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Wednesday, December 29, 2010







Nothing new to update on the tiny house except that I have found a tiny bit of mold due to some leakage from the door.
News years is just a few days away so it will be a good time to get on with the tiny house project and get it finished!!!

In the mean time Christmas time was a nice quite affair and very simple... just the way I like it. We've been having some good mountain time as well and lot's more to come I hope. The day we went up was a nice mild day and the sky was very interesting to watch... kinda cool as my daughter had just finished a weather block in school.
I try to take my camera up the mountain once in a while... looking at the photos makes me think how lucky we are to do this every year... I count my blessings.

Well.... wish you all great new beginnings for the New Year..... also liked this quote...

Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right.
Oprah Winfrey

Sunday, November 28, 2010






I think this has been the longest time span between my post and really not much has been going on with the tiny house but I realized I don't always have to be posting about building. There is a lot of other things going on in my tiny world that I have much to say about. In the mean time.......

I did manage to get the walls up and the trim has all been ripped up to size. Putting up the walls has shown a few deficiencies in my building skills but hey I'm learning as I go. I figure my next tiny house will be that much better. Just some fine tuning and then the floor goes in...... hopefully before Christmas!

Other then building it has been a busy crafting season and now with lots of snow in the last two weeks I'm itching to get on my board.

I came across a photo of the pallets for the base of the tiny house but this was from a different angle. It made me think boy I've come a long way seeing I had very little skills in house building..... strong will I guess.
Also a few photo's of my latest little ones.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010








Hello folks.... yes I know it has been a while since my last post. I have to say though, it has been a lively 4 weeks!

First of all I did finally get my walls up but disaster struck........ wait let me back track a bit.

The interior of my almost free house has been somewhat of a challenge material wise. It's hard to find discarded free material of a certain quality that I could use for the inside. So after much searching I settled on a 1/8 riveted mahogany. Yes I know what your thinking thats awfully thin but that's what I could afford.

Installing this very thin wood was not an easy task but it was up in an afternoon and I was pleased to move on to the flooring.

The next day I had planned to go to the Interior West Design Show. My girlfriend picked me up in the morning and we had a quick peek inside the tiny house. Something strange happened the moment we both stepped in, our eyes started to burn..... strange. I didn't put much thought into it at that moment but as the day went on I thought I need to go back in before the end of the day. So after attending my sons boxing match that night.... yes my son is a boxer.... my daughter and I went in to investigate and sure enough our eyes started burning again but then our noses stared burning as well.
I had my neighbor come over and take a whiff but he whiffed to close to the wall and started chocking. The conclusion was formaldehyde.

It turns out this is off shore crap that doesn't have the same standards as we do in Canada. Because the wood is so thin and sprayed by who knows what % of formaldehyde and then all stacked together it becomes like a big sponge and the formaldehyde intensifies. I do understand that almost all wood is sprayed with formaldehyde to stop mold from growing and needs some time to off gas but this was way way over the top. It had to go! So the next day it was all ripped out and returned to the store. There wasn't to much of an argument getting a refund maybe they've had a few people complain.

So back to the drawing board.... I ended up getting 1/4" MDF board. Again not the best scenario but it seems more enviro friendly and in my price range. To date two walls are done and just waiting on 4 more sheets from the supplier. It's not that great dealing with MDF in the rainy season but once inside it will be fine.

In the mean time I made inside battens from pallet material and finally put on the door knob. I also have a side job doing some personal organizing for a friend as well as trying to put new things in my etsy shop.

* Photo Description

-first two photos are the bad wood.

-third photo was a beautiful hand built chair made in Sweden that I fell in love with at the design show.... cost 3,900.... maybe furniture making will be my next endeavour!

-fourth photo my son boxing, yes he won.

Thursday, September 30, 2010



It’s been a few days since I have worked on the tiny house and I miss it.
My crafting business has taken a front seat with orders to fill and that’s a good thing as it gets me in the zone of what is to come once the tiny house is finished.

I was hoping to come up with a good find for the inside walls but was not able to locate free material that would be suitable for the finished interior. Well, like I have said before not everything is going to be free so I’ve decided on the wainscoting paneling from Home Depot.

This order came in at the right time as it will help pay for the walls. Thanks Stacy for choosing me… I hope all your little children in after care will love their presents.

But first is to finish off the taping and put in the bamboo flooring that my neighbor found in our lane way, still new in their boxes. What a great find… I guess someone had changed their minds and could not take it back. Should cover the whole tiny house and then some.

Saturday, September 25, 2010




Yesterday was spent insulating and putting up the vapor barrier.

I was so excited to get this job out of the way as my only experience with insulation was when I was 10. My friend and I played in bales of the pink fluffy stuff..... my god my skin itched it seemed for weeks.
Well insulation has come a long way and I was pleasantly surprised how easy it is to work with.

So now that I'm finished that job it's time to think about how I'm going to do the walls. I was thinking wainscoting but not sure now and seeing I could not find suitable material that was free I guess I have a lot of options. Home depot here I come!

I even went out to Ikea to look at lighting but they are in the middle of reno's and it was hard to find what I was looking for but for the time being I picked out two pendent lights that will go over my desk under the big window.

I can see it all finished now.....

Thursday, September 23, 2010







Today was a great day with lots of business going on meeting customers wanting dolls and so forth. Driving my kids to where they need to go or pick them up and finally wiring the tiny house.

I must say electrical is a lot easier then I thought. The hard part was drilling the holes and yes Rick was here to help me as some of the holes were a challenge to get through with that big drill bit. Also closed up the air vents with screen so no buggies can make a home in the insulation.

The evening has been spent on the phone with a customer, guiding her along with making a doll, drawing patterns, crocheting a purse and making more dolls.

I just want to go to bed.... but..... my daughter is working on set and pick up is sometime around midnight.

Oh well I'll just keep crocheting!

P.S. One of my snowboards sold today. Time to make more.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010



I just realized tomorrow is the first day of fall and how fitting that I have finally finished the siding. Only the soffits are left to do and prime the rest of the siding but I'm rather anxious to getting moving inside so that can wait.

I have been looking on you tube for tutorials on wiring and have found quite a few helpful ones, but I also have my neighbor to show me the way too. Wish me luck!

Saturday, September 18, 2010





The weather here has been quite inconsistent lately and is a little frustrating when building a house, but I seemed to be ready when there is a break in the sky.

Yesterday I finished another side of the house with the battens and hopefully in the next few days I will be all done and then move on to the soffits.

Battens take a lot of nails and hammering and boy did I hammer a nail... my thumb nail! I guess I'm pretty lucky thats the first time it's happened and hopefully I won't lose it.

P.S. Thought I would add this beautiful picture of my daughter on her fall trip with her Waldorf High School.

Thursday, September 16, 2010






It has been 4 days straight working on the tiny house and it was another busy one today ripping battens. A bit of multi tasking too with laundry day, sewing and prepping my daughters room for her return home from a high school wilderness trip. I think she's going to enjoy a nice clean bed tonight!

All the battens are ready to go and two more windows need to be framed, but sadly the rain has come.... I could just keep going and going. Must get it ready before winter!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010



Another exhausting day today with much accomplished and by the end of the day the yard was looking rather messy.

Rick put in an air vent on the roof which was good as I would have never have known to do that.... I really am learning house building 101.

While I finished the siding in the back I put my two boys Misha and Sasha to work priming the siding.

I just need two more boards for the front and tomorrow I will start cutting the battens.

I'm starting to feel a bit of pressure to get the tiny house done as the rainy weather could just be around the corner. Also the crafting season is upon us and I have neglected my etsy store plus I have orders to fill..... I can't wait to be working in my tiny house!

Monday, September 13, 2010



Siding a house must be the most time consuming part of building. Saturday I finished side 2 and then the rain started so that gave me some time to catch up on house work on Sunday and back at it by noon today after getting the family house all ship shape.

The tiny house is progressing nicely with most of side 3 done except for 2 pieces. I ran out of nice boards for the front and only have scraggly ones for the back where they will not be seen.

The good news is the door is in and how sweet it looks!

I feel like I'm ready to drop but it's a good feeling.... it's been a long day.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010




I am so giddy these days with excitement as I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

On Saturday the siding began and the door will be on soon enough so the creative juices are flowing of how I'm going to design the interior.

Saturday night I even set up my stereo and a light so I could start working on a furniture project. The view of the tiny house all lit up from the top floor of my house just melted my heart.... so cute.

Unfortunately the rain started the next day so that put a hold on the siding but that's OK as we had a few family functions to attend.

Now that the start of school is upon us there will be more of a routine around here and things should start really moving along.... getting so close.

P.S. thought I should mention that all of the siding has come from the original pallets that we collected last summer... so yes all free!

Friday, September 3, 2010



Today the door frame was installed by my two neighbors Rick and Michael and I worked on the door. There were so many coats of paint on it that I had to break out the heat gun. Needless to say there is a bit of work to be done on the door but it was free so can't complain. Tomorrow I will have it looking like new and then will start on the siding.

Thursday, September 2, 2010