Cabinets & Built-Ins Class at Yestermorrow

Whew! What a busy couple weeks it's been! A week ago I wrapped up my role as Project Engineer & Sustainability Coordinator for the Breathe Building and presented our owner, Chris Calarco, with a stack of Operations & Maintenance Manuals. The heap of materials was so huge I offered it up via hand truck. It's been a true pleasure working with Chris' team and I look forward to visiting the building when I return to the west coast in a few weeks! Until then, I wish them all the best wrapping up final details so Yoga Union, Prema Health, and Fern Kitchen can get settled in and open for business.

Then I kicked off My Summer Adventures with My Annual Pilgrimage to the Oregon Country Fair. It was splendid to have quality time with my fairy godfamily in Corvallis, OR and to share this experience with two of my landies, Karin and Isha. Saturday night we drove back up to Portland and my landies dropped me off at the airport for a red eye flight to Vermont.

So I'm Home Again at Yestermorrow and this time I get to stay for three whole weeks! The past four days I've been taking a Cabinets & Built-Ins class. Our instructor, Justin Kramer, is a fabulous teacher and he's done a great job providing a huge skill set in manageable doses, answering approximately a bazillion questions, sharing lots of tricks and tips, and letting us make and learn from little mistakes (while helping us avoid the big ones). We've been building a cabinet which will be used in Yestermorrow's South Studio.

On the first day we got a thorough woodshop orientation, familiarized ourselves with the plans for the cabinet, and built the "carcasses" for our cabinet out of 3/4" cherry plywood, using pocket screws. The second day the team I was on milled down bass wood for the face frames and attached them to the carcass with biscuits while the other team routed out the backs of the cabinets and installed the plywood backs. I'd never milled wood before so this was a great experience! Yesterday we prepared the wood for our pine drawer boxes and built the cherry doors for the cabinet, using dominoes to secure the frames and inserting cherry plywood panels. Today we practiced joinery techniques on our drawer boxes, using three different methods (fingerjoints, dovetails, and pocket screws) and installed our doors on their hinges. We also created a plinth for the cabinet to sit on, built shelves which sit on pins, and started building the web frame for our drawers. Tomorrow we'll continue with the drawers and finalize our cabinet. It's been a great project and I'm more excited than ever to get back to the woodshop at Simply Home Community!

Next week I'll be teaching the Summer 2015 Tiny House Design-Build course. Stay tuned for updates. Meanwhile, if you'd like to read up on what it's like, you can read the day-by-day account of the 2013 Tiny House Design-Build class.

Oil, Spice & Everything Nice

Editor's Note from 2/24/16: This post was lingering in draft mode and I decided it was high-time to get it published! 

I loved designing and building my tiny house, The Lucky Penny, but I've also thoroughly loved the process of Making it Home. I've been finding A Place for Everything and this past weekend I got my spices and oils all set up. I wanted to have both of these things handy but out of the sunlight since sunlight can diminish the quality of both oils and spices. I think it's pretty cool so I wanted to share it with you. Here are the solutions I came up with!

I bought a bunch of spices recently at an awesome shop called Sequim Spice & Tea, while visiting family on the Olympic Peninsula. But I hadn't come up with a good plan about how to store them yet. Last week I was hanging out at my favorite tea house, Townshend's Tea on Alberta Street, and I realized that the little containers they use for loose leaf tea would be perfect! The woman behind the counter told me where I could buy them online and a couple days ago my containers arrived. I labeled all of them and sorted my spices into them and I now have them tucked into a set of flatware dividers I picked up at Ikea. They work splendidly! It's so nice to be able to pull this drawer out and see everything at a glance. Oh, and you can also see that I have room for two squeeze bottles here. These have my sweet liquids in them: agave and honey.

Remember those copper canisters I found on my Tiny House Treasure Hunt? I decided they'd be perfect to hold my oil containers. So I purchased a set of food grade plastic squeeze bottles and filled them up with a variety of different oils (avocado, sesame, extra virgin olive oil, etc.) and vinegars (balsamic, apple cider, white, etc.) Thanks to Simply Home Community's Bulk Buys, I was able to fill my bottles from the community supply, knowing I'll be able to refill them as needed.

Because we have Community Dinner between four and six nights per week, I do most of my big cooking in the Big House. But I often do cook little things (breakfast, tea, lunch prep, and weekend suppers) in The Lucky Penny. So it's nice to have a good collection of spices and oils so I can prepare a variety of food and enjoy Cooking in the Lucky Penny!

Living in the Lucky Penny

This past weekend was Memorial Day Weekend, which marks the one-year anniversary of the build blitz that kicked off my tiny house build, including: My SIPs Wall Raising, My Tiny House Air Barrier, and my Vardo Rafter Raising. So I've been reflecting a lot recently on the past year and all it has brought me and taught me.

This morning, waking up in my charming lil' house, The Lucky Penny, I marveled (as usual) at the way the light streams in sideways in the morning and how lovely the tree is through the skylight overhead. And I also got to thinking that I miss writing about living little. Most of my blog posts recently have been about workshops and events rather than about my own experiences living in small spaces. And while the events are exciting, the reason I'm teaching workshops and hosting events about small space stuff is because I so love living little that I want to give others the chance to learn how! And the reason I blog is because I find writing helps me reflect on and appreciate the little joys and simple pleasures.

Part of the reason I haven't been blogging as much recently is that I've been keeping busy between working full-time for The Breathe Building and doing consultations, design work, and workshops on the side. I also have a bunch of pending posts lingering from my build so it seems out of order to start talking about actually living in The Lucky Penny. But I figure, that's just silly, right? Now that we've gone through Lucky Penny's Public Debut, people know about the Lucky Penny and they've seen how pretty she is. They have questions about what it's like being inside. (By the way, she seems to be pretty popular as she caught the attention of Tiny House Swoon, Tree Hugger, Small and Tiny Home Ideas, and Shelter Blog!)

So I may as well go ahead and tell you how splendid it is to live little in this sweet space. I'll still share more about the build because people keep asking how I built my pull out bed and where my cabinets came from, but also stay tuned for blog posts about things like:

• My Quintuple-Duty Mud Room
• Cooking in the Lucky Penny
• My New and Improved Chiller Box
• My Pull-Out Bed
• A Place for Everything

I'm looking forward to sharing more about my home, sweet home with you! I've just created a FAQ page. If there are particular things you'd like to learn more about, please share them in the comments there. Thanks!

Guided ADU (Bike) Tour: The Inside Scoop

Last year I had a blast leading a guided bike tour for Portland's Build Small, Live Large ADU Tour, so this year I'm doing it again! The ADU Tour sold out last year, so this year it's expanded to two days. This is one of the best chances in the nation to see the interior of a variety of accessory dwellings and to learn from the ADU owners, designers, and builders.

Guided ADU (Bike) Tour: The Inside Scoop

Saturday, May 30th OR Sunday, May 31st, 9:30AM-4pm

Tickets are $75 and available through Niche Consulting

Lina Menard will lead a special Guided ADU Tour during the Build Small, Live Large ADU Tour to share the inside scoop on the ADUs featured on the tour. Lina is the coordinator of the ADU Case Studies Project and a tiny house dweller and advocate. She will also share insights and information from the other 40+ case studies she has conducted. This guided tour option will cost $75 and will be capped at 20 people. The tour will be conducted by bike, but a carpool option will also be available. You can register for this option for Saturday or Sunday. This exclusive guided tour will go from 9:30am-4pm.

The Saturday, May 30th tour will feature ADUs in NE Portland, while the Sunday, May 31st tour will feature ADUs in SE Portland. Most of the ADUs are brand new to the tour this year so it will be fun to show them off. I've become familiar with most of the ADUs on the tour because I've been Coordinating the ADU Case Studies Project. I've had the chance to interview more than ADU owners about the challenges, highlights, and lessons learned through their ADU design and build process. I look forward to giving the inside scoop on each of the ADUs as well as sharing insights and information about the other ADUs in the Case Studies Project.

If you'd like to join us, please claim your ticket.

Tiny House SIPs Wall Raising & Exterior Workshops

On June 13-14 I'll be teaching a two-day Tiny House SIPs Wall Raising Workshop in Portland, OR in conjunction with Patrick Sughrue of Artisan Tiny House. Two weekends later we'll do a Tiny House Exterior Trim & Siding Workshop to install windows, rain screen, trim, and siding. Space is limited, so if you're interested in building this summer (and especially if you're interested in building with SIPs), claim your spot today!

Additionally, there are two deals:

1) If you and a friend sign up together you'll both receive a $25 discount, bringing your cost down to just $100 each!

2) If you participate in both workshops you'll receive a $50 discount, making the total for both workshops just $200!

These build workshop prices can't be beat!

Tiny House SIPs Wall Raising Workshop (June 13-14)

$125.00

Think you might want to build your tiny house with SIPs? Ready for some practical, hands-on building experience? Want to have fun and feel empowered to build your own wee abode?

In this two day workshop we will show you how to properly construct the shell of a tiny house using a Structural Insulated Panel (SIPs) kit from Artisan Tiny House. You'll learn how to use a variety of hand tools and power tools as we install floor panels, wall panels, and roof panels for a tiny house on wheels.

What happens after the walls of a tiny house go up? It's time for Exterior Trim & Siding!

Tiny House Exterior Trim & Siding Workshop (June 27-28)

$125.00

In this two-day hands-on workshop we will show you how to trim out windows, doors, and corners and install siding. You'll learn how to use a variety of hand tools and power tools as we weather-proof the exterior of a tiny house on wheels.

Lucky Penny Video Tour

After several weeks of So Much Tiny House Goodness and the Lucky Penny's Public Debut last week, I have other exciting news to share! Yesterday Guillaume Dutilh and Jenna Spesard of Tiny House, Giant Journey have posted a video tour of The Lucky Penny, my tiny house on wheels. For all of you eagerly anticipating a peek inside my house after months of cheering me along during my build, this is your chance to come on in and look around (albeit virtually!)

You've got to check out the Lucky Penny Video Tour if you'd like to see:

• how I make a tiny table with the cutting board and a drawer,
• or how my windowseat bed pulls out into a full-size bed with a skylight view of the rain and shooting stars,
• or where I hid Raffi's litter box

And, of course, if you'd like to actually come on in to have a cup of tea and see what it feels like to be inside, you can schedule a Personalized Lucky Penny Tour through Niche Consulting.

Also, I'm thrilled that Anita's tiny house Lilypad has also been featured in one of Jenna and Guillaume's tiny tours. It was such an honor doing concept design work with Anita. She is one of the most thoughtful and intentional people I know, so it was a delight helping her come up with the big ideas for her wee home. Her builder Walt Quade of Small Home Oregon did an excellent job bringing the design to life. Anita's keen eye and her flair for Moroccan decor make this an incredible little house! Please do check out the Lilypad Video Tour, too!

Lucky Penny's Public Debut

What a busy couple weeks it's been with So Much Tiny House Goodness! And along with that, lots of press. I was going to wait until those last pesky pieces of trim were finished before I shared photos officially. But everyone else has been excited to show off The Lucky Penny, too. So I think it's safe to say that my beloved tiny house, The Lucky Penny, has made her public debut.

Last week Billy of Unlikely Lives posted a story about Simply Home Community, our tiny house community. (If you'd like to learn more about each of the tiny houses, see the Big House, and learn how we set up (and what we'd do differently), please join us for our Tiny House Community Tour on Sunday, May 3! (And if you can't, check out the video about Simply Home made by Jenna and Guillaume of Tiny House Giant Journey.)

Last Saturday morning I was interviewed at Tiny House Conference since I was one of the speakers. I had the opportunity to talk to a great many people about tiny house building basics. Stay tuned for a forthcoming video.

On Saturday evening those who attended the Tiny House Conference got a sneak peek of Jeremy Beasley's tiny house film, Small Is Beautiful. I have a cameo in the film, but the stars are my landies Ben Campbell and Karin Parramore. I'm so lucky to get to live with these fine folks at Simply Home Community! If you'd like to see the film, there are several screenings scheduled. It premiers in Seattle on May 5th, in Portland on May 7th, and in Boise on May 26th. You can also download the film.

Last Sunday morning I had a Japanese film crew at my house at 7AM capturing footage. Yuichi (an incredible treehouse builder) and his team are making a film about tiny house community. Needless to say, they were excited to talk to my landies and me. We were equally excited to talk to them as they're a fabulous crew!

Monday Guillaume Dutilh and Jenna Spesard of Tiny House, Giant Journey did a video tour of The Lucky Penny. They've been traveling around the country in their tiny house, interviewing other tiny housers along the way. So delighted to have been a stop on their adventure! Stay tuned for the video tour which they hope to share soon. Meanwhile, here's an awesome interactive photo Guillaume took when we were out to dinner during the conference (way cooler than the still above!)

Then Emily Udell told me that the Angie's List article about unique homes went live. The story is called Small Space, Big Heart and they did a nice job capturing some of the highlights of the little life. You can find a link to the story on my press page.

And just today, Gabriel Craft posted some gorgeous photos of The Lucky Penny on Small & Tiny Home Ideas! I have to admit I'm preposterously proud that so many other people are excited to show off my house. The Lucky Penny is my largest art project to date and when I see these images it reminds me that I live inside a sculpture!

Check out my press page and stay tuned for more updates as these films and photos are edited!

So Much Tiny House Goodness

This month is jam-packed with tiny house goodness: This weekend I'll be participating in the Tiny House Conference, where I'll be speaking about tiny house Building Basics and leading the Open Source session. I participated in the Tiny House Conference in Charlotte last year and it was a great chance to meet several of the bloggers I'd been following and corresponding with as well as hundreds of other tiny house enthusiasts. I'm thrilled to get to catch up with old friends and make new ones at the Tiny House Conference again! People are already starting to roll into town for the conference. Yesterday I saw Jeremy Beasley who created the film Small is Beautiful, which will be show at the conference. (I'm in it, but I haven't yet seen it, so that will be a fun experience!)

But first, on Friday I'll be participating in the Tiny House UnConference, which is a networking event to support tiny house businesses and innovation. I can't wait to swap ideas and inspiration with other tiny house advocates!

And of course, on Friday afternoon there's the Tiny House Mixer Extravaganza hosted by Caravan - The Tiny House Hotel and Portland Alternative Dwellings.

The last weekend of the month I'll be cohosting a Tiny House SIPs Wall Raising Workshop with Angela Ramseyer of MightyMicroBuilt. We're working with a fabulous couple with whom I did design consultation, so it's really exciting that we'll be helping move their tiny dream into the next phase with the wall raising using a SIPs Kit from Artisan Tiny House. If you'd like to join us, please register for the workshop.

And the following weekend Simply Home Community is hosting a Tiny House Community Tour. We'll be introducing tiny house community curious folks to how we created our tiny cohousing community.

And, of course, in amongst all THAT tiny house goodness I'll also be doing some consultations and design work for space-efficient housing.

Hope to see you at some of these events!

Tiny House SIPs Wall Raising Workshop

Think you might want to build your tiny house with SIPs? Ready for some practical, hands-on building experience? Want to have fun and feel empowered to build your own wee abode?  I'm teaming up with Angela Ramseyer of MightyMicroBuilt to lead a 2-day SIPs Wall Raising Workshop the weekend of April 25-26, 2015 in Vancouver, WA (near Portland, OR).

In this two day workshop we will show you how to properly construct the shell of a tiny house using a Structural Insulated Panel (SIPs) kit from Artisan Tiny House. You'll learn how to use a variety of hand tools and power tools as we install floor panels, wall panels, and roof panels for a tiny house on wheels.

Space is limited, so claim your spot in the 2-day SIPs Wall Raising Workshop.

Upper Cabinet Trim

Like so many other owner-builders, I moved into my tiny house before it was completely finished. By the time it was livable, I was ready for a break! When my Move In Day & Housewarming took place in November, I hadn't yet finished trimming out, but I was eager to find A Place for Everything. Sure, it was out of order to hang decorations before I'd finished trimming out that last window, but it turns out the trim wasn't as critical for my everyday life as having my mason jar racks in place!

This weekend I finally:

• installed the last beadboard panel under the upper cabinets,
• ran the cords for my plug-in kitchen lights so I can turn on any of the four sets of lights with the flip of a switch,
• trimmed out the window over my tansu,
• hung my new curtains on curtain rings,
• installed curtain hold-backs, and
• added outside corner and scribe molding to the upper cabinets.

I also plugged in a string of lights above the upper cabinets which lights up the ceiling. The light string is on a timer so they turn on in the morning (as my first alarm clock) and again in the evening. When they turn off in the morning I know it's time to head for work and when they turn off in the evening it's time to wind down for bed. It's much more pleasant cue than an alarm clock!

Trim projects still to come include the skylight box and the entryway. My landies and I are setting aside a day in a couple weekends to help each other with lingering projects, so it will be fun to see what more I can accomplish with a couple other sets of hands!