Update 10.12.12

I had an amazing opportunity this week to meet with the American Planning Association-Idaho Chapter to discuss Tiny Houses.  Idaho is the first place I have ever heard of holding a conference with a panel discussion like this.  I am so proud of my home state!  Christopher and Merete from Tiny: A Story of Living Small (on Facebook HERE) showed a screening of their movie which was VERY good and followed it with a panel discussion and question/answer session with city planners from all over the state.  What a great opportunity that was to get in a room full of the exact people you would want to be in a room with to push the idea of allowing tiny houses in a community.  It was very engaging, there were so many great questions and so much that was so encouraging.  And then of course I got to have a nice lunch with my favorite man and two amazing individuals!  It was such a great day!

On top of that I got to watch the VP debate with that same favorite man AND take a first swing at designing my millwork.  I think I have decided to build it myself, I kept going back and forth on building it vs. hiring that part done… I think I would feel bad if I didn’t build it myself!  Take a loot at what I show, let me know if you think there is something that can be improved, I always really appreciate feedback!  I am planning on doing the structure out of 2×4’s I think, doing the finish from the cheap white panels and the counter-tops out of the reclaimed birch-wood floors (if that’s ok Stacey?).  Ideas?

Here are some pictures:

I got to meet these two, neener-neener! For those who may not know, this is Merete and Christopher who are working on a tiny house documentary that is going to be phenomenal! Oh and that's not all, I didn't just meet them, I got to see where they are at with their film! It is most certainly something to be excited about.

Stacey made it down to the conference too and we had a fun little chat beforehand. What a surreal experience to meet these people after following them for several months!

Here is Christopher and Merete introducing their film to a room full of planners. This was a VERY cool experience! Wish them lots of luck getting into Sundance, I really think they have a good shot, I have all sorts of good feelings floating around for them! Good Juju!

This is the best I could give for a sneak peak ;-). I'm such a tease! Seriously though, be excited, you will be blown away, I was!

We had an excellent panel, a code official, a housing resource coordinator (Drew, he would be a GREAT podcast guest, he had very great insites on the HOWs of making tiny houses legal), then there was Merete, Christopher and Myself. We had some very engaging discussions, i was so happy to see all of the interest! Big thanks to Don Matson, a local City Planner (and Christopher's uncle) who helped to make this event possible!

I'm a grown up, I get the 'speaker; tag, even if I did have to steal it! 😉

On a different note, I finally got around to drawing up my cabinets last night! I think this could work out well! I left a hole where my washer dryer unit are going as well as my stove. I have one big drawer under my stove I think I have decided to use for Denver's food. It will be convenient to have a whole big drawer for that. I have the space under the sink designated for my propane tank (for the stove) and the instant hot water heater. I am sure other stuff will be able to fit down there but that will be on an as needed basis. To the right of the sink will be a bank of drawers, I don't have that space exactly planned out but its nice to have drawer storage. Directly the to left of the sink is the washer/dryer, to the left of that is the stove with the dog food below. and further to the left of the stove is one cabinet which will be used for any kitchen devices I may need, I will probably have a blender/juicer of some sort, a crock pot and maybe a couple other things... for the most part my dishes will be kept in the open storage up above which I keep teetering between recycled pallet wood shelving and Ikea open shelving... it's up in the air! You can also see my very basic bathroom cabinet which is just an extrusion of my sink basically. There wont be a ton of space in there because that is where my water filter is kept. I will have to come up with something creative for the bathroom stuff I need to store... I have ideas floating around for that though.

In this shot you can see the 'dresser' I have planned for the wall up against my 'loft' space. I have had to pair everything down to the essentials and I have deemed those to be my clothes, my camera/art stuff and my sewing machine. To the far left there will be two cabinets, one for my sewing machine (and painting supplies, which I forgot to list) and the other will be for my camera (and probably other art supplies... maybe I should take some measurements and consider making this three cabinets if I can swing it...) to the right of that will be 5 30" drawers for most of my clothes, to the right of that will be a tall cabinet for my hanging clothes, I have a lot of dresses so I needed a space like this. Further yet to the right of that are 4 one foot tall, six inch deep steps leading up to the loft space. inside each of these steps will be a drawer so I can have extra storage for blankets and whatever else I find myself needing. In all cases I am intending to keep these as very basic cabinets, I am thinking even just the white particle board stuff they sell at Lowes for ridiculously cheap. I have gone back and forth about having these made for me or making them myself and I think I am going to make them myself... I think cheap looking cabinets can make the whole place look super cheap but I think I can do a nice job here... I hope I can 🙂