His provision just started to pour over us. A good handyman friend of ours, without our needing to ask, immediately offered to build it with us for free. His generosity is what is making this possible. He has helped us save substantially on material cost, his building experience is helping us move quickly, and he constantly reminds us to lean on the Lord for our needs and have confidence in Him. Our finances have just turned for the better in order to afford the build and people have generously offered their help whether in building or temporary parking. It is all just really exciting.

In addition to all of this, J and I are just so excited to have the opportunity to design and build something of our own and we have great plans for this tiny house throughout our sweet life. We will be sharing the progress of our build here and all of our plans to fit this family of three plus Gunner in a house no bigger than our living room. Here are some photos of our progress so far! More details of the actual house design and size to come.

Our trailer. Sterling is in his future bedroom

J hard at work...Sterling and I supervising

Sub floor finished! 

Kids all hanging out in Sterlings room...getting the walls up.

 Walls and windows almost done!

Roof in progress! Getting ready for hurricane Bonnie.



More to come!

Sterling's many faces

Where did this month go? My baby is growing up already so fast. I have lost all concept of time and responsibility and I just sit and laugh at Sterling's many faces. 

Sterling is coming into the sweetest season of expressions, smiles, observation, and a rhythm. I am learning all his little signs of what he needs and his moods. He is able to go down while still awake which is wonderful that I do not have to rock him to sleep every time. There is at least a half hour after his feedings where my full attention is on containing his spit up to prevent three outfit changes for him and myself. Last night he slept from about 7-12 which was the first time I was able to sit down and have dinner with J and watch a movie and go to bed together and get a couple hours of sleep before he was up again. It was wonderful. He only wakes up about once in the middle of the night (twice on occasion). I love putting him in my bed for his morning nap and we sleep from about 6-9 together. He loves the outside air and sunshine. He loves baths. He is still wearing newborn clothes and just so tiny. He has a dimple on his right cheek just like me. He is constantly making the funniest faces and seems to be very concerned by all that J and I do. He loves it when I sing to him. His eyes are open and making contact with us far more often. My heart melts when he stares up at me with those deep blue eyes and gives me the sweetest smile. He is my favorite and I just can't believe he is real.

Sterling Joseph Cavanagh

One week with Sterling and my heart is just so full. I guess no matter how much I prepared myself and got excited for that little soul to come into this world and thought I would love him, it didn't even compare to the first few moments of love that poured over me when they put him up in my arms. Each day, each moment, each little noise and face he makes, that love for him grows and grows and I just feel like my heart will explode if it continues at this rate.

Sterling truly has been the sweetest, calmest, happiest little baby I could ever imagine. He truly is the most beautiful little thing I have ever seen and I just can't believe he is mine.

He sleeps a lot and he sleeps well. When he is awake it is just the best. He is alert, his eyes are active and connecting, he is curious, and you can tell his little mind is just observing and absorbing. He is very serious with his stern brow and sealed lips just looking about. He is constantly making little noises, grunts and squeaks that make me laugh all day.

The sweetest moments are after he is fed and he is up on my shoulder falling asleep. That is when his expressions come out... his "o" face, big smiles, and raised brow. It is one of my favorite times with him. We have very quiet days, whether awake or asleep. There is a calmness in this house since he arrived. Even when I get the least amount of sleep I can imagine or he is the most inconsolable, there is so much love for that little face that it doesn't matter and bitterness, frustration, or stress are just not present in my heart. I know I have been blessed with the sweetest, easiest little baby just like I was blessed with such a sweet, easy pregnancy and labor. I take it all so thankfully! 

I love you little Sterling. You have filled my heart to the rim.