Before and After at the Tiny House

I was posting pictures like a madwoman when I first moved into the tiny house. Haven't done too many since then, but I thought you might want to see what I've been up to. Looking at these is making me tired.

Here's a bit of what I've done so far.

The first picture is what the garden looked like when I moved in. I filled the window boxes and the bare spaces with flowers. They are all in containers. All planters and holders were either donated or came with plants. Most plants were clearance. I made cushions for the "free" plastic chairs and I like them.

The next picture is my living room/front door. The reason I took a picture of just the door, is that other than a ratty old beat up sofa that I recovered in the second picture, there was NO furniture. Second picture, Ikea sheers, $70 clearance chair, donated and repainted curio, recovered sofa and pillows I made.

The side tables are mission style, dark wood. Two and a matching coffee table were $40 and I have one more brown chair that was $30. The ceramic elephant was my uncles, is very heavy and one of the few things I've been lugging around for years. Several elephants on the shelves too.

Finally a peek at my sewing area. I had a table and machines and some bolts. There were 2 shower rods, so I took the sturdiest one and put it in the nook to hold my bolts and spools. A few months later. a small storage unit holds a shelf for bolts and orders.

A cubby at the side holds tubes of fabric. There is a plank on the other side to hold the shelf and there are pegs in it to hold spools. The shower rod is still in use, holding threaded rods with nut ends for my spools of trims. The unit is completely freestanding and can come with me if I move.

I've done a lot more, but that's all I'll bore you with today. I still have much work to do in the dining room, but I'm really getting there.

Moving Day - Tiny House

If I had a dream place to live, it would be in a tiny house. I don't need much space for myself. I like the idea of an energy efficient house with low ceilings to help save the environment and save me money.

If I had a dream town to live in it would be Chagrin Falls, Ohio. It is  quaint and quiet and there are wonderful activities all year round. There are even several craft and art shows, and local artists show in the town shops. I could go back to painting again.

Hard to believe, just a few months ago, I was struggling to survive and living with my daughter, because I couldn't even afford rent on my own. Well my bad Karma has finally been "debt paid" (I hope) because things miraculously got better when I turned 60.

My daughter's friend found this adorable little cottage, with rent less than the apartments I was looking at. The apartments sounded nice, but I love the yard and flowers and gardening. I will only do container gardening, but there is a huge patio that I can do it on. And the house, although not with much storage. is just perfect.

There are pretty gardens and patios all around the house.

The former owner fed birds too, so I'm sure they will come for me. I love watching the birds.

And where is this cottage you ask? That's right, within walking distance of downtown Chagrin Falls. A decent walk, and a pretty darn good walk to the Post Office, but unless I'm under the weather, I can make it.

Today is my last day with the family (until they're forced to take me when I'm really old) I'll miss them. Guess I'll have to get busy with my own life finally.

Economy - Changing Your Perception

The goal of Marketing is to make you believe that you really need something. It would be unfair of me to say that I don't try to persuade you, that you need my lovely flowers. I don't do a very good job at it though. Maybe I don't sell my flowers much, because I truly believe that they are a luxury and not a necessity. (See akaCINDERS over there --->)

I was watching a commercial for a NuWave oven and thinking to myself, that that monstrosity that we have taking up half our kitchen is a totally unnecessary thing. We have the tiniest kitchen, and we could use more storage. If we had a cupboard, with a counter top oven and electric range, we would have more room, and more counter top. OK, maybe you can't cook a large turkey in it, but I've cooked them out on the grill in the middle of winter before, and they're great. The perception is that you NEED an oven with 4 burners to feed a family. We NEVER use more than one burner at a time. Do you?

Now lets look at your house. How much does it cost to heat your house in the winter (cool in the summer)? Look at your family all sitting together watching TV. How much space is there around them, and between them and the TV? Is all that space necessary. The bigger the gap between them and the TV, the bigger the screen needs to be. Now look at the TV, hold your hands about 15 inches away from your face and frame your TV. How big is that?

I usually watch shows on my laptop. We have a tiny house with a 36" HDMI. My laptop screen at viewing range is 4 times the size of the TV. I usually watch TV on a teeny tiny portable TV. Last night the boy wasn't in the room and I thought, what a great thing, I can watch on the big bedroom TV. As I was watching I did this measuring thing. The big TV at it's distance was half the viewing size of my teeny TV when I watch it.

I realize that some of these suggestions are impractical for a larger family. You can't all sit around a laptop, but you can consider a smaller, not larger house if you are buying. They are easier to maintain and cheaper to climate control. And you can use a smaller TV.

Consider alternatives to your kitchen, or bath to make them more economical and spacious. And my very favorite, hang your laundry and fluff in the dryer to soften. You can even do this in the house in the winter. After all, you have all that extra space.

My point is, that we've all been brainwashed to think that we NEED certain things. We need extra space and a larger TV and a large capacity dryer and a smooth cook top range and the biggest fastest newest car. It's not that I don't think that if you have the money, you don't need to spend it to help the economy. It's just that if you don't have the money, you should check your perception of what you're actually using and need. Then you'll have enough money to come to my new shop and buy my lovely flowers.

Goals and Tiny Houses - Setting and Keeping

Love this little cottage - click pic for more info

When I make goals, I do it in a big way. When the kids were little, I wanted to go back to school. I did  (even though it took me 11 years to graduate). In High School, I wanted to go to school in France, I did (Summer abroad in college). I wanted to become an artist/designer (from a very early age, maybe about 5) and I did. I wanted to travel around the world, and got to do that with my career. I've also started reading again, something I've wanted to do for years and made easy with my kindle.

It's really been about 5 years since I've had goals. I went through a period of depression when I lost my job, and decided I didn't want that life anymore. I really had decided it, before I lost the job. I hated working for the type of arrogant jerks that my business forced me to. It does seem, however, that working freelance, makes them a bit easier to work with. I recently returned to freelance and I get paid cash plus commission. I also have my online craft stores, as many of you already know.

There are still a few places I'd like to travel to. And when I can work AND collect retirement, I plan to do a lot of traveling. That will be soon. I will live meagerly so that I can travel, because my retirement will not be too great. Maybe my freelance income will pick up too. You never know.

I recently have set a new goal, but I'm not sure how I can accomplish it but I will figure it out. I want to build myself a tiny house, pretty much by myself. The issue is not so much the building of the house. I can do that pretty easily if I can do it fairly soon, before my old body gives out. The issue is finding a small lot, close enough to a city that will allow the building of a tiny, off the grid house.

Most cities have a minimum square foot limit, and I'm not even sure a trailer park will allow you to build something without wheels. There are small lots here, but our county will only allow a certain size lot for septic and well. They don't have provisions for composting toilet or water cistern, which I plan to use. I also hope to use minimal electricity via solar panels and maybe corn pellet heating. I'd also like to use as much scrap/junkyard material as possible.

This one is portable and has a porch - click pic for info

It's a dream, I'm not sure will come to fruition, but I won't give up on it. I would really love to design and build a house all by myself (cept maybe a little heavy lifting, like the tub. I built a big shed mostly by myself with one hand (the other was broken). I raised the walls myself with levers. The house I plan on building is not much more complicated than the shed. I can do wiring and plumbing too. Of course if you want to come and cheer me on, you're more than welcome.

Resources tinyhouseblog.com  - tumbleweedhouses.com 

Shops I Like - The Little Red Door

I haven't done this in a while, not because there aren't shops I like, I love so many it's difficult to choose. I haven't done this feature because, quite honestly it takes a lot of time to get the images together the way I was doing it. I really need to find a quicker way to make this post. Because there are so many shops that I love, that in the future, I will be featuring 3-5 shops a week.


This week however I will dedicate to one of my sponsors, The Little Red Door. I've admired this shop since forever, as she was right there when I first started on Etsy. I adore her little houses. They are the sweetest. And she will custom make them for you and there is even the Breast Cancer Hope version with proceeds donated to the  Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. These are real ceramic houses too, not polymer. And crafted with loving hands.

If you haven't already visited the shop, please take a look. You won't be sorry. If you have been there, stop in again. I'm sure there is something new for you to love and treasure in your own home.