Here Comes the Rain Again

Portland has been experiencing an unusually long, warm, and dry autumn, but on Friday, after nearly two months of rain-free days, the dry spell was broken. For the first rainstorm of the season it was pretty impressive. All day long it poured buckets and people scrambled from building to building. As the ground became saturated and the leaves clogged up the gutters the puddles in the potholes became little lakes in the streets. I hadn’t brought my rain pants to school with me, so I was drenched by the time my bike and I made it home again. But once I was there I was delighted by the experience of rain on my Home, Sweet Yurt. The drumming of raindrops on the skylight is really a magical sound.

My dear friend Sarah arrived in town just as I got home and it was nice to share the rainy evening with her. We cooked up delicious burritos and then enjoyed tea and chocolate as we listened to the rain. Sarah is a hardy soul and she’s lived on a farm in a tent with an outdoor kitchen so I knew she would like my new abode. But she has a lower body fat ratio than I do so when she started shivering I decided it was time to get my Envi heater set up.

I hauled it out of the box and remembered that the Envi Heat doesn’t work unless it’s hung on a flat wall, 8 inches from the floor. I glanced around, remembering that in the yurt I don’t have any flat walls! So I decided to attach it to my dresser. With the help of a screwdriver and the included template it was installed, plugged in, and heating the house within 10 minutes. I’ve kept it on the lowest setting ever since plugging it in and it’s been very cozy.

On Saturday I spent a couple hours helping Derin build the walls of the gable ends of his UrbaNest tiny house. Then Sarah and I had a great time exploring Portland, including breakfast at Pine State Biscuits, wandering along Belmont, a pot of chai tea at Tao of Tea, a couple hours in the kids’ section at Powell’s, bacon maple Voodoo donuts, and a stroll along the waterfront. It was a lovely way to spend the first rainy weekend of the season!

Building an UrbaNest

Through coordinating the Pedalpalooza Accessory Dwelling Tour I met Derin and Andra who built an ADU in their basement. We’ve kept in touch about small spaces and I was excited to learn that Derin and Andra have recently decided to start an energy efficiency consulting and tiny house building company called UrbaNest NW. First step: build a tiny house. I’ve been missing building since I wrapped up the tiny house I built for Orange Splot through My Summer Dream Job. So on Saturday I went over to Derin’s place to help him frame up the walls. It was a perfect October day: high clouds, yellow and orange leaves floating down in the breezes and blusters, still warm but with a hint of crispness. Derin already had one of the short walls mostly finished when I arrived so I helped him with the window framing and the top plates. Then we moved on to one of the long walls.

I took over the chop station while Derin did the final figuring. Derin is meticulous and had everything organized and laid out, but it’s amazing how there are always little tweaks here and there that are necessary once you start building in real life. We were talking about this when we took a snack break in the late afternoon.

I told him I often think of rock climbing when I’m building. Designing is like climbing at an indoor rock gym. You can get pretty good at technical climbing indoors: balancing, strength, agility, spotting your next foothold, etc. All this knowledge transfers to climbing on real rock, but outside you have more factors to consider. You’re contending with slippery surfaces, critters in the cracks, loose rocks, temperature variations, etc. Building is more like climbing on real rock: you’re dealing with the actual pieces of wood that are going to become your wall structure and they all have their own personalities. It’s like they come to the building process willing but with caveats. This is, of course, one of the most frustrating aspects of building, but that character is what gives wood it’s beauty and makes it a pleasure with which to work.

Once we’d knocked out two walls it was tempting to keep going, but Derin wisely suggested that we do the rest of the cuts and lay out the wall so that he could put it all together in the morning when he was fresh. We set up a second chop station and got to work. The two long walls are nearly symmetrical so we were able to lay out the new frame on top of the first one. Thanks to Derin’s detail-orientedness, the two matched up perfectly, at least at the lay out stage! I wanted so badly to come back the next day and help get the other walls up, but my schoolwork demanded my attention. So Derin had a few other friends come help out and I had to just appreciate the photographic evidence of another hard day’s work.

My Kitchen Cupboard

Drawing inspiration from several all-in-one kitchens I’ve seen on the tiny house blogs, I decided that I wanted a kitchen cupboard in the yurt that would contain everything I need to prepare, cook, and serve meals. So I found a TV cabinet for sale on Craigslist and was lucky enough to have the fella offer free delivery, too. A friend of mine helped move it into the yurt and I spent this evening setting up my kitchen. The kitchen cupboard is about the same height, width, and depth as my dressers are when stacked so these two pieces of furniture at the door create a sense of entry. In the space where the TV usually goes I have a microwave, a toaster oven, a cutting board, a couple of drawers full of kitchen gadgets, and a 2-gallon water jug with a spout. The drawers contain dishes for eating and serving, canned and boxed dry goods, and my cooking tools: 2 pots, a pressure cooker, an electric one-burner cook top, and an electric water kettle. Now let’s see… what’s for dinner?

Home, Sweet Yurt

Just before I ran off for my interview with Portlandia’s The Real Portland, a few of my friends from school helped me move my 198 things into the yurt. (Check out My 200 Things Challenge). I’m not yet settled, but I love it already. It was so nice to sleep under the stars in my glorified tent. And although it’s a small space, I have big plans for it! I think my two most useful strategies will be to use the vertical space and to take advantage of the lattice walls providing lots of spots to hang things. I stacked my dressers just as I did in the tiny house. One dresser is dedicated to my clothing. The other I’m using to store my art, craft, and drafting supplies, my electronics, and my toolbox. I’m using the space under the bed to store outdoor gear like my sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and backpack as well as my summer clothes. I plan to find a tall cabinet to use for My Kitchen Cupboard.

I’m so excited to be closer to campus and the happenings of inner Portland. The location may be my favorite thing about my new place. The dome skylight oculus is definitely my favorite part of being in the yurt. I’ve considered putting an overhead skylight in the vardo I want to build for myself. Living with the dome skylight for just a couple days has convinced me that it’s a great idea. The quality of light from overhead is different and really lovely!

As I settle in and begin unpacking, I realize I’m now surrounded by the things I like best. Downsizing from a Tiny House to a Tinier House was not as difficult for me as my initial downsizing from a two-bedroom house to a yurt. As I moved into the yurt with my belongings I became especially grateful that I've embarked upon My 200 Things Challenge, too. I am, without a doubt, less materialistic than I was a year ago. I am better able to appreciate items for their functionality and the pleasure they bring me.

Portlandia’s The Real Portland

A couple weeks ago some folks from Portlandia contacted me regarding tiny houses. They explained that they are doing a web series to show that even though the show spoofs on how bizarre Portland is, there really are people doing strange and wonderful things here. (Here's the video!)

“We want to interview people who live in a tiny house community in Portland,” they said. I explained that there isn’t yet a community of tiny houses here, but many of us are working on starting one. (For good measure, I asked on the Portland Tiny Houses facebook group and no one else knew of one that already exists either.) However, I assured Portlandia I could connect them with tiny house residents and suggested a few possibilities. They ended up deciding to interview John Labovitz about his Tiny House Truck and they invited me to be part of the interview.

It was pretty amazing to see the crew arrive and descend upon John’s 14-foot-long-tiny house. They’d sent their “small” crew of about 20 people. (By the way, how in the world did they manage to find parking for not one but two 15 passenger vans right off a main street on a weekend afternoon!?) In addition to the sound crew and the video crew there were people who had us fill out waivers and people who made sure we weren’t wearing any brand name stuff. I was sporting a Yestermorrow T-shirt on purpose, but I was pretty sure they’d be okay with it and luckily they were. There were people who held shiny screens to reflect the light in the right way. And I’m pretty sure one guy’s sole responsibility was to dispense tape!

The folks who did the interview were funny, but it was clear they hadn’t done their homework because they weren’t asking the right questions. They didn’t really know much about tiny houses. Sometimes it seems to me everyone knows about tiny houses by now, but it’s a good reminder that’s not true. Since we were at John’s place most of their questions were for him, but I had fun piping up a couple times to tell them about Downsizing from a Tiny House to a Tinier House and My 200 Things Challenge.

If the interview is used it all it will be part of a web series leading up to the next Portlandia series. Either way, it was a fun experience. And it certainly made my moving day epic!

Update: Here's the video! Turns out I didn't get a speaking part after all, which is fine by me since John and his wee house truck (and his neighbors) are the stars anyhow!

You Can’t Take it with You

… or at least I can’t take it all with me. I had already decided to take on My Things Challenge by the time I realized I'd be Downsizing from a Tiny House to a Tinier House (from a 121 square foot tiny house on wheels to a 114 square foot yurt!) But I knew the smaller space would help hold me accountable. It certainly has. As I began Inventorying & Packing Up (which took quite a while!) I realized that some things just wouldn’t fit comfortably with me in the teeny space. So I put a big pile of things near the street this morning with a free sign and posted an ad on Craigslist. One of things I gave away was the big green velveteen foam-filled pillow chair I bought from Robb’s Pillow Furniture at the Oregon Country Fair. I’ve enjoyed it a great deal over the years, but I knew I wouldn’t have space for it and I figured it was time to pass it on. I was delighted when Rocky, the guy who taught me to tile told me he’d snagged the pillow chair from my pile on his way to work. Hopefully his kids have fun jumping on it!

I wheeled out the big suitcase I’ve only used when I went studied abroad in Italy in 2003 and whenever I schlep my possessions from one house to the next. I haven’t checked luggage since 2003 – see Packing Lightly vs. Packing Densely – so I realized I just don’t need it. I set out the clothes that don’t fit me just right and when I came back out with another armload I was pleased a woman my size had stopped to go through the pile. She was as happy to add my stuff to her wardrobe as I was to get rid of it! (For more about tiny wardrobes, check out The Minimalist's New Clothes.)

By evening my free pile was gone and those items had been dispersed across the city. Hopefully they’ve found good homes!

So did I get down to 100 Things? Nope, not quite. This year I'm doing My 200 Things Challenge. But Who's Counting Anyway?

My 200 Things Challenge

A few months ago I decided to take on the 100 Thing Challenge during this school year, but once I decided to count both household and personal possessions, I knew my number would be bigger. As I finished Inventorying & Packing Up, I decided 200 was a good number. I’m currently at 198 things. Here is My 198 Things List.

I scratched my head for a while about how to count the things that I own but am not currently using and how to count the things that I’m currently using but don’t own. For instance, I own a house in Walla Walla that I’m renting partially furnished, so I'm well acquainted with the Joys of Home Ownership. I’m not living in my house right now, but it is mine. Meanwhile, I am living in a partially furnished yurt. I’ve decided to just count the things that I'm living with right now. I'll include the things I'm renting or borrowing on my list since they are in my possession. However, for the record, I do own a house and the furniture in it as well as four totes and a food dehydrator that are currently stored in my friend’s basement.

I’ll admit that my loophole is that in some cases I counted a container rather than all the items it contains. For instance, if I’d counted every ring, earring, bracelet, and necklace in my jewelry box I would have had 34 things, but I counted my jewelry box as just one thing. I love jewelry because it’s a way to quickly change my look with pretty little details. Besides, most of my jewelry has a story: it was a gift from a friend, I inherited it from my grandmother, I found it in the night market in Chang Mai, etc. But tend to I think of my jewelry as a single thing, so I decided to count it that way. The trick, I’ve decided is to not overflow the handful of boxes I’ve allowed myself. (For the sake of honesty, I did actually inventory everything that I would have to purchase separately, so I have two counts. For instance, if my bike was stripped and I had to replace my water bottle, lights, helmet, rack, paniers, etc. it would be more than one thing. My true count is 577 things, but by my practical count it’s 198 things.)

So I plan to live this next year with 200 items or less. I’ll try to adopt the mantra from the Non-Consumer Advocate website: “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” Moving Day is Sunday so the challenge begins then. Here goes!

A Year of Little Living

Somehow it's already been nearly a year since I moved into a 121 square foot tiny house on wheels and wrote my first blog post: The Tiny House Adventure Begins. And what a year it's been!

This afternoon I was a virtual guest speaker for the Tiny House Design-Build Class at Yestermorrow and this evening I had a great conversation with my friend Derin about building tiny houses. Both of these got me thinking about how many amazing tiny opportunities I've had over the past year.

Through my internship with Orange Splot I coordinated the Pedalpalooza Accessory Dwellings and Tiny House Bike Tours and wrote several guest posts for AccessoryDwellings.org. Eli also connected me with the Space Efficient Housing Working Group and we've helped to plan the upcoming Build Small, Live Large Summit. I'll be presenting a session about tiny houses with Dee Williams of PAD Tiny Houses and Derin Williams of UrbaNest Northwest.

Speaking of Dee Williams, she helped me connect with other tiny housers in the area and our contacts spiderwebbed out from there. In the process I have met lots of great folks who are building, designing, living in, or dreaming about tiny houses. We've now had several potlucks and created the Portland Tiny Houses Facebook group and the Tiny House Network Google group. I've profiled A Tiny House Truck, A Tiny Natural House, and Advanced Fort Construction. We've chatted about the joys and challenges of the Little Life and helped each other with designing, building, troubleshooting, tiny house moves, and sharing resources and infromation. Dee also invited Brittany Yunker and I to participate in the Portland Tumbleweed Tiny House Workshop in June. I am extremely grateful to both Brittany and Dee for helping me to make these connections with other amazing tiny housers.

Over spring break I had the chance to help a friend built the shell of her Tiny Barn and I apprenticed with Orange Splot for My Summer Dream Job: Tiny House Design Building. In July we got Brittany's Tiny House On the Road again and I lived in an ADU which I dubbed My Summer Garden Cottage. I spent my days Going Whole Hog on the Tiny House, working on Tiny House Insulation, Roofing, and Interior Walls. The tiny house was featured on the Build it Green (BIG) Tour in September. I was able to use these design-building experiences as my practicum project for my Certificate in Sustainable Design and Building at Yestermorrow Design Build School in Vermont.

I've been interviewed by journalism students for OR Magazine, by newspapers like the Portland Tribune, by a Canadian TV station, and by Vermont Public Radio. I'm also scheduled to do an interview with my friend John for  Portlandia's The Real Portland. Meanwhile, I've considered a plethora of tiny house issues such as Tiny Home Improvement, Shrinky-Dink Porches, Top 10 Reasons to Pick An Envi Heater, Creative Tiny House Storage Solutions, why Tiny Houses Turn Their Backs on the Street, and Tiny House Insurance (or lack thereof).

Now I'm Downsizing from a Tiny House to a Tinier House and, inspired by the 100 Thing Challenge, I'm currently Inventorying & Packing Up so that I can embark upon My Things Challenge. For the next school year I'll be living in a 113 square foot yurt in inner Portland, so the tiny adventures will continue. Thanks for following along everyone. Here's to another great year of the Little Life!

Inventorying & Packing Up

Since I knew I’d be moving twice this summer I figured the first move would give me a chance to do an inventory and the time in a new space would help me to evaluate what I really use. I’m now turning my attention to my second move, which means re-inventorying and beginning to pack up the things I won’t use in the next couple weeks. Since I’m Downsizing from a Tiny House to a Tinier House, I’ve got some tangible limits on what I’ll be able to bring with me. Here goes downsizing again! When I started My Things Challenge I initially planned to keep two separate lists of 100 things: personal items and household items. The guy named Dave who started the 100 Thing Challengeonly counted personal possessions among his 100 things. He counted his clothes, his car, his books, and his favorite pen, but he didn’t count any of the household items he shared with his partner and children. So, following in his footsteps, I was planning to keep a list of household items and separate list of personal possessions. (See my other rules at My Things Challenge: Who’s Counting Anyway?) But since I’m the only person in my household, I decided this week when I started inventorying that I’ll keep just one list. I’m curious to see what number I’ll pick, what my allowance will be. I've got a hunch I'll be picking a number higher than 100.

One hundred twenty-three things… and counting! (To find out what number I ended up with, click here.)

Tiny House on BIG Tour

Each year Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability hosts the Build it Green Tour, which has been nicknamed the BIG Tour. This year Cully Grove is going to be featured and since the tiny house is here, too, Eli has offered to include it as part of the tour. I’ll be able to show off all my hard work and talk tiny houses with everyone who stops by.

The tiny house has come a long way since I showed the house off at during my Yestermorrow practicum presentation a month ago. I’ll be wrapping up my work on the tiny house in the next week, so showing it at the BIG tour will be my capstone for my summer’s work.

The house isn’t quite done yet. In the next couple days the exterior will be painted and the interior will be clear coated. The kitchen cabinet has been ordered and will be installed soon. Eli is going to have a metalworker named Richard whom he’s worked with before make decorations to cover up the metal hanging brackets that support the loft joists. Eli’s also going to have Rocky tile the countertop. The sink will need to be installed, too. And of course, the finish plumbing and electrical work still needs to be done. But we’re getting to the point that there’s not much more I can do.

I certainly still have plenty to learn, but I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished. Over the course of the summer I learned some tangible hard skills: siding, air sealing, creating an electrical layout, running wire, insulating, paneling, trim work, roofing, shingling. I also learned soft skills related to working solo and planning ahead. I feel really lucky to have had my Summer Dream Job. I found that I love woodworking and especially finish work like window trim. The moment I figured out how to rabbet out a piece of trim on my own was a highlight of the summer. I’m grateful to Orange Splot, LLC for a full year of internship and apprenticeship and I’m glad I get to share the tiny house with others on Saturday, September 21.

Please come check it out if you’re able!