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

tiny house model

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Day 8: Walls, Windows & Models

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On day 8 of Yestermorrow's Tiny House Design-Build course we spent our morning on the job site getting the rest of the walls raised. A couple people have been especially enjoying the design portion of the class so they've hunkered down in the studio to learn more about how their buildings work by building models and drawing up sections and elevations. (See more photos in the Day 8 Slideshow.)

The center sections of the wall are taller because we've done a balloon frame in the area where the dormers will be, so these wall sections are quite heavy. We've braced each of the walls up in place while we square the walls and attached them to each other. Yesterday when we were sheathing we cut out most of the window openings using the circular saw to make plunge cuts. (The trick here is to drill a hole in each corner from the inside of the wall so that you can see the starting and stopping points for your cut.) However, we didn't get all the windows cut out so Julien tackled the rest today with a reciprocating saw once the walls were up. It's messier work, but definitely satisfying to see those windows pop open!

Meanwhile, Laura figured out a plan for blocking out around the wheel wells with pressure treated 2x6s so that we would have a surface to which we can nail our sheathing. It took some head scratching, just as it did on Day 4 of the Tiny Barn building blitz.

After supper Paul gave one last slideshow about proportion, line, and color. Then everyone got back to work on their own tiny house designs in the studio. The models are shaping up nicely and many people have glued a copy of their floor plans to the models which makes them easier to understand. It's so fun to see the houses people have described start to take shape.