Tag Archives: tiny house remodel

Past and Present

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I’ve been spending ridiculous amounts of time on Instagram.

Please check it. I like the immediacy of it. My goal this year (in addition to the continuing work on my house) is to update my various forms of social media more often. I want to integrate everything and make all of the different forms work together and share common information. Each type of social media has its own benefits and I’m going to try and learn how to use them to create the best experience.

I managed to insert a YouTube video from my channel at the bottom of this page:

Taking a break…

I have plenty of work to do but I have not been doing it.

the end view that faces the ocean

The exterior of my house looks done. Meanwhile the interior needs tile work and finish carpentry that I’ve been avoiding. Sometimes you have to live a bit. I know that I’ll get it done and also that it is never really done. I’ve been scheming and designing and building since I moved into this tiny house in 2000. Now it’s 2020 and I feel pretty good about what I’ve accomplished

Living Life

I’m still amazed at how much room I have.

I have an actual bedroom. Over the years I’ve gone from a 250 sq ft cottage to a 700 sq ft house. It’s been an interesting journey and I have no regrets. Throughout this process the only thing that’s constant is change. I’ve become very comfortable with chaos and the unknown. Perhaps I’m too comfortable and perhaps on the inside my life looks out of control. It’s a good metaphor for my life in general – on the outside I look kind of like I’ve got my shit together but on the inside I’m a messy work in progress.

Fighting normality

I think we all have to reject “normal”

One of the things I follow a lot on instagram is the “tiny house movement.” Although, I think “movement” is an overstatement. People are not protesting in the streets for tiny houses but some laws are changing regarding in-law units and housing density and even what the minimal legal size of a house is. For instance, my house is considered “sub-standard.” The fact that law regulates what size your house can be is ridiculous. I’m happy for all of us that both laws and thinking are changing. We need to think outside the box. We need to fight the norms. We need to imagine new ways of building and of living

The idea of house and home has become too standardized. It’s standard to the point where people believe their house isn’t enough unless it matches some societal norm or some idealistic picture in a magazine. Of course there are construction standards and furniture standards that help to make sure things work but there can be huge variation within those guidelines. If you’re working with a contractor don’t blindly accept their word.

That’s my neighbor on the left. They hate me and they hate that the city let me build my second story addition. They live in a development across the street and their house is still taller than mine

It’s your house so own it

I’m treating my house as an experiment.

I know my house doesn’t look that radical. It’s just a product of all the parameters that the lot and the codes allowed. There were a lot of ways to fit within those parameters. This is just what I chose to do but it wasn’t an accident and it wasn’t based on a lot of preconceptions about home.

I’m rejecting the norms and preconceptions. I’m rejecting the status quo and the magazine ideals. For me, this is an experiment. It’s deeply personal. It’s intimately connected to who I am and what I do and how I want to spend my time.

One of the reasons that I’ve been taking a break is that I want to enjoy the process. I’m actually not fixated on the end product. I want to enjoy my life even while changing it and building it. I’m not static and I don’t demand that of my house either. I’m having fun over-thinking and designing myself into a corner.

I’m sure some people see my lack of progress as a weakness or an inability to get a job done but maybe I’m not waiting for anything to be finished. I’m enjoying life right now. My life has chaos and messiness and unknowns and I’m enjoying all of it.

No really, I’m enjoying it…

It’s not all fun and games but I’m always pushing the limits of my knowledge and my patience.

Lighting, Both Natural and Artificial

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Still Looking

Available in many different sizes but the price goes up accordingly

In an earlier post I was deep in a search for the perfect pendant light fixture. I called this my “fanciful pursuit.” I seem to labor over these fanciful decisions even more than the labor that I put into the fundamental infrastructure of the new abode.

The search never stopped and I have looked at many different sizes and configurations, none of which seemed to be just right. After creating the big entry space in my mind and now a reality, I guess I put a lot of pressure on myself to make it something special.

 

Nature Has It’s Impact

Lately I’ve been watching the sunset like a movie projected onto my upper story.

the sunset projects onto the new wall

The new sliding glass door creates a nicely framed image of the sunset. I find myself watching this image as it moves and changes color. It draws me upstairs to see it in person. I realize now that a pendant light fixture would block this view and I’m not sure if I want to let that happen. I was already thinking that the new fixture should somehow represent the sun or natural light so that, even on foggy days, there is a reminder that the sun is up there somewhere.

Now I’m looking at ceiling mounted fixtures and I’ve found some interesting images that intrigue me. I’m even thinking of putting recessed lighting in the ceiling and then hanging my own custom shade that hangs slightly below the ceiling hiding the fixtures and providing a glow as though there is a skylight in the ceiling. In all my research there is an obvious correlation between size and price. I know that is a “no brainer” but prices jump dramatically as soon as the diffuser gets bigger than 20 inches. I can make my own diffuser as big as I want for much less.

Large Ceiling Mounted Fixtures

found on ylighting website

This fixture is the “Quadra Ice Flat Ceiling Light” by Proli Diffusion Studio. Made in Spain by Vibia.

Its just shy of 24″ Square and I like the quality of the light shown in this image.

I’m not sure how this would work on a slanted ceiling. I think I want the diffuser to be level and I might be able to do that by adjusting the attachment point.

 

 

The Feeling of a Skylight

also found on ylighting

This is the fixture that inspired me with the idea of a large skylight. I like the quality of light in this image but I think it will take some experimentation in the actual space see what is possible.

This fixture is called “Big Ceiling Light” appropriately enough. The design is by Lievore, Altherr and Molina. Made in Spain by Vibia. It’s available in two sizes: 39.5″  and 47.25″ Diameter. I would guess this is the bigger one in the image.

There is a lot of finesse that goes into the design of these consumer items and I’m sure that is what makes them worth so much.

Here is a detail of the fixture above. You can see that its a high quality light that is probably worth it’s price of over $3,000.

I’m wondering, however, if I can create my own diffuser that I just hang from the ceiling underneath a few recessed fixtures. Well, that is the latest exploration that I intend to do. It may take some experimentation to achieve the quality of light that I am seeing in these photographs.

Let the chaos begin

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There is no escape from the chaos in the tiny house

I’ve started to tear apart my house in order to add the seismic retrofit brackets required by my engineer. I have to open up the walls in order to gain access to the studs.

Below is the engineer’s drawing that tells me where I have to put brackets and strengthen the studs that are in the walls. I suppose it would be different if I wasn’t in earthquake country. I live pretty close to an earthquake fault line as well.

This is the engineer's drawing showing bracket locations

These are the brackets that need to be installed

These are the brackets that need to be installed. The manufacturer specifies how the brackets are to be attached. All of these materials and fasteners are available to the novice home owner like me.

Life goes on during construction

As you can see in the next picture below, I had to move my washing machine out of it’s closet in order to gain access to the exterior wall. It is still hooked up and works fine just takes up a bit more room than before. This is how it will be for some time. I need to do a fair amount of work in that tiny room.