ADU, Travel, Community
Lina Menard
Maui, Hawaii

After A Week Long Send Off, My Round the World Trip kicked off with eight days in Maui visiting my sister Sarah who has split her time between Hawaii and Alaska for many years. What an epic way to start this adventure! There was mist falling when my sister greeted me at the Kahului airport on Maui a week ago, so she teased me about bringing the rain from the mainland. We headed straight for Paia where she presented me with a young coconut and a lei, accompanied by the chant for the gifting-of-a-lei.

Maui, Hawaii
Tiny House, Travel, Planning
Lina Menard
Lucky Penny Moves to Walla Walla

A number of circumstances collided recently to compel me to move the Lucky Penny to my property in Walla Walla where I have a ground bound small house called Valencia Cottage. So on Tuesday trusted tiny house movers Linh and Stephanie Pham helped me move the Lucky Penny safely from Portland to my place in Walla Walla.

Lucky Penny Moves to Walla Walla
Minimalism, Workshop
Lina Menard
Downsizing Tune Up

As I packed up recently in preparation to travel cross country in my Honda Fit, I did some downsizing… It was harder than it had been during my last couple of moves because this time I had more stuff. I’d been living in a bigger space…My apartment was a studio, but it was still about 6 times bigger than the Lucky Penny! I talked with several people about the experience and a handful of them said “oh my goodness, I need to do more of that!” So I’ve decided to offer a 6-week Downsizing Tune Up…

Downsizing Tune Up

Matt LaVoie

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Tiny Tours Near Asheville

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cheers to living in 120 square feet!

I'm spending this week following the Tiny House Conference in Asheville, NC and working alongside fellow work-from-homers, Matt & Laura LaVoie. The past couple days they've been gracious enough to also take me on a couple of tiny house tours.

On Monday we drove to High Cove in Mitchell County, NC, about an hour northeast of Asheville. High Cove is an intentional community that a couple dozen households are creating on a lovely swath of land which emphasizes art, science, and lifelong learning. We enjoyed touring the common house and two of the homes on the property (both under 400 SF) before settling down for a good chat about community and tiny houses over a scrumptious homemade lunch.

High Cove provides guidelines for creating sustainable dwellings on the land, including a size maximum of 1200 SF. However, ADUs are allowed on each lot so you could, for instance, build an 800 SF house and a 400 SF accessory dwelling. One of the founders, Olga, is a city planner, so I enjoyed having her talk us (and, actually walk us!) through the plan for the community, which will include a village center. There are also plans for a tiny house cluster near the creek. It's a lovely spot and I think it would be great fun to be here with several other tinies nearby. Now I have fantasies of spending time in a wee abode in this community someday! I look forward to seeing how this community evolves. Meanwhile, if you're committed to community living and love the Asheville area, get in touch with Olga!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting Laura and Matt's tiny house, also in the mountains near Asheville, but closer to the city. Matt and Laura built their home over the course of three years and Laura's been blogging about it at 120 Square Feet. It was one of the first tiny house blogs I came across and it's been fun to follow along all these years. So it was a real treat to get to tour Laura and Matt's tiny house yesterday along with Kristie Wolfe and Kelly and Chris of Just Right Bus. They did a beautiful job constructing their little home and it was fun hearing about the little changes they've made as they've enjoyed their wee home over the past 4 years.

As so often happens when I'm exposed to new and fabulous tiny homes, I'm inspired all over again. And the timing couldn't be better because when I get home I'll begin building my tiny house (again)! Isha, The Guy Next Door, and I will begin construction of our new tiny home, starting in April. If you'd like to join in on the fun, please check out our T42 Build Blitz or Tiny House Helper.