Caravan’s Tiny Houses

 

Caravan – The Tiny House Hotel will be having its grand opening on Saturday, July 27^th, 2013 and I’m sure it will book up quickly once the word is out. It’s a great place for a staycation for Portlanders and a unique place for guests to stay when visiting from out of town. (Here's a video about America's first tiny house hotel, which Kirsten Dirksen of Fair Companies made after interviewing Deb and me - my part begins at 7:52.)

Families from as far away as Costa Rica and the UK have already discovered Caravan! Fortunately, I managed to reserve the whole place on Monday night to celebrate my 30th birthday. I arrived a little early so I could spend time in each of the houses before my friends arrived for a Big Birthday Bash at the Tiny House Hotel. Here's my take on each of the little houses on wheels.

The Rosebud

The Rosebud is a sweet little place with a distinctly cabin feel. It has a little front porch, a window seat with built-in storage, pretty wood paneling and awesome cobblestone countertops. I fully intend to appropriate the mason jar lighting idea. And I do love the little rolling table with two chairs. This is where I stayed the night of my Big Birthday Bash at the Tiny House Hotel and I am glad I got to claim this charming little retreat. Staying in The Rosebud is a great way to enjoy a little country in the city!

The Pearl

Derin Williams of Shelter Wise built this tiny house using the Miter Box plans he created. I helped him frame up and sheathe the walls last fall, so I know how meticulous he is about air sealing, energy efficiency, precision craftspersonship, and… well, everything really! The Pearl has a very zen feel with a white ceiling, sleek dark wood paneling, and stainless countertops. It features a dinette that converts to a double bed, a lofted sleeping space above, and a wet bath (the whole bathroom is a shower stall). The outside is just as sophisticated with metal siding and a colored LED light above the porch. With its clean lines and modern aesthetic, The Pearl really is the precious jewel of Caravan – The Tiny House Hotel.

The Tandem 

The Tandem is the largest of Caravan’s three tiny houses and families snatch it up since it can sleep four people. It features a queen size mattress in the loft and a day bed window seat that converts to another queen size bed. The Tandem is wood paneled in pine, giving it a warm cozy feel. The floors are cork and the countertops and shower surround are tiled, so it has several features of a ground-bound house.

I do, of course, have a special fondness for The Tandem, since it’s the tiny house I finished out last summer. (This was the house I used for my practicum project for my Yestermorrow Sustainable Design-Build Certification and it was featured last year on the Build it Green (BIG) Tour.) When I first encountered this tiny house it was a shell: framed, sheathed, wrapped and ready to be finished. I considered buying it myself but it was bigger than I wanted so I told Eli Spevak of Orange Splot about it. He purchased the partially finished tiny house and hired me to finish it out.

So last summer I did most of the finish work: hanging siding, shingling the gable ends, running electrical wiring, air sealing, insulating, rehanging a repurposed door, paneling the interior, trimming out the windows and door, and installing cork flooring. (I even tiled the shower under the tutelage of Rocky, who is an excellent tiler. He said the tile was sure to crack when the tiny house hit the road, but it’s moved once now and the tile is all still intact!)

Fortunately, I had help from Manda and Simon when it came to the parts that were impossible to do alone: installing the long sheets of Hardy Plank on the exterior, installing wood paneling on the ceiling, and installing metal roofing and a skylight. I enjoyed most aspects of the project (except perhaps for fiberglass insulation day!) and appreciated that I was able to learn so many tangible building skills. I had a special fondness for the creative details like trimming out the storage loft window with a special shelf, creating catwalks between the lofts, and rabbeting out the back of the trim piece that rests against the tiled shower.

When I wrapped up My Summer Dream Job the tiny house was ready for the kitchen cabinets to be installed, the ladder to be built, and the finish electrical and plumbing to be completed. The owner, Eli Spevak of Orange Splot, handled all the final construction details. Once the Tandem arrived at Caravan, Deb made it feel like home sweet home with little shelves, a set of coat hooks, and beautiful quilts and pillows.

I know where every mistake is in the house (the spot where the nail gun misfired, the accent tile that I is not quite straight, etc.) but I am proud of this house. I’m really glad that so many other people will get to enjoy it, too!

Pedalpalooza ADU & Tiny House Tours on Saturday, June 29th, 2013

Last year, in conjunction with Orange Splot, I coordinated the Pedalpalooza Accessory Dwelling Tour and Tiny House Tour, which each drew around 100 riders. This year I’m co-coordinating with Kimber, who has completed the Oregon Tradeswoman pre-apprenticeship program and now helps out with Portland Alternative Dwellings once in a while.

We decided to host both tours on the same day this year so that people who are curious about small spaces can see a wide variety of them in real life. The tours are guided by a fabulous bunch of small space builders, designers, owners, and inhabitants, so it will be a great chance to ask questions. We have a great line up again this year.

On the Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Tour, riders will see:

• A super energy-efficient basement apartment built by Shelter Wise
• A backyard cottage built as a sister-in-law house by Small Home Oregon
• An eco-friendly and accessible granny flat in an idyllic setting, which was My Summer Garden Cottage last year
• A basement mother-in-law which provides flexibility for an extended family
• A set of houses with ADUs that create a little community called Sabin Green
• A house with two detached accessory structures in a garden setting called Ruth’s Garden Cottages

On the Tiny House Tour we will showcase:

• A tiny house built for a couple and their cat
• A garden cottage by Small Home Oregon
• The world's first tiny house hotel called The Caravan, which features 3 tiny houses (one of which I built last summer as my Yestermorrow Practicum project!)

Those who choose to join us for both tours are in for an epic adventure!

I’m still in touch with many people I met during the tours last year, so I’m looking forward to meeting this year’s riders. We have received more than a dozen inquiries about the tour, many of them from folks who are coming from out-of-state for the tour. There are no RSVPs required, so come join us if you’re able!

• Pedalpalooza ADU Tour (9AM-1PM), staring point Shelter Wise’s ADU (2726 NE 66^th Ave, Portland, OR 97213)
• Pedalpalooza Tiny House Tour (2PM-5PM), starting point Rigler Elementary School (5401 NE Prescott Street, Portland, OR 97218)

Sightline & Grist on Living Large in Small Spaces

During finals Alyse Nelson sent me a request to answer some questions about tiny houses for a piece for Sightline. Alyse did a lovely article that features me as well as my heros Dee Williams of PAD Tiny Houses and Eli Spevak of Orange Splot.

The Sightline article Living Large in Small Houses is available here. The story was also picked up by Grist for crossposting. Woohoo! Here's the Grist version of Living Large in Small Houses.

To think I thought I was getting my Fifteen Seconds of Fame a year ago when I got my first press request. At the time I was pretty camera shy when I was interviewed by a Canadian reporter. It's been lots of fun advocating for the tiny house movement the past year!

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!

Between Graphite and Rainbows

It's been an exciting week of tiny house happenings. I was delighted by the responses I received when I shared my blog over facebook a week ago. Thanks for all your encouragement folks!

Last week Eli and I spent a couple of hours sketching out tiny house plans during our weekly Orange Splot meeting. Such fun to get the design ideas flowing within the constraints of road legal (8'6" x 13'6"). I feel privileged to bounce ideas off of someone who designs so beautifully. (See Orange Splot's website for photos of Eli's projects). Of course, it's also fun to share what I've learned about tiny houses with someone else who is as fascinated as I am.

During my Secular Sabbath this week I continued working on my favorite floor plan. I also read a book, took a nap, and went for a run, stopping to people watch at the park. Unstructured time is truly fantastic - even just a few precious hours of it!

This morning I contacted several tiny house dwellers about an inventory of small houses in Portland. If you know someone else I should get in touch with, let me know! I'm coordinating a tiny house bike tour as part of Pedalpalooza this spring, so I'm connecting with others who live in small spaces. I now have plans to visit two other tiny houses this week and I'm excited to learn about their experiences.

And, of course, in between my classes (which started up again this week), I've been appreciating the glorious weather we've been having. Including, of course, a nap in my rainbow-bespeckled sleeping loft with a breeze blowing through the window. Nothing like a patch of sunshine on a January day in Portland to make one grateful for the little joys of life!

A Fresh New Start

Happy New Year everyone!

I still can't quite wrap my mind around harvesting kale for dinner in January. It's the first winter in 10 years that I've lived in a place with mild enough temperatures that we have greens overwintering outside my front stoop! The seasons are more subtle here, but this is definitely a time of transition.

I've always loved new beginnings. Part of the reason I've enjoyed being a student and working at a college for the past ten years is that there are so many chances for a fresh start. I like the idea of setting resolutions that are almost certainly achievable with just a smidge of extra intention. If I determine to do the things I'd like to do anyway, I'm more likely to be successful.

Last year my resolution was to take more naps, more walks, more baths, and drink more tea. I did pretty well at it! This year I will, of course, strive to find fun ways to be active so that people will still think I'm related to my little sister (who just got certified as a personal trainer), but that's what they all say.

So for the next six months, in addition to continuing my habit chart, which for some reason continues to be a good motivator to floss my teeth and contact a loved one daily (what can I say, I'm a sucker for gold stars!), I intend to block out time each week for two things that I want to do for myself anyway:

1) supporting the tiny house movement, accessory dwellings, and cohousing by committing at least four hours a week to my Orange Splot internship

2) honoring a secular sabbath that I have the freedom to reschedule but not skip

Of course, I hope the naps and tea continue, too...

What are you resolving for the new year?

A Mentor, A Plan, A Tiny House Tour

When three people say "you know, you really ought to talk to _____," I suggest you get in touch. Today I had an informational interview with my new hero Eli Spevak, owner of Orange Splot, LLC. He's agreed to take me on as an unpaid intern!

Eli is a graduate of the Masters of Urban and Regional Planning program I'm doing at Portland State University. He's now a real estate developer, specializing in small-scale, community-oriented, infill and retrofit projects. The communities he builds are so breathtakingly beautiful that I truly stopped in my tracks the first time I saw one. This was my first day in Portland when I went for a long walk and was drawn off my intended route by catching sight of Sabin Green out of the corner of my eye. I was determined to find the builder, so imagine my delight when I finally looked up Eli and Sabin Green was one of the first things I found on his website! (Go to Orange Splot and click on projects and then Sabin Green to see what I'm talking about.)

Eli is fascinated by small spaces like I am and he has coordinated tiny house tours in the past. Recently he's been pretty busy with other projects (like a cohousing community called Cully Grove, just ten blocks from my house). So we're going to brainstorm ways that I can help out, which just might include organizing a tiny house tour.

Meanwhile, Dee Williams of PAD Tiny Houses has been trying to rally tiny housers in Portland since there are quite a few of us now and we haven't had a chance to meet each other. I hope that when these two worlds come crashing together something amazing happens!