A lot of people have pointed out to us that we can live in a small amount of space without much effort. It's called a motor home. While that's true, and we will be living in about the same space as a motor home, we really feel there are some significant differences. First off, the products used in a lot of motor homes have a lot of chemical and off-gassing issues that we will avoid by building our own. Secondly, have you seen how much those things cost!? I don't know if you've caught on yet, but expenses are a big deal in our world. We think we can build our own tiny home for about a third of the cost of buying a motor home. On top of that, we get the experience of building and creating a unique home that is just ours.
Unfortunately, these last two points often work against each other. When we talk about creating something that's our own, it can easily become creating something perfect. In my dream world we have butcher block counters and stainless steel appliances. There are fancy shower heads and lighting fixtures. It's totally gorgeous in my head. However, when we started to price things out it didn't take long to realize we had to find a different way to build and furnish a home.
The dream is great, but here in reality, I just worked out a deal with my boss to get scrap cupboards that are being ripped out of a staff room that's being reno'd. They're those white ones with the little strip of wood that were in everyone's house growing up. You know the ones:
In situations like this I've actually started to see Pinterest as an enemy. There's a lot of beautiful and unrealistic things out there and I find I can't get too caught up in what the house could be. There is a lot that we would like the house to be but ultimately no
matter what materials we use, no matter the fit and finish, it'll be
something we made and we'll be proud of it.
I'm finding the scrounging really rewarding though. We plan to get things on the cheap and start saving money. We can always go back and refinish things once it's more financially feasible. We also love to find new uses for old items. All of our garden planters are made from old pallets.
Below are some pictures of refinished and re-purposed items. Not all tiny home friendly, but still fantastic ;)
from www.recycleart.org
from www.apartmenttherapy.com
from www.dwell.com
Our recent trailer hunting trip to Alberta brought home for us how real this tiny home experience is. We're looking at putting a deposit down on a trailer that I fell in love with in Grande Prairie, but looking at it made me come home and look at all of our stuff.
I've spent 26 years accumulating things. And now I have to stop that. It's such a scary thought! Storage will be at a premium in our small space so I have already started making lists of what has to go. It's a big list that ranges from things like bookshelves to kitchen knives.
We don't see the tiny home as out forever home, we see it as a great option to live the lifestyle we want while we are able. There's a bigger house with kids in it in our future plans, and while we think we can handle each other in 25 feet of space, we're just not prepared to do it with a couple of kids as well. Many people do, and they are amazing! But we have other plans. This resulted in two lists, one for storage and one for sale. I'm a book hoarder, so my lovely books will be put into storage until we have a bigger home again along with stuff like seasonal clothing and bicycles that will be useful but not all the time.
We will be posting a lot of what we have to get rid of on the Facebook page so if you're in the Okanagan region be sure to check it out! I'll also probably do a bigger post about it later to show what's got to go.
In the spirit of downsizing, here are some pictures of storage solutions other tiny homer's have come up with. Enjoy!
I've never been keen on Murphy beds so this is a fantastic storage idea! Our goal in the tiny home is for everything to have a dual purpose. From http://www.tinyhousewebsites.com/tiny-house-storage-ideas/
I love this. Deep cupboard are annoying in a regular house, this makes them way more functional for a small space. From http://www.ikeadecoration.com
Stairs can make dead space. This ensures every nook and cranny is in use. From https://www.godownsize.com
We're a province over in big ol Berta visiting family so we figured where better to trailer hunt!
The hunt is on for a flat deck gooseneck between 24-26 feet. Chris and I still differ on what the base should be though. He'd love to get an old RV that we can tear down and use for parts. It would come with a lot of great items we can use and cost less, the trade off is the extra time and work, I also worry about how nice the previous owner was to the trailer. I'm more partial to a new trailer. I like knowing that we're the first ones to have it and it will be good quality. It lets us get straight to the building, but it definitely will cost us more.
We're following up leads for both options and I have to say we've been so thrilled with the response out here. I think Albertans really understand the concept of a tiny house that lets you have more land and get outdoors more. If you're in the Grande Prairie region we have to recommend Foster's Covered Wagons. Brandy was so helpful and so excited to hear about the tiny home idea, we want to deal with her just for her enthusiasm for what we're doing! Another huge thank you to Eden at Woody's RV World. She understood our idea and the fact that we don't want an RV and she let us know that there is a place RV's go to die in Edmonton called Murphy's RV.
We still have some research to do and we're waiting for some price quotes to come in but the trip has been a great way to get our heads around the trailer part of the process. We plan to get the trailer figured out by Spring next year so we'll keep you up to date on the details!
