The Cabin

The house is really my main focus for the blog, for two reasons. First, I want to pass on the information I've compiled through my own work and the internet. It takes people to open the door for others to walk through sometimes, and I'm truly indebted to those who shared that information with us. Without their work, this homestead wouldn't have happened. Second, this whole thing is really an experiment, and hopefully someone can learn from my mistakes!

An idea is born...

So cruising around the net one day, I stumbled on tumbleweed tiny houses. Immediately, I fell in love with those little houses. The functionality of it all, mobility, creativity- I knew I wanted to build a tiny home. I had thoughts of living in my tiny home and moving around from base to base, never worrying about buying , renting or selling again. Now, back to reality; I had to break this news to my now ex-wife. The news did not strike her with as much enthusiasm as it had for me, strangely. After much arguing, it was decided that we (me, her and a cat) needed more space than most of these tiny houses can afford. This left me with only one option- design my own tiny house. I was shooting for around 250 sq. ft. interior floor space, with a screened-in porch to match. I ended up with 270 sq. ft. indoors, and a screened-in porch of 192 sq ft.- not too shabby for a small house. However, actual floor space is much less when figured with cabinets, shower, stove, sink, bed, wood stove- you get the picture. In the design process, I built a scale model of the house, minus the porch. It was scaled 1:12, or 1" equals 1'. This model really helped to get a feel for how creative you must be with objects that cannot be cut down or resized. Although it took time to make the model and argue things out, it really saved time in the end. Luckily, I kept the cat and she went, so now we have lots of room!