In the beginning

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This is the existing view from the street

This is the first post for this blog. I’ve recently received my building permit and this blog is here to document the process of adding a second story. This is a tiny house and I am not doubling the square footage with this addition but I think I might lose my reputation as a tiny house.

second story

On this blog I will show what I go through to achieve my goal. It is going to be a long process so subscribe to this blog and enjoy the ride. Please comment on things that you like or don’t like and help to refine this site. I want this to be interesting for everyone and for all of us to get something out of it.

THE EXISTING FIRST FLOOR PLAN

First Floor

THE PROPOSED SECOND FLOOR ADDITION

Proposed Second Floor Addition

18 thoughts on “In the beginning”

    • no silly that is a digital image that i have for sticking in renderings….but it is to help get across the concept of hanging out on the new deck. The more I can visualize using the new space the more I get excited….woo hoo….

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  2. When are we gonna be able to spend the night? btw, i love your dumb waiter and your damn gardener too. can you take an image of sandee and I, turn us into models so that we can hang out on you porch with your bumb waiter.
    really though, great job and we can’t wait to see more of what’s going on over there.

    You may use these HTML tags and attributes. interesting ! maybe worth playing with Huh?

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  3. I give you all the possible encouragement for this somewhat daunting project. Since you bring the subject up, you should mention how much the future combined square footage will be, to indicate how it will not be double the existing square footage. If I recall, the SFGate article about you stated that your “tiny house” is 250 sq. ft. so you are saying the 2-story version will be less than 500 sq. ft.? That is still VERY TINY.
    Onward, Dirk!

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    • Hi Steven, thanks for the encouragement, I need it. My house is 250 sq ft living area and 250 sq ft garage. My new addition is on top of the garage as well as the living space. I’m adding 400 sq ft above. There is a large open area for the stair well that creates a 2 story foyer in the entrance. So, my total new sq ft should be around 650; which, i guess, is still pretty small. My hope is that it doesn’t feel small because of the openess of the design.

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  5. Small is good! I’d be interested in seeing the layout. Do you have any plan drawings you can post?

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  6. Not all of us are able to immediately picture how those extra earthquake support pieces that you show will fit together. They look good but, are those three pieces part of a single system, or separate pieces for different situations?

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    • Hi Steve, I’ll be showing them in place once they are in. There are 3 different pieces there. The long ones attach to studs in the long direction and the base attaches through the sill plate into the concrete foundation. The other plate ties the base of the walls to the foundation in certain specified places.

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  7. Hi All,

    I just wanted to let you know that even though I don’t have a “tiny” house, you all have inspired me to be more creative with my living space. I actually have a 2/2 that is about 1200 sq ft of living area. I calculated how much space I actually use for living and it came out to about 650.

    For years, I have rented out my second bedroom and bath, which have a private entrance. Recently, I started to consider the idea of renting out the other bedroom, due to severe financial difficulties. So, I moved my dining room table out into my garage, which I plan on putting track lighting in and painting some day for my studio. And I moved all of my bedroom furniture into where my living room used to be and moved a sofa, loveseat and coffee table to where the dining room used to be, to have a very small sitting area. I now have a bedroom with all of my stuff, including my lazy boy, where I sit at my computer! where my living room used to be. I have this huge bank of windows and it’s so sunny in the daytime and when the moon is out at night, it’s gorgeous. I’m going to put up some of those Chinese screens/room dividers…

    Now, I just have to deal with telling people, well, I converted my living room into a bedroom… and watch the weird looks…

    I don’t need very much space to live in!

    Hopefully, some day, the right person will come along and I will be able to rent out my now empty bedroom!

    Look forward to seeing your progress on your plans too!

    Best Regards,
    Karen

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    • Karen,
      Good thinking outside the box. More people should be aware of all the options there are for space planning. We don’t have to accept what seems “normal” or the way things “usually” are. We should plan our spaces around our lives and not vice versa.

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