Holidays at Home

This is a year of a lot of first, being the first year we are living tiny. Living tiny has brought it's array of challenges, some more serious than others. The current dilemma is how to best decorate for the holidays with so little room. We typically get a live tree for the house/apartment, but this year, we wouldn't have any place to put it!

This year, decorating is a little different than in the past. Having a smaller space to work with means getting creative. While some decorations may not be going out this year, one creative solution has been to bring some of our usual home decorations to my office. I actually bought a tiny tree just for the office and will be bringing my ornaments and lights in this week to decorate. 

At the house, we have just  swapped out some of our usual decor (pictures, candles, etc.) with Christmas decorations. That way, we can still festive, but don't have too much junk cluttering the house. It's worked out really well, and I've been able to find a spot for nearly all my decorations. Now I just have to refrain from buying more!

Below are a few of the decorations we have interspersed throughout the house:

I did add in one more piece of decor this year. I found a tiny gingerbread house on wheels online and "had to have it." We put it together this morning and I think it turned out pretty well!

Living tiny is full of small sacrifices and compromises to make everything work in the space we have. I'm happy we can still be festive in our small space, and look forward to a wonderful Christmas with all three of my boys in our cozy little home.

 Furry Friends

I like to say I live in the tiny house with three boys. There's Eric of course, and two others. Two furry fellas, Huskey and Snowy (Snowman). 

Eric and I adopted our two boys back in December 2016. They lived with us in the apartment for about five months before we all made the transition to tiny living. Our cats have always lived in rather small spaces - the cat shelter, the apartment - at least that we know of. Huskey was found in a field, which may explain his love of the outdoors. 

We were a little worried about the boys' transition to the tiny house. We weren't sure how they would handle a new place, as well as a much smaller space than they were before. We tried to help them get used to it even before we moved. We put some of their toys in the tiny house before moving the cats and brought the toys back to the apartments so the cats could get used to the smell.

As it turns out, the cats took to the house very quickly! They learned how to use the catwalk on the first day, that is, Huskey at least. Snowman took a little bit longer to make the trek across the catwalk, but he eventually decided that it was his new favorite idea of fun!

The cats have their favorite places in the house, like sleeping on top of the couch, perching in the windowsills, and meowing at the front door. They sleep at our heads every night, and enjoy sleeping in their cat beds in the storage loft during the day. They have a toy that they play with together at the foot of our bed. And their newest favorite adventure is going outside! We take them for walks on their leashes, as well as let them free room around the house. They're pretty good about staying nearby, and are terrified of cars, so we don't have to worry too much! It's been really fun to bring them outside and watch them run around and play together. They like to gallop across the open yard in front of the house and chase each other around. It's great exercise for the cats, and it helps them cope a bit with being cooped up in such a small place.

While we originally intended to have the litter box in the tongue box of the house, it didn't work out that way and we decided to place the litter box in the bathroom at the bottom of the closet. Eric was able to uninstall and reinstall the shelving in the bathroom to make it where we still have a shelf underneath the closet, but are able to easily access the litter box for cleaning. It's worked out really well. Snowy even wipe his paws on the bathmat as he exits the litter box! Another interesting feature in the bathroom is the cat water bowl that sits inside the shower. We had a lot of issues at the apartment with the cats spilling a lot of water that was in their bowl, and didn't want to ruin our new wood floors. Eric came up with the idea to just keep the water bowl in the shower, which was brilliant! Even if the cats spill, the water just goes right down the drain. 

We also upgraded the cat food bowl before we moved into the tiny house. We previously had a timed feeder, but it was a little archaic in terms of the technology. We upgraded to a new one that holds over two weeks worth of food for the cats, and can feed them multiple times a day. It also plugs into the wall versus running off of batteries. It has worked really well. It sits right by the front door and feeds the cats three times a day. It calls the kitties and they come running when they hear the sound!

While the cats of been enjoying the house and we of course find them adorable and loving, there has been one issue. Cat hair is always a concern when you have multiple furry friends, but the issue somehow seems to grow bigger the smaller the house! Lint rollers have become our new best friend, and Eric invested in an air filter/purifier for the house. Cat hair seems to stick to all of the clothes and linens, which makes for an interesting looking (and fluffier) pillow!

Cleaning has been a little bit more of a chore because of the cat hair, but luckily the smaller space keeps the cleaning time down. My new routine is to first take this "carPET" tool I bought on Amazon, which works really well for getting cat hair of carpet. Once I get a nice handful of hair out of the carpet with this tool, I've shake out any dirt and run the vacuum over the rug. Next step is to spray the rug with Downy spray, and wipe it clean. It's a bit of a chore, but doing this once a week really helps keep the carpets looking nice and smelling fresh!

In closing, I have to add that this is the boys' birthday week - they are now a whole year old! It's hard to believe how big they've gotten, even just in the short time we've had them. So far, I would say all four of us are really enjoying the space. 

That's all for now about the kitties. Stay tuned for more post to come, and please let me know if there are certain topic questions you have about the house. I'm always looking for blog post inspiration!

Six Week Check In

Eric and I have officially been living in our tiny home for six (or seven) weeks now, and we still love each other! We love our house too. It's been an eventful month and then some, with busy work schedules, travel and vacation, but we've managed to spend some time at the house and working on the house. There's still a laundry list of projects ahead, but here's a little bit about what we've accomplished so far.

Unpacking

Anyone who has moved knows what a chore unpacking is. Imagine unpacking in under 250 square feet. There's no extra room to let things pile up or hang til later when you can get to them. As such, we were furiously unpacking our first couple of weeks in the house to get things in order and make the space livable. Believe it or not, there was a lot to unpack! Also, we had to continue to sort out what could go in the storage unit and what should stay in our storage loft. Everything is now unpacked and has a place of its own in the tiny house.

Organizing

In a tiny house, organization is key. We are still figuring out the organization of our place, but have navigated the organization process pretty well so far. We've had to figure out some innovative and clever storage solutions to keep everything put away. Amazon has been a god send for all our storage needs! Of note is a pot holder for our pots, pans and cutting boards that is stored in the kitchen cabinets and allows us to make use of the whole space. We've organized the storage loft so that there is plenty of room for the cats to walk around and relax up top. My shoes have been nicely stored in baskets underneath the TV. I am still working on organizing our "desk drawer", as well as the pantry. The pantry is a little challenging to access at the moment, but Eric has a plan to make items in the pantry a bit more accessible, which will be really helpful! 

Handywork

Eric has been busy sprucing up our home and has completed several cool projects. We installed an old-fashioned lock on our bathroom door for added privacy. Eric also added hinges to a cabinet door in the kitchen which was accessible from inside the cabinets, but a little challenging to access. Now you can open the door from  the outside and easily get to everything. Eric also built me a little extra shelf inside some of our larger cabinets, which has provided some good storage for dishes. Finally, we cut the ladder the builder provided to access the storage loft so that we can leave it up all the time, but it doesn't take up as much room. We have plans to build a collapsible dining table so that we'll be able to eat inside and not on the couch. We're still figuring out the best way to do this.

Decorating

The walls have been transformed from plain old tongue and groove siding, to an array of travel, cat, beer and bike-themed decor. We got some funky shelves for the living room and glassware storage shelves for the kitchen. I also ordered an adorable key holder from Etsy! Another favorite new piece of mine is the antique soap holder I bought for the bathroom sink. I thought it was a little different and went with the farmhouse theme...and farm that we live on! We still have a few decorations in the works, including curtains for the windows and front door. We've had a lot of sunshine this summer and curtains will be great to control the light coming in - oh yeah, and for privacy! 

Outdoor space

The newest addition to our tiny home is our brand new grill! We used to grill at the apartment and had to get one in time for summer. Plus, we'll be put it to good use at our housewarming party last weekend!

As you can see, we're six + weeks in and have made great progress on making our house our home. We've still got a ways to go, but we're enjoying our space and love making it truly "Gezellig".

Stay tuned for future updates on our progress! 

One week in

Eric and I have officially lived in our tiny house, Gezellig, one week. While we love the house and are so excited to be in our very own home, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing this first week. In this post, I’ll share first impressions of how things are going in our first few days in the house. Warning: this post is not meant to be a complaint session, even though it might sound like it at times. I just want to share the reality of the situation for those who may be considering going tiny. Please bear with me!

It’s Not What They Show on TV. 
Life isn’t like the movies, right? This has certainly held true for the tiny house! While we are loving the home itself, the “settling” process has been trickier than they make it look on the TV shows. On Tiny House Nation, the house is all set up and good to go, decorated to the nines, and ready for move in. This was not reality for us! We expected to spend our first weekend with the house moving and settling in. Rather, we made many trips to the hardware and RV stores, searching for plumbing, electric and water parts. While the builder installed all the hookups and wiring, there were several adapters and pieces we needed to hook up to the site itself. Some things we had to order, so we weren’t able to move in the first weekend, as we only had electric and water figured out by Sunday!

Hurdles.
According to Eric, everything has gone wrong with the house. I say while there have been bumps in the road, it’s nothing we couldn’t easily overcome. I guess it began with the hookups. It took two days to get the electric and water sorted out, but Eric is now a fairly well-versed electrician and plumber! We had to order a part for the sewage, an adapter to attach to the house, but once we got that, the toilet and plumbing worked just fine! 

Leveling the house was interesting. We broke a jack in the process, and will need to get that repaired, but the good news is, the house is level. We’ve been using our barn-door (bathroom door) as our test subject. If the house is not level, the door will not stay open! Once we got the house level, we started hanging things on the walls. We’ve been keeping Amazon in business this week with all of the shelving and storage items we have purchased. You’d never know we were downsizing with the amount of stuff I bought on Amazon this week!

On Thursday night, we decided to run a load of laundry, our first in Gezellig! It took two to get it figured out, but we managed to level the washer, and get rid of the jig the washed was doing during our first load. It’s funny, because the washer shakes the house a bit when it’s running the spin cycle. It’s actually kind of soothing. 

Organization is key.
While we are starting to feel relatively settled, we are still very much in the process of getting organized. The storage loft looks like something exploded, but I am hoping to use this weekend to get things organized. Once we are organized, I will post some interior pictures – promise!

My car has born the brunt of the organization crisis. I’ve had two suitcases and two garbage bags full of shoes in my car all week. These items technically fit in the house, but livable/walking space is limited when they are inside, so we have kept them in the car to retain our sanity. Fortunately, even though we got a small storage unit (5x5 ft), we have been able to store more than we thought, which gives us more room to enjoy our home. 

Jigsaw Puzzle.
This week has felt like I’ve been assembling a giant jigsaw puzzle. We’ve had to find a new home in our home for daily use items, and come up with creative, space-maximizing storage solutions. I’ve purchased hooks and wine racks to hang coffee mugs and beer glasses from our kitchen shelves, wall-mounted grips for holding spices in the pantry, and a wall-mounted paper towel holder to get paper towels off the counter. We’re navigating the puzzle one thing at a time and figuring out the best way to organize and store all of our belongings. We’ve got a lot of built in storage too, with all the kitchen cabinets and the storage area in our couch. It’s all about figuring out how to use those nooks and crannies to you advantage and maximizing every inch of storage space.

Furry friends.
Snowman and Huskey have adapted well. We drove them over last Saturday (after most everything was moved in, or so we thought) and they took immediately to the stairs and cat walk. Snowman was a little slower to warm up (he's our scaredy cat), but they are now chasing each other and racing around the house. We've taken them outside a little bit on their leashes, so they have had a chance to explore and get some fresh air.

We are now known as, “the people with the tiny house.”
I kid you not, I walked into the dentist the other day and told them I needed to update my mailing address, and the receptionist said, “are you the one with the tiny house?” It’s funny how it always seems to come up, but I love talking about it and am so happy with our home, so it’s great to share! We’re looking forward to hosting friends and family at our housewarming party in June. We’ve got a lot to get organized before then!

The Journey

Our tiny house was built in Tennessee by Incredible Tiny Homes. We live in the greater Seattle area. How is our home maneuvering the 2,500 miles between these two cities?

Matt Heath, Incredible Tiny Homes' delivery partner and tiny house driver extraordinaire is driving our itty bitty home across the country. I must say, the only time a tiny house feels big is when it's attached to a truck! 

Matt has done a fabulous job of keeping us up to date on his progress during the drive. On Monday, we received pictures from Missouri.

On Tuesday, Matt passed through Nebraska with our home in tow.

Today (Wednesday), we received photos including a scenic view of the house in Utah!

We can't wait to share the final pictures of our new home when it arrives in Washington, which may be tomorrow! Stay tuned for more on the rest of the trek!

Move-In Jitters

Wow, a lot has happened since my last post. There's a lot to talk about and I'm not quite sure where to begin! One thing that has certainly been present on our minds recently is moving. It's now a reality that our tiny house will be here anytime. We are down to the wire! Our tiny house will be in Washington this week and ready for move in. Are we ready? Not so sure!

While we've made good progress, I fear there's still a lot to go! We've sold over a dozen medium/large items (mostly furniture) to prepare for the move. We're down to a mattress, two night stands, a buffet table and a couch that will be going in the tiny house. We've got three pieces to put in storage, along with some other items that won't fit in the house, but overall our apartment is looking pretty empty!

We've made three big trips to Goodwill so far & will make at least one more this week. We've got all our storage stuff in bins, so no yucky cardboard will be in the storage unit. What worries me the most right now is clothes. Eric got rid of a whole garbage bag full last weekend, but I think there may still be a come to Jesus moment coming for me with the clothes and shoes when the tiny house arrives!

On Monday I went to the post office and finalized the process of getting our PO box set up, so we now officially have a mailing address. Eric arranged for the tiny house insurance through Allstate, so we've now got that squared away too! Matt is on his way with the house and we received word today that he has made it to Utah. The house could be here tomorrow. Whoa!

This weekend we plan to move everything over, moving the cats last. Then we've got to put the other stuff that won't fit in storage (hopefully not that much stuff!). Then we've got to thoroughly clean our current place. I think we've got enough to keep us busy. Please keep us in your prayers!

Something Blue

Our tiny house got a little hint of something blue today! Okay, maybe more than a hint! Today the exterior paint coat (Georgian Revival Blue) was added to the tiny house, and what a cool color it is. 

Eric and I chose blue for the main exterior color, as it's a color we could both agree on, and thought it would look really good on the house. We originally toyed with the idea of leaving the wood natural and painting the exterior later on ourselves, but decided to splurge and get the paint job done by Incredible Tiny Homes. 

Though we have not yet seen it in person, I am sure it looks fabulous (at least it sure does in the pictures)! 

P.S. We are just 10 days away from the anticipated arrival of our tiny house...let the countdown begin!