The First Post!!

Firstly.. Welcome to my blog!

This being the first post it might be kind of sloppy, messy and even a little bit confusing but bear with me, I promise it will get better!

I'd better start off with how this blog came to be:

The main reason I started this blog was because I love tiny houses, small homes and everything in between! I'll talk a little bit more in detail about future plans to build tiny further on this post.

I was first inspired by tiny houses several years ago, I was visiting my parents and my mother had a magazine, I forget which one it was exactly since it was years ago after all, which contained a small article on Jay Shafer and his tiny houses from Tumbleweed Tiny House company. I believe back then he was still there and hadn't yet split off to form his next company called Four Lights. I think the house that was featured was similar to The Cypress:

The Cypress by Tumbleweed Tiny House

From that moment on I was hooked. I researched all that I could on tiny houses and the more I learned the more I wanted to build my own one day.

Fast forward to today:

So now I finished in my pursuit of earning a bachelor's degree and do I have a tiny house? The answer is not exactly. While I have lived in several trailers, small apartments and almost everything in between, I have yet to build a true Tiny House like I'd like to. Over the years my ideas and tastes have changed slightly but for the most part, my first Tiny House has stayed the same.

Through a lot planning and personal reflection, I've finally decided to start the process to build my home on wheels. You might be thinking that since The Cypress was the house that inspired me I'd naturally be planning on building that model or one like it. You might also think that since I wrote that last sentence I'm not leaning towards building The Cypress but something else. You'd be correct in that no, I will not be building the Cypress or anything like it at all!
Here is why:

• I'm not confident enough in my building skills nor do I particularly like the floor plans associated with the loft style homes.
• I worry about the weight of the tiny house as a whole as the current truck I have isn't particularly powerful. It can pull a heavy home just fine, but maybe at 20 mph downhill.
• I don't like lofted tiny houses. Yes I do like that a loft saves space, but I do like to be able to jump on the bed occasionally while listening to some good music. Also I like my headspace and my dog is older and doesn't like stairs much.
• My style is a little old fashioned and the styles I've seen on all the tiny house blogs and webpages were a little too modern or the exterior building style clashed with what I wanted my interior to look like.

Based on these things I didn't like, here's what I wanted big picture:

• Single level (i.e. no loft)
•  to make building walls easier
• lots of storage (I do a lot of different outdoor activities and I have lots of gear)
• I wanted to build in floor storage as well as under bed storage and a closet
• Larger bathroom
• Room for composting toilet, walk in shower big enough for a dog to be washed in, small sink and a combination washer/dryer
• Rustic-ish exterior and interior charm
• like I said earlier, I'm fairly old fashioned in my tastes. In more ways than one.
• Good in cold weather (wood stove, good insulation)
• I like the snow and a good fire to sit around and watch the flakes fall
• $20k-$25k budget
• If I were to be spending $50k or more for tiny house I'd just as well build it on a foundation and have a little bit more breathing room (wider and with a loft)
• I don't like spending money on apartments when I have nothing to show for it after I'm done renting.

Here is what I decided and settled on for my mobile Tiny House:

In short what I decided on is a design that is fairly traditional, more so in England than in the US but what I decided on for my inspiration was a Traditional English Shepherds Hut. You can look them up in more detail but for now here are a few inspiratory photos:

I will be making changes to some parts of these designs:

1. Replacing the oak frame trailer and cast iron wheels with a metal frame trailer with more roadworthy wheels. Once I can move somewhere permanent I'll put traditional type wheels on it.
2. The home I'm planning on building is going to be longer than most of these Shepherd huts are. I'd want it to be 8'X26' to give us a rough 206 square feet. (doesn't account for wall thickness)
3. I'll be trying for off grid or minimal grid usage but that will be some years away before I'd be self sufficient.
4. I really want a dutch door. It seems that some of these huts have dutch doors or french doors but I'm very much in love with the idea of a 50/50 split dutch door.

So far that is all I have planned for major changes. I'm still working on finalizing the plans and drawing up a true budget to stick to but for now that is good enough starting point.

If you have any insights, opinions, words of wisdom, or questions feel free to leave your question in the comments below and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

I don't want to bore you with random nothingness especially when I'm not building right now (still in the planning and stocking up on supplies stage) so I might only post once a week if not less. When I start building I'll post daily if possible with lots of photos to share.

Until then,

Hayden