About Time for a Tiny Update!

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, let me fill you in on what has happened since the last update. 

June 24th - continuation of the work on the ceiling. This is turning out to be a very hard task and I am not a fan. Working with 8 foot pieces of pine tongue and groove above my head is not fun! 

July 1st - Mitch and his helper Nick came out to chat about the plan for plumbing as I am rather anxious about having no idea what do to or how to make it all work. We came up with a plan and Mitch continues to offer any and all advice I need to continue on with the ceiling. After they headed out, I got a bit more work done on the ceiling, but man was it ever hot! And I used up the last of my 8ft pieces so time to get some more from Home Depot. 

July 11th - it is a bit cooler but its raining so time to bring the saw inside...a tad messy but gonna get things done! And boom! The ceiling is done! What a headache that was, its not perfect but it will do :)

July 13th - the poor folks at Home depot must be so sick of seeing me! I spent around 3 hours there trying to decide on colours! I grabbed the sample of my cabinets, the countertop and my flooring ideas, then headed over to the paint area where one of the ladies there helped me pick the white tinted semi-transparent stain for the walls and bluish gray for the trim. I brought most of my trim as well so that I can get to staining it.

July 14th - the countertop arrived! Very exciting and making this all seem so much more real! I must get that darn ceiling finished! Also went out to Home Hardware and picked up the electric hot water tank I was wanting. 

July 18th - my fresh water and grey water tanks have arrived! I picked a fresh water tank (50 Gallons) that will live just below my sink in my kitchen cabinets along with the electric hot water tank and the water pump. The plan from the very beginning of the build is to have the grey water tank housed in the raised flooring. So the floor in the kitchen area is raised 6 inches - or it will be when it is all built in. 

July 25th - Over the past few weeks, a family friend has been helping me by installing the heating/cooling mini split unit. Originally when I purchased it back in January, the website said its a DIY project...ummmm DIY for a professional HVAC person maybe! Luckily, my friend was able to lend a hand when he wasn't working crazy hours at his job and when I could steal him away from his family time (Thank you again so much!!!) This is what the inside part of it looks like! I quickly put up two coats of the stain before he came over so that I wouldn't need to do it once the unit was attached to the wall. 

July 26th - Mitch came out to chat about the plumbing system again (mainly to set my mind at ease and to see the tanks.) Looking at how the grey water tank would work in the floor - questions like how do I empty it? How much of a pain is this really going to be? Will I want to pull up the flooring to get to it if something is wrong? Super grateful that Mitch came out to chat things through and a few days later when he made the suggestion to just have an external grey water tank...I was kicking myself for not thinking of it first! Since I won't have any human waste (black water tank), so I will just have dirty water from the sinks and shower - if I am using eco-friendly soaps I can just let the water drain to outside into the grass in the summer. I will have an external tank which I will be able to empty easily for the winter time. So problem solved again by my tiny house guru, Mitch! 

August 1st - I have been continuing to paint the walls. Well its one coat of pre-stain conditioner, extra sanding in spots that need it, two coats of the semi-translucent white stain and then a finishing clear coat with a satin finish so that it will reflect the light without being too glossy. My arms are getting pretty tired from all the sanding and painting but the walls are much easier than the dreaded ceiling. To take a break from the walls, I painted all the trim outside in the yard with the greyish blue stain. I do not like it as I thought I would. So Ive gotten some opaque white stain to go over top and will redo that. Does anyone need almost a full gallon of stain?!

 

August 3rd - Ive moved onto staining the ceiling - but first to sand it. I finally thought, there must be an easier way than pure muscle power. Luckily down in the basement there was a handheld finishing sander! So grateful to find that! Although sanding above your head while standing on a ladder isn't the easiest task. Must get this darn thing done though! (I don't see any future careers in painting houses thats for sure!) On a side note: the sound of rain and thunder while in the tiny house is magical. It is truly something I will never get tired of hearing. I love the rain and it just brings such calmness and peace. 

August 5th - Big day!! My appliances arrived! My lovely fridge and over-the-range microwave oven. I suppose I am an adult now, getting so excited for these things! My two burner cooktop arrived about a month again with pretty much no packaging so it was shattered. The second time they sent one, it was packaged correctly. The delivery guy was so excited to get to check out a tiny house. He was like "Ive only seen these on TV, so cool!!! I will remember this delivery for a long time thats for sure!" So you may say, you don't even have a subfloor yet, but you have appliances? Kinda backwards there Mya. Technically, the cabinets for the kitchen were supposed to come in a week before the appliances, but I have yet to get a call to have them delivered - I am blaming any and all lateness on COVID. So the appliances are tucked away until I can get the floor done. In order to get the floor done, I need to get the plumbing put in.

August 7th - Mitch was able to free up a day and brought his right-hand-man Nick to get a bunch of work done for the wiring and plumbing which means I can go ahead and get started on putting in the sub-floor. I am beyond grateful that I have been able to learn from Mitch and his team and ask all the questions when I truly have no idea what time doing (about 98% of the time!) From what size of nails to the best order to do things in to anything. I am not sure if this is the service that all builders would give, but I feel very fortunate to be able to work with someone like Mitch. I also went to Costco as I hear that they had the barn doors out, so I went and purchased one, crammed it in my car, got home and realized this is just way too big, and took it back two days later ha ha! The barn door is still going to happen but I have another idea...

 

 August 8th - put in 10 hours to stain the ceiling and got it about 80% done, just the part above the little loft needs to be finished. 

August 9th - Finished up staining the ceiling of the little loft, only thing left to do is put the clear coat on the whole thing! 

August 10th - Since Mitch and Nick put in all the pipes and such on Friday, I was able to go get the remaining (Mitch was kind enough to bring me some of the 2x6s with plywood added for height for me) wood for the sub-floor. It is such a change of pace from the painting which I feel has taken me years, so getting back to cutting wood...not always correctly and placing the flooring supports had been really enjoyable. And thats where I leave off...I have part of the sub-floor in. I have to make sure I measure everything and triple check it as I am going to incorporate two drawers which will slide out into the living room area and will be roughly 4 1/2 feet long. During this whole process I have been trying to figure out how I can use the space that I have to the maximum. I think if I can pull off these drawers, it will be a really good use of the excess space in the floor. 

I feel like the next few weeks are going to fly by and things will really start to come together. Next steps are finishing the sub-floor, building the stairs (I have all the parts for those as well as the custom cabinet fronts), build the kitchen when it finally arrives, finish a bit more of the clear coat stain, put up all the trim, do all aspects of the bathroom, put down my flooring (I purchased the flooring last week) and figure out my solar. So its just a small list...haha! My goal is to have it done by mid-September, then Mitch will help me by moving it to its home in near Carp when it is all certified and completed. Such exciting times. I am still loving the process and learning so much! Until next time...Cheers!    

Good Night :)