ADU, Travel, Community
Lina Menard
Maui, Hawaii

After A Week Long Send Off, My Round the World Trip kicked off with eight days in Maui visiting my sister Sarah who has split her time between Hawaii and Alaska for many years. What an epic way to start this adventure! There was mist falling when my sister greeted me at the Kahului airport on Maui a week ago, so she teased me about bringing the rain from the mainland. We headed straight for Paia where she presented me with a young coconut and a lei, accompanied by the chant for the gifting-of-a-lei.

Maui, Hawaii
Tiny House, Travel, Planning
Lina Menard
Lucky Penny Moves to Walla Walla

A number of circumstances collided recently to compel me to move the Lucky Penny to my property in Walla Walla where I have a ground bound small house called Valencia Cottage. So on Tuesday trusted tiny house movers Linh and Stephanie Pham helped me move the Lucky Penny safely from Portland to my place in Walla Walla.

Lucky Penny Moves to Walla Walla
Minimalism, Workshop
Lina Menard
Downsizing Tune Up

As I packed up recently in preparation to travel cross country in my Honda Fit, I did some downsizing… It was harder than it had been during my last couple of moves because this time I had more stuff. I’d been living in a bigger space…My apartment was a studio, but it was still about 6 times bigger than the Lucky Penny! I talked with several people about the experience and a handful of them said “oh my goodness, I need to do more of that!” So I’ve decided to offer a 6-week Downsizing Tune Up…

Downsizing Tune Up

mother-in-law

Showcasing Accessory Dwellings in Portland

  A Sister-in-Law House

As part of my internship with Orange Splot, LLC, I've been doing case studies of accessory dwelling units in Portland and guest posting on the Accessory Dwellings website. Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are separate living spaces on the same property as a larger house. They're also called mother-in-law apartments, granny flats, or backyard cottages. Sometimes they're build in attics or basements or over a garage. I think ADUs are a brilliant way to increase density, utilize existing infrastructure, build community, and provide housing flexibility and adaptability.

Here are the Accessory Dwelling posts I've written:

The system development charges (SDCs) that make building an ADU cost prohibitive for most

ADU over the garage

families have been waived until 2013. This can save families thousands of dollars! So I'm working with a group of space-efficient housing advocates to share ADU stories so that people consider building ADUs while the fees are waived. We're hoping that if we can show that there's a demand for them the waiver will continue, making ADUs an affordable and efficient development strategy.

This week several space-efficient dwellings were showcased on a tour as part of the Living Future Unconference. Several more ADUs will be featured on the ADU Bike Tour I'm coordinating on Sunday, June 10th as part of Pedalpalooza.