Choosing Paint Colors

Last weekend, Eric and I did probably one of the more fun things involved in building a tiny house - picking colors for the exterior. We had a nice brunch in downtown Bothell before walking down to the Sherwin Williams where we selected three colors for the exterior of our tiny home. We already had our color palette in mind, however, you forget how many shades of red and blue there are until you walk into a paint store!

We are very pleased with what we ended up with:

• Georgian Revival Blue will be the main exterior siding color
• Fireweed Red will be the front door color
• Snowbound White will be the exterior trim color

Guess we were feeling a little patriotic when we picked our colors! Now we need to come up with a name and would love your help in doing so. Ideas and suggestions are welcome. You can comment on this post if you have any ideas!

In terms of updates on the house, the trailer and appliances have arrived, and the build is underway. The house should be completed by April 8th and delivered on or around the 15th! I promise to post pictures of the build as we receive further updates. 

Looking for Land

One of the first questions I usually get asked when I tell people we are going tiny is, "Where are you parking the house?" I must say, finding a place to park a tiny home can be a difficult process, even in the PNW, where you would think the community would welcome tiny homes with open arms. Unfortunately, housing rules and regulations make the process more difficult than you might think. 

The process of finding land to rent was, in my opinion, the most frustrating part of this entire process. There are several websites and Facebook forums that connect those with land to those with tiny homes, however, land for tiny homes is hard to come by. I talked with several members of the tiny house community and put out some feelers on various online groups, but not too much came of that.

I had about given up on the dream of going tiny, when I opened up an email alert about a tiny house blog I had subscribed to. At the bottom of the email, there was a link to a list of land for rent across the country. I had seen this site before, but noticed a new post in Washington and clicked it. Sure enough, a spot just like we were looking for was described and available starting around the time frame we would need it. I immediately contacted the landlord and the rest is now history! 

Our Parking Spot

Eric and I will be renting land a little northeast of Seattle from a gentlemen who owns 100+ acres of farmland. He's got a couple of RV spots set up and has recently started opening up the spots to the tiny house community. He hopes to have a tiny house village of 5-6 homes at some point in the near future. We will have electric, water, sewage, internet, garbage and recycling. 

We will have access to the land as of April 1st are hoping for a move in date of April 15, depending on when the house is completed and delivered. We are anxiously awaiting our new home and new space to put our home!

Downsizing

Parring down, downsizing, going minimalist. Call it what you like, but we're well under way with this difficult process and still have leaps and bounds to go! 

Top: dining set for sale; Bottom Left: donations; Bottom Right: amoire for sale

If you've followed the tiny house movement at all, you've probably watched Tiny House Nation and seen the variety of exercises John puts folks through to par down. While we aren't going to be on TV parring down our belongings, the drama is just as real. Eric and I are working together to figure out what we can sell, donate and simply get rid of. So far, I have two bags full of clothes to show as progress!

The process is even more difficult, considering Eric and I have both moved across the country within the last 12 months and already got rid of a lot to make the move. What we still have has already "made the cut" once, so getting rid of some of these items is emotionally challenging.

We are also selling several larger items online via FaceBook Marketplace, NextDoor and LetGo. For anyone looking to get rid of things quickly and earn a little cash, these are great sites to check out! So far, we are in the process of selling my bed frame (IKEA Brimnes), our dining room table, an amoire, an antique window and our entertainment center. 

While we have a ways to go still, I am confident we will get there. I am looking forward to a simpler lifestyle with fewer "things". As we go through this process, it's critical to focus on what having fewer things will allow us to do. We'll have more freedom and money to travel. We'll have less to clean. We'll have less to move. Considering these things helps make the process worthwhile and makes it exciting and way less scary to downsize. We're hoping to have a good two weeks once we have our tiny house so that we can continue to determine what can stay and what must go. 

Also, spoiler alert, we are planning to get a small storage unit for furniture, etc. that won't fit in the house but we would like to keep. Sorry to ruin it for you!

Going Tiny

It’s official, Eric and I are going tiny! We are building our first home together, a tiny house on wheels (THOW). We are excited, nervous and optimistic about taking this step together. There’s a lot to think about, even though we’ll be downsizing to about 250 square feet! If you’re reading this, we appreciate your interest and support and hope you enjoy following along with us via this blog as we navigate this journey together!

Eric asked me the other night when I decided I wanted to go tiny. Honestly, I can’t recall, but I do remember a couple of things. I remember watching a tiny house episode on HGTV on a plane ride to Seattle and hearing the people building the tiny house talk about all the freedoms it brings. Financial freedom, freedom to travel more, and freedom to work less. “How relevant”, I thought to myself. We live in the greater Seattle area, an expensive market where the average home costs $600,000. We are avid travelers and would love to have more time and means to travel. How relevant, indeed!

Our home will be built by a great group of folks in Tennessee, Incredible Tiny Homes. We have been working with Randy and the crew at Incredible Tiny Homes to design a custom home suited for our needs. We signed the contract yesterday, and the home is scheduled for completion and delivery to Seattle in mid-April 2017. 

While Eric and I don’t aspire to be tiny home dwellers forever (at least not for now), we anxiously await this next phase of life together. Over the coming month as our home is built, I will post on the “ins and outs” of going tiny and how we have traversed the journey. We’re excited to share this journey with you here, whether you know us, are just interested in our story, or you are a stranger and considering going tiny yourself. Thanks for being a part of our story!

P.S. Pictures & more details are coming! The house is still in the initial planning/building stages, so we don't have much to show for it yet!