Here we are in 2017 in the middle of the growing tiny house
movement. More and more individuals are opting out of traditional housing
options to a life with less square footage, finding more happiness with a
minimalist dwelling.
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| The starting pieces: Beams of Square Tubing. |
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| Sam welding up the trailer crosspieces. |
In 2013, my husband, Sam, and I decided to take the leap
into the Tiny House Movement and build one ourselves, from bare metal beams to
a finished home.
Sam was
the one who brought the idea of alternative living into light when he came back
from a six month venture in the Philippines in 2011. Seeing what it was like to
live in a 3rd world country brought on a new outlook for Sam for
what you need versus what you want. Sam came back with stories about workers
who walked 5 miles every morning to a job where the average pay was $7.00USD a
day, and said that the people who had to do this were some of the happiest
people he’s ever met. He realized on a very real level that material things
don’t bring you happiness.
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| Trailer is finished and travels perfect on the road! |
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| Adding in Styrofoam insulation and the subflooring. |
Shortly
after he got back from the Philippines, Sam came to pick me up for our first
date in his 1975 Canary Yellow Pinto and told me about his humbling adventure
and the possibility of him building a tiny house (I knew this guy was something
else). After a year of us dating, we
decided to build the tiny house together (WOAH, what?).
As any couple knows, building a house, even
LIVING in a house with your partner can be very trying at times. We took this
into consideration and found that we actually worked really well together in
the designing and building of the whole house.
The paint for the exterior was
where it got a little muddy but ended up agreeing on colors after 2 or 3 trips
to the Home Depot paint section.
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| Fabulous trips to Home Depot for 2x4's |
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| Squaring up the back door. |
Construction
for our tiny house on wheels started in the Spring of 2013 and we were moved in
by the Fall of 2014.With us both working full time jobs, it took us a little
over a year and a half to get a finished home ready to move in. From start
to finish, the total cost of building was right around $12,000. We paid as we
went, spending around $300 every other week, taking out no loans for building. We tried to find sales for building
supplies and ended up using Craigslist and antique stores for all of our
windows and appliances (the sink, stove, etc.).
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| Sam and his Dad building the roof. I'm afraid of heights so I did not help. |
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| The roof is complete! |
Though a majority of supplies
that we built with were used, I think it adds a lot of character to a home that
we made ourselves. Our stove is a three burner cast iron stove top that was
made in the 1800s, and our sink was originally used as a laboratory sink in a
high school (we believe). We don’t have a microwave, dishwasher, or laundry
machine, but I was gifted with a KitchenAid Miniature Convection oven that sits
on my counter.
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| Added the siding and windows |
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| A little gem in the peak of our house. |
Interesting fact about our tiny house, we have
no indoor shower/toilet! Something not a lot of tiny home dwellers talk about
is the storing of clothes and shoes.
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| The Bath House. Look for my next post about bathing outside to see our awesome bathtub! |
We used the space that would normally be a
bathroom and made it our closet/storage room.
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| View of the finished interior from the front door. |
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| View from the Kitchen |
So far, we have been in the tiny house for 3 years. Sam and
I got married October 2016 and still love our tiny lifestyle. Eventually, I got used to taking baths outside
year round and actually prefer it to an indoor shower. Our whole tiny house
process has been a wonderful experience and it has expanded our outlook on what
we need compared to what we want. Everything that we have in our house is hand
selected and cherished by both of us. We don’t plan on staying in our tiny
house forever, but it is exactly what we need as we continue on our journey as
a married couple.
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| Happy to be living the Tiny House Life |
View the full tiny house photo album here on Facebook.
You can read an article that Sam wrote on the TinyHouse Magazine Website (article #25) for a more in depth read on the building process.
Thanks for reading!
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