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.
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!
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!
More to come!
So great! Love that last pic and can't wait to see more progress and see little sterling grow up a bit in that tiny house!
ReplyDeleteIs this your own plan or one from Tumbleweeds or other tiny house sites? Tell J I love his beard & longer hair.
ReplyDeleteThis is our own design and plan!
ReplyDeleteSomething I've always wondered about portable houses like this. Does the joinery of the frame have to be done differently from non-portables, due to the jiggling and shaking during travel?
ReplyDeleteYes, you have to build it to withstand hurricane level winds. The actually framing of the house doesn't need to be that different from non portable homes but needs to be anchored into the trailer well such as hurricane ties and anchor bolts. Some people put on cross bracing for lateral winds and swaying and then just making sure there are solid points of support from roof to trailer. There are also certain materials you cannot use on the walls (like drywall or ceramics) because they will crack when driving.
ReplyDeleteMost of these are quite possibly the most fun and exciting means of getting a whole new look at what the other side of the world looks like. This
ReplyDelete