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!

Downsizing from a Tiny House to a Tinier House

I’ve found my next tiny house and I’m trilled about it! I’ll be living in a yurt in inner Portland. I’ve wanted to try out yurt living for several years, so I’m glad to have a chance now. I feel especially excited about this one.

My Home, Sweet Yurt is tucked in a sweet little garden space with a climbing rosebush growing over the arched entryway. Through the dome skylight one can see the top of a fig tree, bamboo shoots, and a nearby maple tree. After falling in love with the skylight in the sleeping loft of Brit’s Bungalow, I’m delighted I’ll be able to sleep with a view of the sun, the moon, the stars, the rain, and the clouds again.

At 114 square feet with no loft, the yurt is even smaller than the tiny house on wheels I lived in last year. So I’ll be downsizing from a tiny house to an even tinier house. I’m looking forward to the smaller space because it’s going to help enforce My Things Challenge and a simple lifestyle. Stay tuned for more tiny adventures!

The Proof is in the Practicum

(Check out a Teeny, Tiny Film about the project!)

Just over two years ago I began my Certificate in Sustainable Design & Building at Yestermorrow Design-Build School in Warren, Vermont. I started out with the three week core curriculum Ecological Design in the Built Environment. I returned to Yestermorrow that fall for the Less is More Class focused on designing small spaces and the composting toilets workshop. That winter I participated in the two week Natural Design-Build course, a hands-on class that enabled us to work with straw bale, light straw clay, and wood chip clay construction techniques as well as design considerations for natural structures. I finished up my coursework in February with a set of three classes: Sustainable Development Best Practices, Green Remodeling, and Invisible Structures. This last course has really stuck with me since it focused on the social, legal, and financial systems that support our built environment. The coursework exposed me to new ideas and information as well as a very practical building skill set. More importantly, it introduced me to a network of talented, fascinating, and inspiring people who encourage each other across time and space.

But I knew all along that the certificate practicum project would be my chance to show that I had synthesized the knowledge and was able to apply it. When my friend asked me last winter to help her design and build her Tiny Barn, I realized I could count tiny house building as my practicum project. I asked Dave Cain, one of my Less is More instructors to be my adviser and he agreed. In March I helped my friend build the shell of her Tiny Barn and this summer I’ve been a Tiny House Design-Building for Orange Splot. I’ve had the chance to take a tiny house from the shell stage to near completion. Between the two projects I’ve learned how to build a tiny house on wheels from foundation to trim!

Yesterday I presented my practicum project to a panel of critics at Yestermorrow. A former classmate of mine Emily Morris is a talented videographer and made a Teeny, Tiny Film for me, which was part of the presentation! I was able to Skype in from the tiny house I helped build so I gave a tiny virtual tour at the beginning of our conversation. The half hour went by quickly as I shared my story, my lessons learned, and my next steps. I was dubbed a “tiny house evangelist” by one of my former classmates who was also presenting his practicum. I’ll have to be careful with that, but I was honored.

I initially considered Yestermorrow a stepping stone in my path towards creating sustainable community, but instead it's been more like a springboard, catapulting me on to adventures and opportunities far beyond what I originally envisioned. Yestermorrow's Certificate in Sustainable Design-Build has introduced me to fascinating ideas, brilliant people, and a plethora of information that has proven invaluable as I've embarked on a career in sustainable design, build, and consulting. Thank you, Yestermorrow!

Packing Lightly vs. Packing Densely

I’ve never been good at packing lightly. This might come as a surprise to people who see the minuscule size of my luggage. I haven’t checked a bag on a plane, train, or bus since 2003. That fall I overpacked when I studied abroad in Florence, Italy. I brought a big backpack on my back, a small pack on my front, and I wheeled a big suitcase and a small one. Then I discovered that they sell shampoo in Italy, too. And clothes. Beautiful clothes.

I can’t remember now what I thought I needed badly enough that I should schlep it on a three-month international adventure. What I do remember is how liberating it felt the second-to-last week I was in Italy when I took myself to Venice for the weekend with just my guide bag. Its contents I do remember: guide book, wallet, comb, toothbrush, toothpaste, extra pair of underwear, extra long sleeve shirt, cell phone, camera, and keys. These ten items became my ten essentials for travel. All my subsequent packing has started with this core set of necessities.

Three months of exploring Italy taught me that I needed very little to get around and that the less I brought the freer I would be to explore. The thing was, I didn’t pack lightly. I packed densely. The bag I brought was tiny, but it was full. When I pack a bag, I do pack it. When I load up a car it’s a game of Tetris. I think compression straps and bungee cords may have been invented with me in mind.

Since then I’ve fit my sleeping bag (and its liner), my work boots, my Carhartts, and everything else I needed for a week-long service trip into a carry-on bag. I packed mostly the same stuff for the three-week core curriculum for Yestermorrow’s Certificate in Sustainable Design and Building. (I discovered one doesn’t need more stuff for three weeks than for one.) I’ve done two-week vacations to Denmark, South Africa, and Benelux (Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands) with a carry-on. My favorite was probably my two-week trip to Thailand with an “overnight” bag. (You know, the one you put over the handle of your wheeled suitcase.) Granted, I did bring a few extra things back and that required picking up a new bag at the night market in Chaing Mai. But everything I brought along with me to Thailand in the first place fit into a very dense cubic foot of luggage.

I’ve employed similar dense packing strategies at home. I discovered I can put my plates inside my pie pan so they’re all easily accessible. I’ve added temporary shelves to my permanent shelves to maximize the space. I’ve placed hooks strategically to take advantage of vertical surfaces. I’ve added drawer dividers so I can keep things organized and fill each drawer to the brim. I use my space uber efficiently, so as long as I can cram one more thing into the space I’ve allocated for it, I figure I’m doing okay.

I guess that’s why My Things Challenge has been such a challenge for me. Whereas I’ve been a minimalist when it comes to space, I haven’t necessarily been a minimalist when it comes to stuff. For instance, I’ve felt good about keeping my clothing contained to a single dresser, but I haven’t stopped to question whether I will actually manage to wear all eight tank tops during our measly short version of a northwest summer.

Space and count are both quantitative measures, of course, but they ask me to measure differently. (I do try to focus on quality, too, owning fewer but nicer things.) I think I like dense packing better. I like having my container and the freedom to fill it with whatever I can make fit inside. But I’ve found the 100 Things Challenge an interesting game. It has made me consider my possessions differently and it has helped me eliminate some of the clutter so I have a little more wiggle room inside my drawers and cupboards. It’s given me a little extra space to let something else into my life. I'm leaving room for more of life's souvenirs.