Tiny House Fair: Day 3

Day 3 of the first annual Tiny House Fair started off with a panel discussion regarding the alegality of tiny houses. To the best of our knowledge there isn't a zoning code in the country that directly addresses "tiny houses." Most municipalities would probably consider a tiny house on wheels a custom built travel trailer (whether or not it will be considered a recreational vehicle by insurance companies and banks depends on certification though). So in many places the only part of town where you can legally live in a tiny house is an RV park and many cities have restrictions on the maximum time you can stay there.

However, people around the world have become advocates of tiny houses for financial, social, environmental, and lifestyle reasons. There's also a groundswell of support for tiny house communities, so many people are working within our existing codes and figuring out ways that we can amend code to better suit our needs. It was, as you might imagine, a fascinating conversation with more questions than answers.

Following the morning panel, some of the participants headed out for a tour of local tiny houses. The folks who stuck around got to hear Dee Williams of Portland Alternative Dwellings discuss some of the sticky wickets of the tiny house world (building code, financing, and insurance). She also covered structural considerations for a house on wheels that undergoes hurricane and earthquake conditions when it hits the road.

After lunch I spoke about code and legal issues, including some of the legal ways people have found to live in tiny houses and some of the next steps we might take as advocates of small spaces.

Next Jay Shafer joined us to talk about Resizing the American Dream. Here are a few of my favorite lines from his talk:

• "The Tiny House Movement is more than cute houses and quirky people. It's subverting consumerism."
• "When it was about use value not resale value people built houses according to their needs."
• "The Small House Movement is about people living in the amount of space they need."
• "Tiny houses are self-portraits with innovation to meet individual needs."
• "It's all just about what's necessary. Eliminate everything else."
• "When necessity is allowed to dictate the form of things, they're beautiful!"

The Tiny House Fair officially wrapped up when the tiny house tour and Jay's talk were completed, but several tiny house advocates continued the conversation over dinner (at American Flatbread - shout out to Billy for insisting that we go there!) and then around the conference table. We are eager to see how the Tiny House Movement evolves.

I'm honored to have spent the weekend in the presence of such fabulous folks. I met people from across the country who are designing, building, dwelling in, and advocating for tiny houses. Our ranks included building inspectors, lawyers, carpenters, inventors, and educators. Collectively we have an enormous amount of knowledge and enthusiasm and I hope we can direct it in the best possible ways to support simple, affordable, sustainable housing options. Meanwhile, my celebrity friend crushes have only been reinforced by discovering how fun these folks are in real life!

I'm already looking forward to the second annual Tiny House Fair which is slated for the West Coast next summer!

Tiny House Fair: Day 2

Dustin and Deek Diedricksen of Relaxshacks kicked off Day 2 of the Tiny House Fair by sharing tips for building creative small shelters with salvaged materials. In addition to laughing hysterically  because these guys are just so darn funny, I found myself marveling at clever ideas (stretch band bookshelves, a salad bowl sink, and windows built from serving trays, entertainment cabinet glass,  and front loading washing machine port holes). I also loved the vocabulary lesson. Deek uses the phrase "space-efficient" just like us Portlanders. But he also uses the following new-to-me terms which I intend to begin using immediately:

• "the hot dog approach" - using the whole piece of lumber or every part of a found object
• "ground bound" for wee structures attached to a foundation instead of a trailer, skids, or a tree
• "free-form building" for tackling a building project with no plans
• "turnitecture" for transforming furniture

I wasn't surprised that Lloyd Kahn is one of Deek's greatest inspirations. Still, it was nice to have Deek share a reminder that sometimes the design for a structure presents itself when a great found object beckons. My own tiny house design evolved from a window I found one day when I wasn't looking.

Later in the morning Abel Zimmerman presented tips on tool use for finish carpentry. Check out Zyl Vardos to see his beautiful work!

After a phenomenal lunch (did I mention the food here is mindbogglingly good?!) Alex Pino of Tiny House Talk offered practical tips on parting with our stuff. Here is a sampling of Alex's pithy wisdom:

• "Tiny houses are a way of meeting our basic needs so we can contribute to our world"
• "If you're trying to get rid of stuff, open a drawer and figure out what to get rid of... or, better yet, decide what to keep"
• "If it's a valuable item, donate it to museum & give it to the world. They'll take good care of it & you can go visit."
• "Ask yourself 'why do I have this? do I use it? how can someone else use it?' Then shut up and listen."
• "What do you really love? A tiny house should help you get what makes you happy."

His talk sparked some good suggestions for downsizing from the audience. Dee chimed in with a reality check: "When we go to bed at night and get up in morning all we really have is our simple beating heart & whoever is leaning into us." True, that.

Later in the afternoon Mariah Coz presented information about the solar system for her Comet Camper. We had a chance to tour her place and a handful of other tiny houses here for the fair.

After a scrumptious supper we had 11 amazing presentations in what we think may have been the first ever Tiny House Pecha Kucha. With only 20 slides each and 20 seconds per slide it was a fast-paced glimpse into topics ranging from chicken coops to structurally insulated panels. Between great photos and renderings, laughter and goosebumps, it was a powerful session and I have a hunch it will be the highlight of the weekend.

Nevertheless, I'm thoroughly looking forward to today! I know there are more good conversations in store for all of us.

Reciprocal Admiration

Yesterday I received my first fan mail via the Postal Service and it made my week. Rediscovering that inspiration goes both ways was both humbling and reenergizing. So I responded with fan mail of my own.

This lovely little note came from an 18-year-old woman who is so creative that I want to be like her when I grow up. When Addie attended our PAD Tiny House Workshop in April I was impressed by her reasoning for building her own tiny house. Before even graduating from high school this young woman has recognized that living in a small, simple home will enable her to save money, retain locational flexibility, and use her artistic talents to create a place that truly fits her and feels like home. I wish I’d been half as wise as she is when I was her age. And half as talented, too.

During our workshop Addie was sipping out of a wide-mouth pint jar that was etched with a cool vintage-looking picture. I’m a huge fan of wide-mouth pint jars. In fact, they're the only thing I really have a collection of at this point in my life. So this beautiful jar caught my eye right away. Over lunch I asked Addie where she found it and she told me she’d made it. Then I had to know all about the process and Addie happily obliged me. She explained she’s been selling these beautiful jars on Etsy as one of her fundraising strategies for the construction of her own tiny house.

I turned to the person on my other side at our lunch table and mock whispered, “The woman who made this mason jar is going to build a tiny house. It’s going to be a work of art and I can’t wait to see it!” I told Addie that I, too, am focused on keeping my expenses down so I can get my tiny house built soon. And that as soon as I’m settled into my tiny house I’ll be commissioning her to make me a whole batch of beautiful mason jars.

Addie had already secured herself a place on my growing Tiny House Heroes List.

So I was delighted to open the package that accompanied Addie’s note and find her business card and one of Addie’s beautiful mason jars. This was a very thoughtful gift on Addie’s part since this jar won’t count in My 200 Things Challenge. I’ve explained in Who’s Counting Anyway? that I’m counting my mason jars as a set rather than including each individual jar on My 200 Things List. So I’ll be parting with one of my other mason jars to make a spot for this special one. (Speaking of which… it’s getting to be time for a re-count. I was a little over 200 items last time I checked. I had 203 items at the time!)

Needless to say, Addie’s mason jar has become my instant favorite and my new to go container. I’ll be carrying soup and leftovers for lunch in this pretty jar and it will be a constant reminder of Addie and the other tiny house folks who inspire me.

If you want to buy an etched mason jar to add a touch of beauty to your kitchen while supporting an incredible woman’s tiny house fund, check out Addie's Etsy site. And if you want to learn more about Addie's reasons for going tiny and a write up about her stay in the Bayside Bungalow, check out Addie's post Why Tiny? on her blog Slice, Serve, Savor.

Thank you Addie!

Bettering Things

Yesterday was a good day for Rainy Day Catch Up and I decided to make a couple of the things I own a little better. Since I’m doing the 200 Things Challenge I figure I better really like the things I own and I better make them work well for me. So yesterday I spent an hour bettering my bike lock, my broom, and my ostrich egg lantern.

I recently acquired a new bike lock because the lock I bought last fall was driving me crazy. I decided to purchase a combination lock this time so I won’t have to deal with a bike lock key anymore. (Even thought this is one less thing for me to think about, this doesn’t count as one less thing since I count even the lock as part of my bike. I explain my rules for counting for My 200 Things Challenge in Who’s Counting Anyway.) However, I preferred the lock holder for the old lock because the little metal bracket attached to the lock itself snapped tightly into the holder on my bike. I found it was much less likely to fly out of the holder when I go over a bump than the new one. So I modified the new lock to accept the metal bracket by slicing away a part of the rubber and adding a gasket. It only took a couple minutes to create my ideal bike lock.

I also recently bought myself a broom since I didn’t own one. I lived without any carpets for several years so I bought myself a Bucket Head vacuum cleaner when I moved into the yurt, which had rugs. This worked pretty well for me, except that the rugs contributed to the Moisture Management problems I was having. A few weeks ago I decided it was time for Spring Cleaning the Yurt and I removed the rugs. But then I needed a broom. I decided to buy myself a kid-size broom but it was just a little too short, even for me. I realized I could probably find bike parts to extend the handle of my little broom. My local bike repair shop hooked just happened to have exactly what I needed and $3 and 3 minutes later my little broom is better than ever.

Two years ago my little sister and I traveled to South Africa and we both brought home ostrich egg lanterns. My sister found hers right away but it took me a long time to find my giraffe lantern. We were Packing Densely but we managed to carefully transport our lanterns home. Unfortunately, once I tried using my lantern the first time I realized that there were too few holes providing oxygen for the lantern to work with a candle. When I switched to a little light bulb I found there still wasn’t enough light emanating from the lantern for it to really be interesting. So I bought myself a 5/32” masonry drill bit this weekend and enlarged the holes in my lantern. Now I can really enjoy my lantern. I’m even planning a special spot for it in the tiny house I’m designing for myself.

Rainy Day Catch Up

Anyone who has been paying attention will probably have noticed by now that I'm backlogged on blog posts. Partly this was due to technological issues. Check out forthcoming posts Getting Smart About Phones, Planning Around Obsolescence, and Everything but the Photos for more on that. Partly it was because  I've been awfully busy with school recently as I'm on the home stretch for my master's degree.

But it's also partly because it's been awfully pretty out so I've been playing outside instead of sitting inside blogging. Check out Cooking Al Fresco for more on that!

This weekend has been rainy so I'm catching up on getting posts actually posted. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, here is a photo of the mock oranges blooming next to my hammock so you can see why blogging hasn't taken priority lately!

Everything but the Photos

Often when people are faced with the threat of losing everything they own they get really clear about their priorities. And many of them say that the only things they’d really miss would be the sentimental things like their photos.

I consider myself a sentimental person and I love my photos because they remind me of fun times. So I’ve always understood this sentiment. The stuff is Just Stuff, but the photos, they’re something special. However, I had an experience Friday that made me realize that as I’ve become less attached to things, I’ve also become less attached to photos.

Lately I’ve been Getting Smart About Phones and Planning Around Obsolescence. I had an appointment yesterday to consolidate my old iPhoto library (on an external hard drive) and my new iPhoto library (on my laptop) so that I could free up some space on my computer. So Friday morning I got out my external hard drive and took a look through the old photos. A few of them made me grin: my sisters and I wearing mud masks and making funny faces, my graduation from college, exuberant present unwrapping during Christmases past, etc.

But as I scanned the photos I realized that most of them don’t mean anything to me anymore. I had photos of people whose names I no longer remember. I had photos from a school project that I’ve long since forgotten about. I had photos that were blurry, too dark, or overexposed. I had photos of a backpacking trip that triggered unpleasant memories. (My friends broke up on day two and got back together on day four, which meant the four of us had two very uncomfortable days on the trail!)

As I biked off to the Apple Genius Bar I thought, “Well, it’s going to be a lot of work to sort through all of these photos, but at least now I know I can get rid of most of these.”

When I arrived I explained that I was trying to consolidate all my photos so I could purge the old ones and free up space for my work and new photos. We plugged in my external hard drive and it wouldn’t mount. Period. It was completely dead. Which meant that I’d just lost several years worth of photos. The moment of panic arrived. And then it quickly left.

I realized that I’d just looked through my photos that morning (which was more attention than I’d paid them in years) and I’d already figured out that I didn’t want most of them anyhow. I was hit by a wave of relief and I briefly explained my journey towards the Little Life. The tech seemed relieved, too. I’m sure he’s used to people breaking down when several years worth of photos evaporate.

We transferred the photo library from my laptop to a new external hard drive. (And it turns out that I actually do have all the photos I thought I’d lost because I’d already transferred them from my external hard drive to my laptop.) Now that I can, I probably will take the time to sort my photos and keep the ones I do still want. But hopefully I can do it relatively quickly because I’ll keep in mind that if even I don’t want to look through all of them no one else would either!

Nevertheless, I’ve been marveling at how differently I handled the experience of losing my photos than I would have a few years ago. I suppose part of it is that many of my photos are out there in other places. I’ve shared them with friends or uploaded them to Facebook. But even so, it just wasn’t that big a deal anymore. I’ve come to terms with the fact that keeping track of my photos is not entirely within my control nor is it entirely my responsibility. Technology will continue to fail. Natural disasters will continue to happen. Boxes will continue to get lost in moves.

I know that for some people losing photos truly would be devastating and I can relate to that. But I’m glad that it wasn’t devastating for me. I’m glad that in my minimalist journey I’ve become less vulnerable to these losses. I don’t want to live in the past via my photos. I want my photos to be a tool for memory keeping but not a burden. I’m grateful that I know how to take new photos and make new memories.

Now, off to the Street Fair. With my camera, of course!

Planning Around Obsolescence

Last week I was Getting Smart About Phones. My lessons in planning around obsolescence continued this week with my laptop. My New Year’s Resolution for 2013 was to go paper-free so I’ve been Strategizing Digitizing and Getting All My Docs in a Row. Let me set the stage for this discussion of planned obsolescence by explaining some of the technological advances I've experienced in the past.

I got my first laptop when I was 16 years old. It had a 6 GB hard drive and it weighed as much as a newborn baby. It was made by an off-brand and it had plenty of quirks, but I coaxed it along for 5 years. When I was studying abroad in Florence, Italy, I could tell my laptop was dying a slow, miserable death. Nevertheless, it allowed me to write my papers and store the hundreds of photos I was taking. I had purchased my first digital camera just before leaving for Italy and I was click happy. When I returned stateside I laboriously transferred my photos to CDs via many batches with a flash card reader since my computer's CD drive was broken and it didn't have a USB port. My laptop had never really connected to the internet well with its clunky modem card and the ethernet port wasn't working anymore.

I did my research before purchasing my next laptop - a 20GB iBook G4 with a Super Drive. It weighed considerably less than my old computer but it was worlds more powerful. I was determined to use it as long as possible. I transferred my photos and papers right over from the CDs. In the 5 years I owned my iBook I had to have the screen fixed and the power adapter and hard drive replaced. (Fortunately, I'd wised up and learned to back up my computer. So I didn't lose anything but the document I was working on when I messed up the hard drive by working on my computer while I was a passenger in someone’s car and we went over a speed bump!) I only had to invest a couple hundred dollars over the lifetime of the computer, so all things considered my iBook G4 held up pretty well. But when I brought my G4 in to the Apple store to get a new adapter and the techs gathered around my computer like it was a fossil, I decided it might be time to upgrade for grad school. I transferred my entire computer onto a 250 GB external hard drive and then transferred its contents onto my new laptop.

The past two years I've been very happy with my refurbished MacBook Air. It’s powerful and sleek. And I can’t help liking the combination of a tiny laptop and a tiny house. My Air is slim and light enough that I can take it everywhere. I transport it from home to work to school and back on a daily basis. I take notes in class and meetings. I research. I blog. I download and sort photos from my adventures. I use Sketch Up to design tiny houses and Excel to keep track of My 200 Things List. I scheme up the vardo I plan to build for myself and I plot to make the world a better place.

About a month ago I decided to set up a second user on my laptop so I could separate Home and Work. (This is the trick I've discovered to use two Dropbox accounts.) Immediately my computer started giving me "almost out of space" error messages. At the same time, my power adapter quit working because the cover for the wire developed a stress fracture from being wound up and transported every day. I was considering trading my laptop in and upgrading to a new refurbished MacBook Air.

However, the friendly guy I talked to at the Apple store assured me that my MacBook Air still had plenty of life in it. He explained that setting up the second user took up a good deal of space so we took a look at what else was taking up space on my computer. Turns out I have 30 GB of photos! The tech suggested I bring my external hard drive in so we can consolidate my files and free up some space so I can run two users on my computer.

I’m grateful for Apple’s Genius Bar and for techs who would rather keep a good thing going than upsell me to something I didn’t need. He hooked me up with a new power adapter and I was on my way. I’ve set up a follow up appointment for next week.

Getting Smart About Phones

When I moved to Portland in September of 2011 to begin graduate school and My Tiny House Adventure, I upgraded technology to a smart phone. I figured a smart phone would be good investments in simplifying my life and it has been. However, this past week I was reminded of my frustrations with Planning Around Obsolescence. Prior to moving here I was a T-mobile customer and I was very pleased with them. (T-Mobile is one of the few companies I know of that has such excellent customer service that I get off the phone in a better mood than when I started the conversation!) If T-Mobile had supported the iPhone two years ago I probably would have switched to the iPhone and stuck with T-Mobile. But at the time they didn't so I reluctantly left T-Mobile for a great deal with Virgin Mobile.

I hadn't used a smart phone before and I found my new phone was very useful as I navigated a new city. The bike directions in Google Maps and the Car2Go app were particularly helpful. (See Smart Car + Smart Phone = Smart Errands and Grocery Getter for more about car light living).

I also liked the lower price so I put up with Virgin Mobile's poor customer service. I put up with my battery going bad during finals my first term. (They shipped a replacement with only a bit of finagling.) I put up with finding my own replacement charger when that went bad a couple months later and Virgin Mobile shipped the wrong one. I learned which special key code to press when my phone quit connecting to the network every month or so. Last fall when my phone died completely (just a few days after the 1 year warranty, of course) I bought a phone just like it off of Craigslist and switched my phone service over to this new Virgin Mobile phone. I was dealing with the quirks and frustrations with my Virgin Mobile phone plan because I figured I was saving money.

But when my second phone died this week after I'd used it for less than 6 months, I decided to do a cost-benefit analysis. I realized that when I factored in the cost of replacing my phone every year on average and the couple of hours I spent each month messing with my phone to get it working again or ordering replacement parts, if I could beat $95/month I'd be in better shape going with something more reliable.

Fortunately, T-Mobile now supports the iPhone so I decided it was time to switch back. I think I'll stick with T-Moblie for good now. It was a good reminder that usually cheaper and less of a headache to go with the higher quality more durable product, especially if the support is great. I went for the iPhone 4 because I didn't need the latest and greatest and so far, I'm pretty impressed. My only major complaint is that Google Maps for iPhone doesn't include bike directions. Fortunately I know how to get around town much better now, but I still want to figure out a work around for this. (If anyone knows one, please let me know!)

Cooking Al Fresco

Every Sunday my workshop team meets up for a working meal. We alternate between brunch and supper and we take turns hosting. The last time I was responsible for cooking for my team I was Living Large by housesitting so I had plenty of room to cook and host. When I lived in the Bayside Bungalow last year I was able to host a Dinner Party for Six, but here in the yurt that would be pretty uncomfortable. So this term I put off hosting until the weather warmed up enough to could dine outside. Fortunately, this weekend we had splendid weather so I offered to host brunch.

I set up milk crates and strung my hammock between the posts of my grape arbor so we’d have outdoor dining space. As I got my ingredients out to start cooking, I realized that in addition to dining outside I could also do my cooking outside. This is one of the advantages of my plug-and-play kitchen. I keep a one-burner electric cooktop in My Kitchen Cupboard and I usually place it on top of my mini fridge to do my cooking. This morning I brought my cooktop outside and plugged it into my power strip just inside the door. I used my outdoor shelf as my countertop and it worked splendidly.

I did have to remember to keep everything covered so that seedpods blowing in the air didn’t settle in my pots. But it was lovely to cook outside in the fresh air and breezes. This will be especially nice as the weather warms up and it gets too hot for me to want to cook inside the yurt.

I have always loved dining outside, but I hadn’t really thought about outdoor cooking as an option (other than grilling and camping, of course!) Now that I’ve discovered how nice it is to cook outside at home, I’ll plan an outdoor cooking set up for the tiny house I'm designing for myself. This is, of course, a seasonal activity especially in the Pacific Northwest, but for those days when it’s possible, it’s so delightful!

As part of My 200 Things Challenge I’m living with only two plates on hand and I didn’t feel like digging my others out of my storage tub in the shed, so we improvised. Two people got plates, two got cutting boards, one got a baking dish, and one got a pot lid. We giggled about our interesting dishes, but we’d done the same thing the week before when another of my group mates hosted, so it didn’t seem too strange.

I cooked up huevos rancheros with a delicious salsa verde from the farmers market and fresh homemade guacamole. For dessert (since all our brunches involve dessert, of course!) I cooked up a strawberry rhubarb compote (also with fresh local ingredients) to drizzle over vanilla ice cream.

Hooray for cooking fresh food in fresh breezes!

Tiny House Movement Gains Momentum

The weekend before last we hosted a build weekend to construct Casa Pequena. This past weekend 29 fabulous folks joined us at the Kenton Fire House for a Portland Alternative Dwellings (PAD) Tiny House Workshop. Participants traveled from as far away as Wyoming, Arizona, and Massachusetts. Several of them were just beginning their foray into the world of tiny, so they are going to noodle over the information to decide if a tiny house is right for them. Others have already started on the shell of their tiny house and came to the second day of our workshop to refine their gas, fresh water, grey water, humanure, and electrical systems.

Our workshop covered those topics as well as structural considerations, moisture management, regulations, code, and community building. Dee Williams of Portland Alternative Dwellings kicked off the workshop by sharing her story of going tiny nearly nine years ago and watching the Tiny House Movement begin.

Dee, Joan, and I tag-teamed most of the presentations but we were lucky to have several other presenters join us. Derin Williams of Shelter Wise used a life-size model to demonstrate how to install a wall system that minimizes thermal breaks to increase energy efficiency. Carol demonstrated the assembly and use of the Air Head Dry Toilet. Chris and Malissa Tack of Tiny Tack House presented information about their tiny house design-build process with spell-binding graphics and answered questions about the systems they chose. (Check out Chris Tack's website to see more of his incredible photography!) It was a lot of information to cover in just two days, but workshop participants who came from across the country said they appreciated the chance to learn as much as they could and ask all their burning questions.

Some of the participants had been dreaming of living in a tiny house for years. For them this workshop was the first tangible step to making their tiny house fantasy a reality. On the other hand, one participant from the East Coast had heard of tiny houses but hadn't looked into them. He began exploring in earnest on Tuesday and on Friday hopped on a plane to come to our workshop! It was fun to have people from a wide spectrum of familiarity with tiny houses because it provided the chance for all of us to learn from each other. I'm grateful to everyone who taught me about new products, systems, and strategies that will make me a better tiny house design-builder, too.

The folks who attend tiny house workshops are wonderful people. They're collaborative and intentional. They're open-minded and open-hearted. They tackle big questions about needs and wants. They carefully consider what makes a place feel like home. I've come to expect that of tiny house lovers.

What was really special about this workshop was that the momentum of the Tiny House Movement was palpable. In June of last year I assisted with the Portland Tumbleweed Tiny House Workshop led by Dee Williams of Portland Alternative Dwellings. That was just 10 months ago. At the time a handful of the 50 people in the room planned to build a tiny house over the summer. This year 16 of the 29 participants said they're considering building this summer!

The Tiny House Movement is getting bigger and I'm thrilled to be part of it! We've agreed that this summer will be full of tiny house building work parties. I can't wait to see the results as people craft their dreams in three dimensions:

• Margaret's rainbow speckled walls from stained glass windows,
• Carter's hammock-slung dance studio tour bus,
• Nicole's tiny house collective in NE Portland,
• Malcom's yurt built of structurally insulated panels,
• Joan's treasure box of salvaged materials,
• and many, many more!

Please keep us posted everyone! Thank you for the chance to be part of your tiny house adventure.