(Post 9) Apr. 27-Pride

Looking out the kitchen window is very rewarding!

After a few weeks of slow progress, this Sunday marked a very exciting day!  As you can see in the picture above, the loft is completely framed out (minus the sheathing on the end and far walls) and the peak in the front of the house is framed and standing.  Note the ridge beam that runs along the length of the center of the house--now THAT was some heavy lifting!

I'll take you through the steps to get here.  In order to start framing out the dormer, we had to complete the floor of the loft (ceiling of the downstairs bedroom/bathroom).  That entailed a trip to the hardware store, and choosing the finishes we wanted on the bottom of the tongue and groove boards (ceiling of the first floor) and the top of the boards (floor of the loft).

I was stunned.  We'd been working on framing the house for so long that I never thought I'd have to make decisions about the interior!  I don't know what exactly I thought would happen, but...

Anyways, as you can see from the pictures below, we chose to stain the rafters and floor a natural color to expose the young pine and paint the ceiling a timeless white (no, seriously, that's the name of the paint we chose).  It was surprising to me how quickly we moved from exterior to interior work and it struck me that there really is not all that much that separates us from the great outdoors.  Somehow it seems like we humans work extremely hard to create divisions where they do not exist and focus on them when they are tenuous at best.  But I digress.

Once we had the loft floors done, it was time to get to framing!

The back of the dormer and the peak at the front of the house framed and on top of the flooring.

 A shot of the floor of the loft.  The hole is where the staircase meets the loft.

The ridge beam is up!  If you're new to ridge beams, they are extremely heavy! 

Not bad for a couple of kids from Denver, eh?!

The dormer walls framed out.

A shot from the backside of the dormer walls.  Take a look at how perfectly the angles all match up--way to go, Kacey!

A close-up on the framing for the loft.

A close-up of the peak at the front of the house.  If you're in a math class, the angle on top is a right angle, and we used Pythagorean's Theorem to figure out how long the hypotenuse had to be!

A view of the inside.  Now you can see the rafters and the white tongue and groove boards.

Layers upon layers.  

We are so so proud.  It's hard to believe that we did that.  It's hard to believe that it started out as a trailer and a dream.  We are so proud!

(Post 8) Apr. 10-Why We Decided to Go Tiny

A neighbor of ours in Monterey drew this over dinner
at a neighborhood bar--we treasure it. 

Many people have asked us why we are deciding to go tiny.  Before our build began, we spent countless hours working through our why and looking to pioneers of the tiny house movement for inspiration and direction.





OUR WHY
Pursue a life that offers freedom to experience the richness of our world; freedom to work for purpose rather than paychecks; and freedom to surround ourselves with only the things that truly matter.


HOW WE GOT HERE
Imagine that your house is on fire and you have 30 seconds to grab the three most important things. What three things would you carry with you into the future?

On a sleepy Sunday morning, we did the same exercise. Without conferring with each other, we each said, “Our dog, a leash, and the computer.*” There we were, surrounded by items that we’d worked for more than 10 years to acquire, in a rented house that takes at least a fifth of our annual income, realizing that we could leave it all behind and not miss it too much. *Ironically, my computer (one of the three things that would have made it into the tiny house), was stolen just before Christmas.  Don't worry, now Kacey and I have a better, faster, newer computer that is ours.

With that in mind, we decided to construct a life that more closely aligned with what was most meaningful in our lives: positive human interactions and the freedom to experience life more deeply.

In doing so, we are escaping debt and financial stress, the excessive and wasteful luxuries of our modern society, and the mistaking of extreme wealth for extreme success.


OUR  INSPIRATIONS

TINY: a story about living small
We got started with "TINY: a story about living small," a video on Netflix.  Christopher Smith and Merete Mueller constructed a tiny house in the open air near Kenosha Pass, one of Colorado's most striking backdrops, and one in which Kacey has spent many summers.

Kacey got hooked first.  I came home from school one day and he said, "Don't laugh, but I know what I want to do with my life."  I immediately thought, "Oh, no, he's throwing in the towel, abandoning his career, and pursuing a career as...I don't know...a conspiracy theorist?"  I sat down next to him on the couch and saw the title of the movie, "TINY."  I laughed out loud.  For those of you that haven't met him in person, Kacey is 6'4''.  And he wanted to build and live in a tiny house. HA!

The joke was on me, though, because a few minutes in, I, too, was hooked.

Their dog, Salies, is much more photogenic than Gus.

TINY HOUSE giant journey
Jenna and Guillaume are tiny living pioneers who are currently a huge inspiration to us.  The two of them built their own tiny house and are now touring the continent, hosting open houses, and offering people a glimpse into the tiny lifestyle.  Kacey recently had the opportunity to meet them during their open house in San Francisco, and much to his chagrin, he found himself practically speechless.

Jenna's blog post "5 Lessons I've Learned from my Tiny House" was timely and inspiring.  After Kacey and I'd had a grueling day putting sheathing up (I am so glad we are building a tiny house--can you imagine how much sheathing there is for a full size house?!), this blog captured many of the reasons I am looking forward to living tiny, and it helped to re-focus and re-energize me.

(Post 7) Apr. 8 -Slowly but surely

The two of us standing in our front door.

All three future residents smiling at you from the kitchen.  We have one of the cutest dogs I've ever seen, but when we even try to take a picture of him, something terrible happens and the full extent of his cuteness is never captured. 

The next step in the process was to put sheathing around the outside of the wall framing.  In order to make the house very sturdy (in case we ever take it down a highway), we nailed and glued the sheathing to the 2x4s.  In talking with a friend of ours who is in construction, this is not a process that is typically used in more traditional builds.

One of the most wonderful things about putting the sheathing on was that it made our house so much stronger.  For experienced builders out there, I'm sure that sentence is like, "Yeah, lady, of course, that's why we do it."  But this being my first house and all... When we just had the framed walls up, the house rocked when I pushed it.  I thought, "How will it ever withstand even the slightest breeze?" Now, Kacey and I can both push on it and it doesn't budge.

It really is starting to look like a house.  Next, we frame out the roof.

In this picture, you can see the sheathing of the two long walls.  The rough openings for the windows have already been cut out of the side closest to the camera.  The sheathing of the short side had not yet been completed at the time of the picture, but it's been completed now :)

The sheathing around the opening for the front door.  We just placed the order for our double door :)

Another shot of the opening for the front door.  Oh, and Kacey's truck.