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Friday, October 21, 2011





I have been working in the studio for over a month now and it's just divine! It feels like my very own women cave.

Our main house is old, built around 1929 and being that it's old there's no insulation. So being in a space that is fully insulated and weather proofed it makes me think about how energy inefficient our house is, not to mention that it's always cold and damp! Time to make some changes? Making changes also means $$$.

Well never mind.... for now I can escape to my little dream work space.
The only thing left to do now is build a sky light and paint the outside but it's totally workable. So for now I'll wait till the spring to wrap this project up.... next will be the green house.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

As promised here is a short video.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

A couple of foot notes to the last post.
In one of the photos you can see a blue tarp outside the window. Well under that tarp awaits my next project.... a green house built from old windows. But for now I think it will have to wait until next spring?

Also I will be posting a video or two soon.

ciao for now

Wednesday, August 31, 2011








So as promised this post is about the electrical, lights etc.
To begin with My mentor Rick found a used electrical panel in an old house that was going to be torn down just the next block over from us. I mentioned this in an older post and I'm happy to say it has come in handy and the old house is long gone.

I had a family friend who is an electrician install the panel next to our main house panel. He then installed a GFCI receptacle 4 feet below the panel on the out side of the main house. GFCI is all Greek to me!

Next a neat little power box and extra heavy duty cord was wired in to my tiny house and discreetly placed on the outside.

This is when my sequence of events gets a bit mixed up. The painting was next so now I can finally put up the lights!

All went pretty well..... the funny thing about me is I like when things go off with no glitches, don't we all? I've got to stop doing that to myself. So the track lighting was a piece of cake so were the the pendent lights for that matter. The problem was when I finished the pendents not only were they not working but the tracks weren't working either and they were fine the night before. Turns out the light switches were on separate circuits and when the switches were put in they got wired as one. So that was pretty easy to figure out with a little help.... I was a little frustrated. But all's well and ends well, I'm so please with how it looks!

Thursday, August 25, 2011





It's been over a month since my last post and I have to blame the nice weather. I use to blame the bad weather for not working on the tiny house but with the good weather there has been so many other things to do. But I did make some headway with completing the floor. The trim is all done and we started painting last weekend and should be all done on the inside by the end of this weekend.

I've never really been an expert painter so who I mean by we is my hubby Walter... he's the painter in our house. Thank goodness for him too as he knows how paint works, how much pressure to use on the roller and so forth. He's the expert!

The electrical was also done this summer but I just realized I don't have photo's so I will have to save that for another post.

Saturday, July 16, 2011





The other piece that is finally done is the floor. This was another fantastic find. My neighbor found this floor all nicely packaged up in the lane way with a free sign. Brand new flooring! Crazy! It make you wonder why people are tossing perfectly good stuff out. At least they gave someone a chance to take it rather then sending to the land fill. I'm happy!

Monday, July 11, 2011



OK so a lot has happened since my last post. I finally got the soffits finished! Yay!
The windows are now in properly..... on hinges and I've been running around town trying to find latches that will work with these custom windows. Not so easy.I may have to go to Jacks used building supplies over town he always has unusual stuff.

There's more to report but I'm crazy tired not just from building but I'm just coming off a 10 day juice cleans so me needs me rest.

Thursday, June 23, 2011






Well looks like I'm back in action!
I'm thinking I need to set a firm dead line for finishing the tiny house by the end of August so I can have the studio/store up and running when school starts.

Three days ago was the first day I've worked on the tiny house since the fall. I thought I would start small by getting the lock on.... maybe doing a simple job would give me a running start to what is ahead! It turns out it was more complicated due to the fact that the door frame was botched up and was headed to the land fill. With a bit of filing, patching and sanding a perfectly "brand new" door frame was saved from going to the dump and saved me a few shekel's.

Yesterday was soffit day. I thought this job would go quickly but it turns out it's quite time consuming. I needed to concentrate on every cut I made.... also it's a tight space to work in so lots of twisting and turning. Needless to say my neck is sore today and lots of niks and bruises on my legs.
The soffits are cedar tongue and groove that have come from my girlfriends house that is being renovated. Again material that still has some life to them that can be saved.

Up until now I have had Rick my neighbor as my building mentor but he has gone back to his old trade in sheet metal so I'm pretty much on my own. Having said that I can also call on my brother who is a journey men/cabinet maker with the school board for advice if need be.

So for today it's more soffits but looking out side a few minutes ago it was pouring and now it's sunny.... it's going to be an interesting day!

Thursday, May 5, 2011






Here is another look at a tiny house.

I've had this article from Country Living tucked away in my inspiration file for over 10 years. Usually I clean out the files ever year but I knew I had to hang on to this one. The idea of living in a tiny simple space has always intrigued me.

The two room tiny house was built by a couple in New York state who at the time were having their main house renovated but still enjoy the tiny house as a retreat once the main house was finished.... I think the tiny house is all I would need!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011


Still no work has been done on the tiny house.

It's been such a cold spring this year it's not to inspiring to work out side. Having said that it has extended our snowboarding and skiing time so we have been playing up in Whistler and locally on Grouse Mountain.

I came across this post card at a friends house that I'm helping out with some personal organizing.
This is what I found out about it on Wikipedia


Britain's smallest house
The Smallest House in Great Britain, also known as the Quay House, is a tourist attraction on the quay in Conwy, Wales. The 3.05 metre by 1.8 metre (10 feet by 6 feet)[1] structure was used as a residence from the 16th century until 1900; as its name indicates, it is reputed to be Britain's smallest house.
The house was lived in until 1900, when the owner was a 6ft 3 inch (1.9 meters) fisherman named Robert Jones. The rooms were too small for him to stand up in fully and he was eventually forced to move out when the council declared the house unfit for human habitation. The house is still owned by his descendants. In June 2006, there was a 50% loss of tourists to the house because of roadworks that was being done nearby.[1]
This house is currently red. It stands nearby the Conwy Castle walls and people can enter for £1.00 (or 50p for children). There is information about the house inside. A Welsh lady stands outside most days. The upstairs is so minute that there is room only for one bed and a bedside cabinet. Visitors can't walk about on the 2nd floor, but can view it from the step ladder.
There's just about enough room for one stove, a water tap, a bedside cabinet and a bed.

Saturday, April 9, 2011




My photos have been rather random lately due to the fact that there has been no movement on the tiny house. So I could not resist taking a photo of these lovely cherry blossom trees up the street from me that I marvel at every year when they come to blossom.... photo worthy I think.

Having said that I had a family friend come over on Thursday to consult me on the wiring for the tiny house. I did most of it in the fall time with the help of my neighbor but he is very busy these days with bee keeping and I don't always want to bother him so I thought I could do the rest myself. Well.... This part of the project is hard for me to wrap my brain around. Yes yes, I know that this is probably easy for a lot of you but this is something I don't want to mess with.... maybe my next tiny home.

I haven't seen the quote yet but he did say he would give me a deal being family and all.... yikes. So I think I've decided to higher him to get the job done right and get things moving.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011




OK so here is the latest.
I started a new job one day a week at a local garden center just to add a bit more busyness to my life. It's located in a nice little neighborhood and has that boutique kind of feel. With the extra cash it will help get my tiny house done and get my little store up and running.

Last Sunday I was in a spring craft market so for the last few weeks my time has been devoted to sewing like crazy as well as tending to my mom and the rest of the family.

My neighbor managed to find a sub panel at a house that is going to be torn down just the next block over from here. So now I just need to figure out how I'm going to wire it up to the main house.... I need to consult an expert.

I think the warm weather is on it's way so it's hight time I get back at it.

Thursday, March 3, 2011



I was think that even though I haven't been working on the tiny house it's good for me to keep my blog udated but what to write about today. Then I remembered the inspiration file.

Just this past week I have seen in two separate locations filing cabinets for free on the curb side. We had a big tall one long ago that we painted pink. I was more then happy to get rid of that big tank..... well maybe not.... after all my junk may have become someone's treasure.

This before and after on Design Sponge is a perfect example of turning someone's cast off into a treasure... well done!

Monday, February 21, 2011






The idea of building with used shipping container's really intrigues me.
Quite often I drive by the loading docks where the containers are and I find myself dreaming up designs for a container home.
I can't remember where I found this post but I love this container that functions as a guest house or would make a great art studio!

Saturday, February 19, 2011



I seem to start dreaming of a new project before I even finish the last one. Needless to say I have a lot of unfinished projects around here.

Having said that I came across this cute little make shift green house on Design Sponge.

I like this plan but I'm thinking bigger.... uh oh

Friday, February 4, 2011


It has been crazy times these days with going back and forth to the hospital but as of yesterday my mom is now at home and trying to adjust. Even though she has only been in her apartment for a day and a half she is doing remarkably well. It seems to me she could make a full recovery from her stroke.... on wards and up wards

Needless to say the tiny house has been totally neglected to the point that this lovely buffet I received for my birthday yesterday has been sitting in there for 3 days. I must have walked by the tiny house 20 times over those 3 days.

Wow was I surprised! I've had my eye on this buffet for a while.... I knew it would fit perfect and the mirror beside it will hang just above it. Thank you family, I love it!

Now to get working on TTH!

Thursday, January 20, 2011


Doing some dolly work today.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011


I found this picture this morning when I was doing some house cleaning in my aperture application.

It's funny to see how I was visualizing the tiny house. The way it looks now I'm not to far off.

Saturday, January 15, 2011



It has been raining on and off for awhile now..... it is Vancouver after all.
There has been some leakage at the bottom inside of the door so I really need to get back to work on the tiny house before it gets any worse.

I thought there was mold under the vapour barrier but it turns out it was just a bit of loose insulation. Never the less this dampness needs tending to.

Toooo many things to do!