Oh happy days

We just returned from our wonderful vacation in Maine with our friends Andrew and Meredith. It was one of the sweetest trips and we were able to check off almost everything we wanted to do. J's family hosted us like kings and queens. They drove us to and from Boston, they hosted the sweetest bonfire to allow all of our friends and some of theirs to get together at one time and meet Sterling. We spent cozy lazy mornings out on their screen porch drinking coffee. After that, we finished the trip with two nights on Cliff Island. It went by too quickly, it never seems to be enough time. 

Sterling was an absolute champ the entire time (minus a couple screaming car rides but we pushed his limits). 

So it went a little like this...Traveling with Sterling

Mornings with Sterling...

Sterling slept through the night almost the entire trip. With the exception of two nights he slept about 8-10 hours straight and was up around 5:30. He discovered his voice this week and so mornings were spent just the two of us bright and early on the screen porch with coffee just talking until he fell asleep again around 7:30.

Popham Beach with Sterling, and I don't think it could have been any prettier..

Sterling went on his first boat ride and loved it!

We took the Higgins to Five Islands

I took Sterling and Meredith to visit with Grandmama, it was one of the sweetest moments and she sniped these three photos that are treasures to me.

Spent an afternoon in Portland...

Then hopped on a ferry to Cliff Island for two dream days...

Favorite moments of the entire trip were mornings swinging in the hammock with Sterling on Cliff Island overlooking Fisherman's Cove while the lobstermen went out.

Oh sweet Maine, what a treasure you are to us.

Some sterling for you

A little progression of the sweetest smile! 

doors, doors, doors

"bless these doors that they may prove ever open to joy and love"

Doors have become a sensitive topic in our tiny house. Obviously when it comes down to efficiency and practicality or simple charm and beauty, I chose the latter.

  

Truly, other than Sterling, there is nothing more cheerful and homey than a gorgeous, darling door to welcome you. In our tiny house we have three sets of doors. Our main entry, our bathroom and a door to Sterling's room. For the entry, I chose the largest, heaviest, most beautiful single pane, old hardwood french doors that came from an old bank. I got them for 120$ total! They are my dream doors but they are probably the worst doors I could have chosen on a house that is limited in space and capacity (considering these doors weigh 1000lb)...Common sense would use pocket doors for the other two rooms, most tiny house doers do. They save on space when opening and utilize the empty space in the wall frame...i get it...but still. I love solid old doors with beautiful hardware and I don't want to hide that behind a wall most of the time. I love doors on exterior tracks, big warehouse doors, barn doors, or french doors...but the wall to the kids room will have too many obstructions for this...so a regular sweet little door it is for Sterling's room. I did compromise for the bathroom and we decided to do a pocket door considering there is just nowhere for the door to open into...I will have to get creative and make it the prettiest pocket door you have ever seen. 

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!