I know...its been a while! But to my defence, Ive been working hard (or at least thinking I am working hard) on my tiny house :) It has been quite an exciting month - I don't even know where the past month has gone. I have been trying to keep up with posting pictures on my other social media platforms but alas I have not really gotten to this one. So let me begin!
I will start with my first Tiny House Tuesday - March 12th, 2020. I can't tell you how exciting it was. When the Mitch from MMRH pulled around the corner with my tiny house - I don't think I even have words for it. I wish someone was recording me at that point to see my expression; I imagine it was priceless. It was very different seeing it here in Almonte than it was in the shop in Limoges. It made it so much more real! And the timing was perfect as it was the second day of the bridge in town being closed for maintenance so there was only a fraction of the traffic that we usually have.
Driveway space pre-tiny house!
Ahhh! There she be!
Such excitement!
For a sizing reference, the tiny house is just shy of 13' (fully road legal)
So purdy!
Just can't get enough!
This is a super quick tour of the tiny house right after I got it on site before I did any work on it.
Next steps were to get some pine tongue and groove and get working on the interior siding - started with 200 pieces of 6" x 6' (Thank you Becky and Brent for letting me use the minivan!!)
Note: I have no training, don't try to take any notes from these pictures! Along the way I had to redo a couple parts as a stubborn DIYer I wanted to just do it my way, which isn't always the right way! I don't have much building experience only a bed frame and a recent fence here in Almonte - so please be kind!
One of those learning curves was with the outlets. Luckily or not so luckily, one of my windows popped off the track so my wonderful builder Mitch offered to come fix it right away even though I said there was no rush! And when he was here, he saw my lovely (not) craftsmanship on the cuts for the outlets and lights...and I had done them wrong. So luckily he was there and told me the right way to do them so I had to bring down some boards and fix them up! As shown below. Mitch has been so helpful with being my tiny house guru. Whenever I have a question, I text him and he gets back to me right away with all the info I need to continue on with my task!
Before
Pulling down the pieces I already put up
Still not pretty but at least its to code now!
And onwards and upwards I went!
I took a bit longer than I should have deciding on what lock I wanted for the trailer hitch. But alas I figured, if I have spent all this time, energy and money on my home - it deserves some good protection from someone just coming up and driving away with it! With that being said, this lock has great reviews and sells on amazon for just over $300.
Continuing on the inside, I took to the kitchen wall. I was waiting for the 8' pieces of tongue and groove to come in for the loft and ceiling. As well as the hole drill piece for the lights.
Since I seem to have a bit of excitement distraction, once those 8' pieces of tongue and groove came in, I took a break from the kitchen wall and started putting up the loft so we could finally sit up there!
Part of this order was some wainscotting which I have used on the ceiling part under the loft. This was the first item which I needed help putting up (thank you Rory!) and Im not sure how long I will keep it but I like how thin it is. My dad's head just touches the ceiling so I imagine its got a clearance around 6'2" or so.
Only got it part way done then had to wait for the drill piece for the lights to come in.
Since the loft was all in, now I could finish off the back wall...time for me to get crafty with my angles!
I got this handy dandy piece for my power cord which adapts it to a regular plug so I can test things out as long as Im not using too much power!
And the back wall is finally finished!
Next...finish up the kitchen wall!
And the 'living room' ceiling!
Time to close up the space under the loft walkway and put in the lights.
This past weekend, I got to work on the ceiling. And I did not like the process! It is really hard to adjust to everything being kind of backwards (again no training so bear with me!)
At this point, with the heat and my lack of knowledge, cutting/getting the insulation out so that I could get the light boxes in and still accessible through the holes in the wood for the lights...I definitely hit frustration level 10 of 10. But I got it done and hopefully its ok!
And this is where I left off at the end of this past weekend.With part of the ceiling done and me realizing how much I don't like ladders. But just one step at a time right?!
I have also gone through the planning steps of the kitchen and just need to confirm the layout then place the order. I am working on getting the plumbing sorted - its still a bit of a troubling item for me! But one thing is for sure. I am just as excited as I was a month ago on my first Tiny House Tuesday! It becomes more and more real as I go along that I am building a piece of my future and a cozy home for myself. I am beyond fortunate to have my family's support through this process and to be able to house this project in their driveway. I believe it was just over a week ago now, my sister brought this gift out to me while I was working in the loft. If anyone knows me, they know I am an emotional person with my heart on my sleeve and the waterworks turned right on!
Beautiful sign made by a local artist: Jason Nichols of Kraken Creations
When my sister gave me this sign, it was almost like a flood of relief in a way. I have chosen this path but it hasn't been the easiest. I am grateful the way things have aligned so well for me. But living out of a suitcase for over a year is a strange feeling. To be back living in my family's home puts me back in time about 11 years when I feel I should be out on my own. Knowing that this tiny house will be my home and I will be able to make it my own and put it where I please is very empowering if not rather anxiety inducing. I can't wait to hang this up when it is all done, in the meantime, I will continue to do updates as I can. Thanks!
Hi. Great work on your THOW. Looking forward to seeing what is next. Are you happy with the work MMRH has done? I am narrowing down builders and would love to support local. Then, I need to find a place to legally park (why are they making it SO difficult)!! Thank you.
Hi Beth! I can honestly say that I am so relieved that I went with MMRH Tiny Homes. Mitch and his team have been amazing through the whole process. Sending me pictures when I couldn't be there to check on things; being flexible with all the changes I made along the way; making sure everything is certified and up to code. And now that I am doing the inside myself, I have reached out to Mitch a bunch of times and he has given me advice and mentored me through the process.
I jumped into this without having a place to park it and just hoping that the stars would align - and they have :) If you are on Facebook, reach out to Ottawa Tiny House Community as they are a wealth of information as well.
It is definitely time for an update! I can't believe how fast time is going right now. I'm not sure if its because of the amount of work I have to do on the tiny house or the strange COVID times? Who knows?! At any rate, with work, the tiny house and enjoying the summer (I'm trying to make an effort to live more in the moment whenever possible), I am now almost at the 3 month mark of when I received the tiny house shell from Mitch at MMRH Tiny Homes. I feel like I should be a bit farther along, but with the hottest July that Ottawa has ever seen...I didn't get too much work done in it. With that being said, I had a lot of decisions to make on finishing products which I was able to do in the comfort of air conditioning. I was also able to paint the girls bedroom as a little birthday gift to Rory. There have been many items that I pushed off making decisions on until I absolutely had to - such as paint colours, understanding the plumbing system, insurance and more. So, le...
So we are now three weeks into 2021 and I cannot believe where the time has gone. My last post was back in August...and so much has happened since then! A couple things to start off with - Happy New Year! I know 2020 was a year most people would like to forget happened and there are definitely aspects I didn't like but for me, 2020 was a year of growth. I was able to make a dream come true that I had been thinking about for 10 years. Due to the circumstances, I was able to get things done a bit quicker and I was able to do more of the work myself which was a dream of mine. Life works in weird ways, and this one thing had its timing aligned correctly in my life. I am so grateful that I am currently snuggled up on my couch (under my loft walkway - super cozy as its like a little cubby) with a locally made candle burning from Crystal Wicks (I'm a huge fan!), listening to the radio with some little twinkle lights to add to the scene. Here's a little (messy) picture to help you ...
Hi. Great work on your THOW. Looking forward to seeing what is next. Are you happy with the work MMRH has done? I am narrowing down builders and would love to support local. Then, I need to find a place to legally park (why are they making it SO difficult)!! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHi Beth! I can honestly say that I am so relieved that I went with MMRH Tiny Homes. Mitch and his team have been amazing through the whole process. Sending me pictures when I couldn't be there to check on things; being flexible with all the changes I made along the way; making sure everything is certified and up to code. And now that I am doing the inside myself, I have reached out to Mitch a bunch of times and he has given me advice and mentored me through the process.
DeleteI jumped into this without having a place to park it and just hoping that the stars would align - and they have :) If you are on Facebook, reach out to Ottawa Tiny House Community as they are a wealth of information as well.