Tiny House Sleeps Five Comfortably

My friends Sarah and Jesse from Walla Walla visited yesterday, bringing their pup Dodge along. It was fun showing them the Alberta Arts District and it was chilly enough that our cocoas were a perfect warm up treat. Jesse cooked us a fantastic squash soup in my tiny kitchen and he served it with homemade bread. Delish!

In order to accommodate everyone for the night I moved the camping gear that I usually store in my loft over to the host house where I stashed it in a corner of my neighbor's room since she was out of town. I set up a bed for myself in the storage loft above the door with a foam pad and plenty of blankets and pillows. Raffi slept with me, Jesse and Sarah had my sleeping loft, and Dodge claimed my giant pillow chair as his bed. We all slept really well and they only tricky part is that I only have one ladder. I'd crawled into bed last so the ladder was on my side. In the middle of the night Jesse, not wanting to wake me, managed to climb down from the sleeping loft using my kitchen counter! Did I mention he's resourceful? And tall!

I'm glad my tiny house was Sarah and Jesse's first stop on their road trip down to California. They live at West End Farm in Walla Walla and they left me with farm treats: pumpkin bread and apricot jam. It was a delight having my friends here even if the visit was too short. And it's nice to know that as long as everyone likes each other a lot my tiny house can comfortably sleep five!

Keeping Cozy

I've started a paid internship with a planning organization so my schedule is very full these days. It makes me really appreciate the tiny house when I'm able to be home. I love sitting in the window seat reading for classes with my cat on my lap, cooking hearty food in the little kitchen, or sleeping in the snug loft.

I have found that the radiator heater works best if I keep it at a baseline temperature and crank it up when I feel too chilled. There is a timer on the heater but it doesn't have a setback option, so I haven't been using that feature. (It comes up to the temp you've set at the times you tell it to but then it turns off completely at the end of the period you've set and I find that if I turn the heater all the way off for a long period of time it takes a while for the house to heat back up again.) If I keep it set at 58 while I'm away and then bump it up when I get home, it doesn't take long before it's nice and cozy. I don't know yet how much electricity I'm using now that I've got the heater turned on since the electricity meter I purchase to monitor my usage doesn't fit in the outlet because of the way the plugs are oriented. I'm curious but not enough to have figured out a way to check. That will be one of my projects once the term is over.

One of my neighbors recommended a heater that is installed on the wall and I'm considering getting one because it would be less obtrusive than the one on wheels that I've been using. I wouldn't have to relocate it every time I have a friend over for dinner and need to turn my desk into a dining table. I'll keep you posted about whether I decide to go for it and, if so, what I think of it.

Taking the Heat

I've lived in the tiny house for a month now and I'm still a little giddy every morning when I wake up. I've settled into some routines that work well for me and it's feeling more and more like home. A friend helped me fetch my oh-so-comfy Savvy Rest latex foam mattress from Walla Walla where I'd stored it with a friend for a few weeks while I settled in. It's 10 inches tall, which reduces the headroom when I sit up in the loft, but it's so luxurious I'm perfectly okay with it. It's such a cozy spot, especially on chilly mornings.

Out of sheer stubbornness I decided I wasn't going to turn the heat on until November. It's the 2nd of November now and I'm really grateful for the heat. I'll take it! Brittany installed a propane boat heater but she said she actually preferred using the electric oil radiator heater on wheels, so that's what I've used today. It's been nice and toasty. I think the heater will become part of my daily routine, too.

Each day I crack the windows top and bottom to provide good ventilation while I'm out since there isn't an exhaust fan in the house. Brittany had trouble with condensation last year, so per her request I'm also running a tiny dehumidifier. When it fills up (which happens about once a week) I use the contents of the little pail to water my two house plants.

I do a load of laundry at my host house once a week. When the weather is nice enough to dry clothes outside I do. I haven't tried line drying inside the tiny house because of the moisture management issues, but I might give it a go now that I'm using heat again. I do have a five-line retractable clothes line I could run between the lofts.

The water heater is a four gallon tank instead of an on-demand model. I don't figure I need it on when I'm not using it, so I flip the water heater on when I get up in the morning. I do my cooking early in the day and pack food to eat in between classes. I turn the water heater off before I leave for school so it isn't using up propane during the day while I'm gone or over night while I'm sleeping.

Tidying up the house goes pretty quickly since everything is close at hand. I put things back in their places, wipe down the counters, shake the rugs, sweep the floor. It only takes about fifteen minutes!

And I don't need to deal with the least favorite of chores: cleaning the shower. The tiny house does have a shower but I haven't used it since I have access to the gym on campus. I bike to school several times a week which takes me about an hour since I'm a slow poke. When I get there I shower and get ready for class. I like that the tiny house has a shower and if I wasn't going to shower at the gym almost every day anyway I think I'd probably be using the one here. Instead I'm using it as a closet. The shower curtain rod works perfectly well for clothes hangers and it makes the bathroom a sweet little dressing room.

It's such a good Little Life!

Then This House Dropped Out of the Sky...

We have been joking about how it seems like my tiny house dropped out of the sky like Dorothy's place in the Wizard of Oz. One day there was an empty space in my landlady's yard and the next day it was occupied by a cute-as-can-be tiny house on wheels. Brittany drove her tiny house Bayside Bungalow from Olympia to Portland with me as her copilot. Dylan manned the follow car and kept us posted via walkie-talkie about the reactions we received from passersby. It was amazing how many people completely failed to notice the tiny house on wheels cruising down I-5, but we were glad when Dee Williams called to say she saw us go past. When we stopped at rest stops and went over the scales we got plenty of attention.

We were all a little nervous about getting the house backed into its spot, but Brittany did an excellent job and it's amazing how nicely it fits in. Serendipitously the tiny house colors are exactly the reverse of the colors of my host house! Brittany and Dylan helped with getting the house jacked up and Brittany walked me through all the hook ups and then they headed home and I was left to marvel at how it's all coming together.

Moments later my sisters Amy and Aurora called to say they were on their way. They came by with Lynette's kids forming a fantastic work crew to help me pile my belongings into the wee house: 1 foam sleeping pad, 2 dressers, 2 sets of sheets, blankets, 4 towels, 1 black plastic garbage bag of clothing, a basket of office supplies, 12 books, 3 pots, 1 pan, 8 bowls, 8 plates, 6 sets of flatware, basic toiletries, sleeping bag and pad, a tent, a couple backpacks, my beloved cordless drill and driver set, craft supplies, and 5 boxes of food. They teased me about how most of my stuff was food, but I explained this is the most important part to making my house a home.

Unfortunately, I wasn't set up to cook yet so we headed out to the Alberta Arts district to enjoy a little food cart culture. We dined at the Grilled Cheese Grill and then they bid me good night. I can see Cassiopeia through the skylight of my sleeping loft! It feels like I'm in a wooden tent. So cool!

Tomorrow... unpacking.