Living Large

The past week I’ve been housesitting for Eli and Noelle of Orange Splot, so I’m living large in their three-bedroom house. It’s been fun to be in the Cully neighborhood again and to see the progress at Cully Grove.

I’ve been joking that while some folks vacation by spending a week in the yurt, I’m vacationing this week by trading my yurt for a “normal” house. It feels luxurious to have hot running water instantly available and a gas stove to cook on. Things that I used to take for granted when living in the tiny house I now appreciate completely. This gratitude for simple pleasures is a neat change to observe in myself. Especially since I realize that I don’t need to be in a large house to have these luxuries again. The tiny house I lived in last year had a gas stove and running water. Once I did a little Tiny Home Improvement I also had greywater infrastructure.

I’ve enjoyed Downsizing from a Tiny House to a Tinier House and living in my Home, Sweet Yurt. It’s been a great way to stretch myself, to test the edges of my minimalism, and to get a sense of what I can live without. For instance, I’ve been getting along fine without water infrastructure, but it sure would be more convenient to just turn on the tap and then have my greywater automatically water the plants outside without me having to do it manually. I suppose I could set up this water infrastructure for the yurt but haven’t done it. I have, however, planned running water and greywater into the vardo I’m designing for myself. (Although I prefer cooking on gas the 1-burner electric cooktop I’m using suits me just fine, so I’ll probably go propane-free for my own tiny house).

This week it has also been nice to have enough elbow room to entertain. I hosted a game night with a couple classmates and brunch with my Planning Workshop team. Since moving into the yurt I’ve usually had just one friend over at a time. A couple months ago I had my friends Eleanor and Mike over for dinner but it wasn’t nearly as easy as Entertaining in the Tiny House. Once it’s warm enough to dine outside it will be more pleasant, but during the colder months the yurt is not well suited for entertaining.

The downside of the extra space is that I’m losing it. Really. There are so many surfaces that I’ve misplaced my cell phone several times! I also feel bad cranking the central air since it’s heating the whole house when I’m only in one room. This three bedroom works well for a family of three who need a home office, but it’s far more than I need as a single person.

Spending a week living large has helped me put my Little Life into perspective again. I’m looking forward to getting back to the coziness of the yurt (and especially to the wonderful light of the oculus), but enjoying the infrastructure of a fixed house this week has also confirmed that I want my vardo to be less rustic. It was a treat to have this vacation and I hope Eli and Noelle have enjoyed theirs, too!

Partnering with Portland Alternative Dwellings

A few months ago Dee Williams and Joan Grimm of Portland Alternative Dwellings gave me the heads up that they would be restructuring their company. With Katy Anderson, PAD had been doing design and building work for tiny houses, but Katy has moved on to other projects so Dee and Joan decided to focus on workshops, education, and consulting for tiny houses and pocket communities. Check out the new PAD Tiny Houses website!

I was delighted when PAD Tiny Houses asked me to join them as a Consulting Partner and a team teacher for some of their workshops. In partnership with PAD I’ve already had the opportunity to do consultations with several folks dreaming about tiny houses. They live across town (howdy, Cully!), across the country (hello, New England), and around the world (cheers, Australia!) It’s really exciting to have Dee Williams to bounce ideas off and double-check my work as I do concept and schematic design work.

PAD has also partnered with Derin and Andrea Willimas of Shelter Wise, a tiny house building and energy-efficiency consulting company. We had a great time presenting together last fall at the Build Small, Live Large Summit, which got us talking about working together in a more intentional way.

Today all of us gathered to discuss our working relationships and scheme about shrinking the world. We’re excited about the upcoming Tiny House Workshop later this month (join us!), building a tiny house at the Casa Verde festival in April, and participating in the first ever Tiny House Fair hosted by Yestermorrow Design-Build School in Vermont in June 2013. Stay tuned as we carry out our plans to make the world a better place, one tiny house at a time!

The Minimalist's New Clothes

This weekend I spent a couple hours scouring some of Portland’s very best thrift stores for additions to my minimalist wardrobe. I prefer buying clothes second-hand and Portland is a great place to do it. As I tried things on I asked myself these simple questions:

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  Does it look great on me? (Does it fit me properly? Is the color right for me? Does the style suit me?)

• Is it comfy? (Does it move with me? I’m well past the point where I’d wear something uncomfortable just because it’s cute. If I’m not comfortable I won’t carry myself well and that’s the most important part of looking presentable!)
• What’s the fabric content? (I’m a big fan of natural fibers that breathe well – like silk, wool, and modal – so I’m purging the cotton from my winter wardrobe.)
• Is it versatile? (Can it be combined with at least two other items in my wardrobe? I don’t like having “outfits” as much as I like having a mix-and-match options.)

Of course, sometimes it’s easier to say yes than to say no. So if I really get stuck on whether or not I should buy something I ask myself instead: What’s wrong with this? If I can pinpoint anything at all I probably shouldn’t buy the item. Usually I don’t. But my heart still gets veto power. I suppose I could also ask one of my little sisters their opinion since they’re very fashionable. I’m sure they think I’m a hopeless case. But over the years I’ve developed my own style that blends practical, classy pieces with earthy, elfin accents. I think it suits me for now. And my beautiful and beautiful sisters are free to be as stylish as they darn well please. I’ll continue to admire them along with all their other adoring fans!

I ended up buying six items. I spent about $60. That’s not bad considering that I snagged two cozy wool sweaters, two stylish blouses, and a cute skirt, which are all suitable for work, school, or weekends. I also acquired a smashing little black dress. (How could I resist?! Now I just need a great excuse to wear it… C’mon Portland, give me an event that’s not casual Friday!)

These six items have joined the other 31 items in my wardrobe, so I now have 37 clothing items and 8 pairs of shoes. It seems my clothes are approximately a quarter of my possessions these days. And I’m okay with that. I could get away with less, I’m sure. Sometimes, I consider paring my wardrobe down to just a 10-Item Capsule Wardrobe like my hero Francine Jay. I certainly do when I’m traveling and Packing Lightly vs. Packing Densely. But I like the variety when I'm home. For now my wardrobe is minimalist enough.

Want to know what’s on my list? Check out My 203 Things List. (More about My Things Challenge.)

So I’m now at 203 things. And I’ve been racking my brains about how am I going to get back down to 200! I’m still Strategizing Digitizing and Getting All My Docs In a Row. That will help me drop two items since I currently have two tubs of paperwork. Eventually I’d like to digitize my old journals. That would help me drop another item.

I’ll keep thinking about what I can purge as I go about My 200 Things Challenge. But at the moment, I’m feeling okay with the number 203. After all, the point is to raise my own awareness about my possessions and the role they’re playing in my life.

Taking Stock Without Stocking Up

One of the things I could really relate with as I read The 100 Thing Challenge book (on my Kindle, of course!) was the chapter about how we often own many different items that serve similar purposes because none of the items is just right. As I was Inventorying & Packing Up my things because I was Downsizing from a Tiny House to a Tinier House, I got rid of several items that weren’t quite right, hoping to eventually replace them with things that were just right. I’ve done a bit of that replacing but I’ve also realized that some of the things weren’t actually necessary. It seems that sometimes promising myself that I can replace it lets me part with something that I really didn’t need.

After doing a New Years’ Re-Inventory I realized that I wanted to do some clothes shopping. But I also knew that I was 14 items over on My 200 Things Challenge. In addition, over the past month I was gifted a travel spice kit by my aunt the gourmet cook, two beautiful hand-painted tiny bowls from my 10 year old cousin, a hand-printed Old School Stationers letterpress calendar, and a flax seed pillow which is My New Favorite Thing. I also bought myself a pair of cozy slippers to deal with the fact that my floors are chilly when the temps drop below freezing, even after Weatherizing the Yurt. (REI had exactly one pair of the slippers I wanted - they just so happened to be my size and on clearance. My lucky day!)

So today I decided to do a little CPR (categorizing, purging, and reorganizing) on my stuff. Here’s what happened:

taking the not so big life digital

• I realized that I prefer having photos cycle through on my desktop to having photo frames sitting around the house, so I was able to part with a couple of my decorations.
• I checked the Kindle store to see if any of my books were available electronically. I decided to go for a digital version of The Not So Big Life since it’s mostly text and very few pictures. I’ll pass my copy along to some tiny house friends and they can pass it on from there. I decided not to digitize Sarah Suzanka’s Home by Design even though it is available in a digital format because I love the pictures!
• I noticed that I hadn’t worn my slacks very much this winter so I’ve decided to put them into purgatory. If I don’t feel like digging them back out I might not keep them!
• I put the white board that has been living on my fridge into purgatory, too, since I usually keep my grocery list in my phone. But I didn’t get rid of it since it’s nice to have a white board when sharing a house and I hope to share a home with someone beloved again someday.
• I purged my two sweatshirts since I rarely wear them. I ditched two pairs of shoes that were never quite right for me. I decided to replace a couple skirts and a sweater that didn’t suit me with something I liked better. (See The Minimalist’s New Clothes for more about my clothes shopping guidelines.)

I also took a critical look at some things I don’t use much. I suppose I could go down to one cutting board, but it’s nice to have two when cooking with a friend. I don’t use my travel mug often since I’m not a coffee drinker, but sometimes it’s awfully nice being able to bring hot tea or cocoa with me. I don’t use my yoga mat at home since I do yoga at the gym at the university and they supply mats there, but I’d like to have it for when I’m done with school in a few months. I don’t swim very often, but having a swimsuit and goggles still seems like a good idea. So after all this I got myself down to 197 Things. I decided that was good enough. I headed out to find The Minimalist’s New Clothes.

PAD Tiny House Workshop in February

 

PAD Tiny House Design Workshop February 23 & 24, 2013 (9am-4:30pm) Historic Kenton Firehouse

Are you dreaming of building your own tiny house on wheels but don't know where to start?  Are you wondering what other people are doing and how to avoid common pitfalls?

If so, join Dee Williams of Portland Alternative Dwellings (PAD) for a two-day workshop packed with information about how to securely anchor a stick-built structure to a trailer, control moisture, and properly ventilate your tiny house. We’ll discuss electrical, gas, and water system design options, finding a place to park, and how to cultivate a place to call “home.”

You’ll also get a chance to tour POD49, a pocket community that includes a tiny house.

Cost is: $325 for 2 Day event/$175 for 1 Day. Deadline to register is Feb. 9, 2013. Space is limited.

To find out more and to register, visit the PAD Tiny Houses website. 

Ten Year Olds Design Awesome Tiny Houses!

This morning I had the opportunity to present a tiny house workshop to an incredible bunch of fifth graders at The Island Schoolon Bainbridge Island. I was lucky enough to have Doug Clawson as my fifth grade teacher, so I have very fond memories of fifth grade myself. I was pleased to be invited to Mike and Betsy’s classroom.

I got to Island School a little early so I could tape out the footprint of the 8x18 tiny house on wheels I lived in last year. I enjoyed the chance to visit with the teachers before the kids arrived. (It turns out it’s a tiny world after all: Betsy’s daughter interned with me for three years when we did volunteer coordination together!) While the kids settled in and completed their morning activity, I got to work memorizing their names.

We began our Tiny House Workshop by mind-mapping the relationship between our houses and our use of resources. I shared photos of tiny houses from around the country for inspiration and gave them a “walk-through” of the tiny house I’d taped out on the classroom floor. After a quick discussion of our basic human needs, we did an activity to explore our needs and wants. One of the kids felt like she could let their TV go pretty easily while another said his X-box is his most prized possession. One girl pondered whether or not she could give up her books since she has a library card. Others recognized how important their instruments, pets, or art supplies are to them. We marveled at how different our lists were from our neighbors’ and I pointed out that one of the greatest things about designing a small space is tailoring it to an individual’s unique needs and wants.

Keeping all this in mind, we began our design studio. I gave the kids a simple program and we got out the modeling clay, paper, colored pencils, and scissors. Half an hour later the kids shared their design concepts with their classmates. One of the girls sketched out a floor plan, elevations, and sections to think about the house in three dimensions. One boy designed an underground hobbit house. A small design team modeled a tiny house with paper walls and colorful clay furniture. We saw creative ideas ranging from a tree house to a zip line and from multifunctional furniture to a special room for Raffi. I was blown away by how well-thought-out their ideas were, especially considering the short timeframe!

We wrapped up the morning by going around the circle to share something we’d learned. It was very inspiring! I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to teach and learn from these kids. Thank you Island School Fifth Graders!

My New Favorite Thing

Glad I spent the weekend before last Weatherizing the Yurt. Yesterday it snowed a bit here in Portland. It was, of course, Portland-style snow: pretty little flakes that melt the second they hit the ground, no intention of sticking around. Portland snow is a little pathetic, but really charming. I enjoyed walking through it to the streetcar stop on my way to lunch at Nicholas, one of my favorite Portland restaurants. Nicholas is a Lebanese restaurant that serves spectacular food and I was glad to share a meal there with some dear family friends. They brought me a flax seed pillow as a gift and it is my new favorite thing.

Although I’m being careful not to adopt new things haphazardly because I’m a smidge over on My Things Challenge, this one is a great addition to my possessions. I plan to take an hour in the next couple of weeks to review My 200 Things List and pick which things to let go.

Anyhow, last night I heated up my flax seed pillow in the microwave for the first time and brought it to bed with me. As much as I’ve tried to convince Raffi to crawl down to the foot of my bed to be my foot warmer he won’t do it. He prefers to sleep in my arms with his head on the pillow, too. He thinks he’s a people and I haven’t corrected him. So I put my warm flax seed pillow under my down comforter at the foot of my bed and snuggled my feet underneath. It warmed them right up.

I've just gotten home from dinner with a friend and my flax seed pillow is heating my feet as I type. It’s so nice to have toasty warm feet as I drift off to sleep!

Warming Up the Yurt

I spent the weekend Weatherizing the Yurt and the following couple of days it was so warm in here I had to turn the heater down to its halfway point! But this also coincided with unseasonably warm weather. We had temperatures in the 60s in January! So I couldn’t tell if my weatherization had actually helped or if it was so much warmer in the yurt just because it was warmer outside.

Now that it’s gotten colder again I can tell that it’s a bit of both. The temperature outside makes a pretty dramatic impact on the temperature inside because the yurt doesn’t have a lot of insulation. But Weatherizing the Yurt helped a lot, too, because I stopped convective heat losses through air sealing. There aren’t any drafts anymore and that helps enormously!

I’ve also boosted my passive solar gains by putting reflective bubble wrap on the ceiling above the door in spots where the sun, at its obtuse winter angle, strikes the ceiling. Now that heat and light is bounced back into the space. It’s much cozier in here now even though we’re currently experiencing some of the coldest days of the winter. (See my Yurt Panorama for more photos of the yurt!)

Weatherizing the Yurt

In November, as the temperatures started dropping, I spent some time Battening Down the Hatches. But during this last cold snap, and especially after I encountered some Moisture Management Problems, I decided it would be worthwhile to take additional steps to weatherize the yurt. The quick fix would be to buy another space heater and plug it in, but I couldn’t bear to waste energy like that.

So Saturday morning I called to Pacific Yurts to discuss weatherization strategies. The fellow I talked to suggested that I make sure the yurt is nice and tight top and bottom to eliminate air infiltration and drafts. He said that it’s a good idea to add foam weather stripping between the fabric cover and the perimeter band, which is something I’d been considering. He also recommended covering the windows up with another piece of reflective insulation. I’d already done that in my Battening Down the Hatches process, so I knew I was on the right track. I asked whether it was important that the insulation be shiny side visible. My understanding was that a reflective surface is only useful if there is an air gap between it and the next surface. But he said it doesn’t really matter, so I decided to switch it back so the white cloth cover is showing. It is prettier this way.

Air infiltration had definitely been my biggest problem. I’d already addressed the obvious air leak by weather stripping the door. However, most of the cold air was entering at the floor all around the perimeter. The perimeter band of plywood was warped in a few places so there were air gaps between the fascia board and the platform. The fabric of the yurt was loose so air was sneaking up through the bulges between the screws. I could feel the cold air rising against the walls and I’d had some Moisture Management Problems. Sometimes, when the wind picked up, the walls of the yurt would flap as a wave of cold air rushed through. Brr!

My tools were at Derin’s since I’d been helping out with Building an UrbaNest, so I rented a Zipcar to fetch my tools and the weatherizing supplies I would need. Unfortunately, once I started removing the screws so I could cinch the yurt cover down tight I realized that the perimeter band was too weathered to hold new screws. The band had done its job well for a dozen years, but it was now done. So Sunday I used Getaround for a trip to the legendary Mr. Plywood. They ripped a sheet of 3/8” plywood down to 6” strips for me. At home I removed the old screws section by section so the yurt lattice wouldn’t pop out and replaced the perimeter band as I went.

I discovered using long screws is really important when working on a curve like this! The 1 ¼” screws were worthless and kept popping out so I finally decided to make a trip to Hankin’s Hardware to pick up some 2” screws which did the trick. (By the way, I love that Hankin’s is a co-op hardware store AND that there were three other bikes in the rack. You know you’re in a cool neighborhood when people ride their bikes to the hardware store!) Once the perimeter band was in place I cinched the fabric tight, sandwhiching two layers of foam between the yurt cover and the new perimeter band. The project took all day, but I’m already pleased by the difference. It was really windy last night and I didn’t feel the drafts.

This morning I plan to add extra screws between each of the existing screws just to make sure there aren’t any gaps. Then I’ll readjust the insulation layers inside the yurt and put all my furniture back in place so I’ll be cozier here for the rest of the winter.

Grocery Getter

In high school I drove the family station wagon, which we’d dubbed The Grocery Getter. I’ve never owned a car of my own, but I have to admit cars really do make good grocery getters. Especially when you’re doing back to school shopping. For the weekly trip to the farmers’ market my bike is a great option, but when bulk buying it’s great to have a car. This time around I decided to do my back to school shopping with Car2Go. Typically I would have done this with Getaround and in the future I probably will since it’s cheaper, but I like giving a little notice with Getaround and this was a fairly spontaneous trip. As I noted in Smart Phone + Smart Car = Smart Errands, Car2Go is great for opportunistic autoing.

I just stocked up on cat food at the pet store and realized that if I had a car I could pick up plenty of tasty, healthy food to get me through Winter Term, too. I found the nearest Car2Go just a couple blocks away and drove it to Grocery Outlet. I parked on a quiet street and decided to take my chances with someone else snagging the car while I was in the store. I ended my trip on the Car2Go menu and headed into the store with my bag o’ cat food. Now, Portland is a strange enough place that people don’t really think you’re weird walking into a grocery store with a bag of cat food, so if you have qualms about this, sorry, but golly I am grateful for our practical quirkiness!

Have I ever told you how much I love Grocery Outlet? There’s a great natural and organic section. Some of my staple foods (almond milk, Franz bread, local tortillas, Tillamook cheese, butter, and yogurt) are available for a fraction of regular price. I often think of Grocery Outlet (which my friends and I affectionately refer to as the Groc Out pronounced “Gross Out”) as a thrift store for food. (Remember, thrift stores are cool here, so this is a good thing!) You never know quite what you’ll find (why hello, chocolate hazelnut spread, agave syrup, dolmas, smoked salmon, artichoke dip, etc.) but it’s always a good deal. Of course, you might never be able to find your new favorite flavor again. Yup, turns out I’m the only one who is obsessed with Ben & Jerry’s Mission to Marzipan Ice Cream. That’s why they’re discontinuing it and why I’m getting such a good deal. What’s wrong with you people?! This stuff is delicious! Maybe if I buy all of it they’ll reconsider. Wait, no, now I have a mini fridge. It was a nice thought… Oh, oh, they also have my favorite vitamins. Kids chewables, how I love thee. Hey, don’t judge! Years ago when I was complaining to a friend that I HATE swallowing giant multivitamins, she simply said, “So don’t. You’re little like me and I still take kids vitamins.” This was utter brilliance. I LOVED taking my vitamins as a kid. I would beg for them. “Minimum! Minimum!” I would shriek before I could say the word properly. I wanted to gobble them up. But I was limited to one a day. Now that I’m a grown up I figure I can eat two of them every day. Ta da! I win!

Mama always said not to shop on an empty stomach. And she was right, of course. I wanted to eat ALL the delicious food! But a hearty appetite is a good thing when stocking up. It’s hard to do a big shopping trip during crunch time so I love filling my pantry before school starts back up and doing weekly trips for fresh stuff like produce, yogurt, and bread. As my cart filled up I realized that if someone had snagged MY Car2Go I was going to have a hard time getting my groceries home by bus. I checked the handy app on my phone and was relieved that MY Car2Go was still there. So I reserved it for myself, picked a few more groceries and then checked out. The checker had no problem at all with me having a bag of already-paid-for-somewhere-else cat food there, too.

I had way more than I could comfortably carry at this point so I loaded up my Car2Go and headed over to Trader Joes. This time on the Car2Go menu I made a stopover rather than ending my trip. I picked up a bunch of dried fruit, nuts, seeds, and some produce and loaded that into the car, too. While I was packing up I explained the Car2Go concept to people, one right after the other. I told them that most people who have cars don’t find Car2Go very useful but those of us who don’t have cars love it!