Odds and Ends

Something that isn't talked about much when considering tiny houses is relationships. Specifically, Arlene and I - my wife and I - are building a tiny house. And planing to live in it. Together.

The building of the house isn't very difficult so far. But there are a zillion decisions to be made along the way: the finishing on the floor, the placement of lighting fixtures, this sink or that, these nails or these, work on it till 7:30 PM or 8:00 PM... And each of these decisions has the potential for conflict. Arlene wants the country-looking sink, but maybe I just want something standard.

We really noticed this in the floor plan development. We're using the Tumbleweed Fencl as a starting point, but have made modifications. In January and February Arlene, who is a CAD Drafter, would come home with modifications and I would critique this and that: "we don't have enough storage", "there won't be enough space to fit through here", "where will we keep the ________?"

And here is the gold in this process: we learned more about each other and the way we think and communicate along the way. I spent 15 years as a Software Quality Assurance Engineer so being critical is second nature to me. But it dosen't feel good to be on the other side of it. I was bringing things up to be addressed, not poo-pooping her work. So now, I'm working on trying too point out the good things as well as the areas that need work.

On the other side, Arlene was using the nail-gun and it jammed. It does this frequently enough that it didn't seem like a big deal at first. But then Arlene started getting tense and frustrated and I came over to look over her shoulder. Two nails had jammed side by side in the space where one nails fits. As I looked at my fingers were itching to try and fix it. And, BANG! We got more gold. Arlene sees/feels me hovering nearby and assumes I don't have confidence in her ability to deal with it. This makes her more frustrated. But what's going on for me is that I see a problem - a puzzle - that needs solved. It has nothing to do with her.



We almost never fight. We talk and try to express feelings and stay in the moment. She tells me how she feels about my hovering and I tell her I have complete confidence in her abilities and that my technical mind has shifted in gear. I love to figure things out and solve problems. For Arlene, problems are problems. They're in the way. So Arlene got a deeper understanding of why I might hover near by when there is a problem that needs solving.

It turns out that Jeff is a creative problem solver who revels in figuring things out. I don't get frustrated fixing things. Arlene is a creative creator. This is a woman who can truly dazzle me with her ability to "think outside of the box". Together we complement each other. We saw this in developing out floor plans. Arlene would come home with modifications, I'd critique, she'd modify and we slowly honed into a set of solutions such that one day she came home, put the drawing down and I had no critiques.

I tend to ground us in practical concerns, she designs and develops - sometimes wildly. But she can be practical too. After so many years doing QA work I am, sometimes (ok, frequently), a perfectionist. Arlene has taken up the motto: "Just shim it."

What?

So what are we building? We're building a 'Fencl'. This is one of the tiny house designs from the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. We've altered the floor plan, and will use different materials in some places, but otherwise it will basically be like the house in the picture (but longer).

The house will have an upstairs sleeping loft, vaulted ceiling, and have about 115 square feet of living space. It will have a small kitchen, a bathroom, a desk space and living room. Of course, achieving all this, while avoiding feeling cramped, requires a carefully considered, efficient, floor plan.

In addition to being space efficient, we'll be energy efficient too. We aren't TV watchers and don't need many of the other common gadgets that tend to consume a lot of energy, so our electrical draw will be minimal. In fact, the way we are building our cottage will allow us to add modifications later such that we could, if we wanted, get off the electrical grid all together.

And, because the house is small, we can use high quality, mainly sustainable building materials, while keeping the cost low.

Finally, our house will be on a trailer. We'll be building it in the San Francisco Bay Area, but in September of 2009, Jeff starts a PhD program at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. So once we're done building it - or close to it - we'll be moving our tiny house to Seattle!

This is a good time to mention that tiny houses are drawing a great deal of attention lately. If you check out our resource links you'll note that a growing community of folks across America are building their own tiny housing.

Some common reasons people build a tiny house:

• Ecological considerations
• Avoid conspicuous consumption
• Use of sustainable building materials
• Use of hypoallergenic building materials
• Joy of building your own house
• Efficient use of energy & space
  
• Focus on Quality over Quantity
• Economic considerations
• Use as a rental or in-law unit
• Mobility
  

Moving forward, this blog will document the building of our tiny house. We'll put up some pictures and give some details about why we choose this or that. We've found that reading other builder's blogs has helped us clarify our own process, so we intend to make our own experience available as a resource for others. But, note that we'll be starting slowing and then moving faster as we get into the summer.

So, what's next? We have a space, but we'll need to build our mini mobile cottage on something...