Tiny House Future

The snow is melting! That means plans are blooming! It’s fun to be planning again. I found a phone app, Planner 5D, that I’ve been using to figure out the next steps with our particular tiny.

The Nutshell Story

After 4.5 years of living tiny we got a code violation. We were almost taking off in our epic road trip anyway so that city gave us an extension to live in our tiny house since things were being worked out at the national level (IRC). All went well there, Idaho passed the appendix, our city adopted it, they are waiting in us to work through the next steps but also not rushing anything. We got back to town last July but in the meantime came up with a plan to build on the lot where the tiny sat. This meant that the tiny had to move. Since September the tiny house has been sitting in a storage lot, waiting for snow to melt so we can search out a new home to place it, likely near Moscow, Idaho.

Tiny’s Next Phase

Now, we’re more deeply exploring what happens when we find that new ‘home base’. Our goal is to make our tiny house our full time (but stationary) house again. With that though, I want to add a little to it. I’ve never really done any improvements, never even skirted it, because I figured as soon as I did that I would be more likely to get a code violation and have to leave, waisting money. When we move it will be done in a way that makes it completely legal to live tiny now that there is the infrastructure to do that. That may end up meaning I take off the wheels, it may not. We will be above board though and work toward a fully legal solution so that we feel comfortable making the improvements we want to.

Here’s What I’m Thinking

I want to finally build that big deck I’ve always pictured wrapping around two sides (purple + red). I want a beautiful view (subjective, I know) to sit out and watch sunsets. I’ll add a separate bedroom (blue) for the kiddos so we can turn their current room into a small office – and give their growing bodies a little more room. A small storage room for outdoor gear (yellow). Since the area we’re targeting definitely has a heavy winter, I’d like to connect the two structures with a nice covered sun porch (red) that can have removable, insulating walls for winter use.

We’re definitely planning on more extended travels in the future. This will let us comfortably get a few more years out of our tiny though, which we’ll be stoked for. (I seriously miss it!)

Our Traveling Future

After a year on the road we’ve been sitting still for too long… I’m perfectly content to hop back out there in our little guy. James thinks a few improvements would be nice… So I’ve got some ideas. Not sure if/what we’ll do with it but thinking through some design solutions again is fun!

Traveling Tiny #2…

It’s not a well worked design yet but the major points are this:

• Upsized to 20×7′ so that we can still easily fit in National Park Campgrounds. Under 24′ seemed to make options much easier! 20′ is about the biggest I’d like to tow anyway.
• Keep the total height below 10′ so we don’t have to get tricky with route planning.
• Two separate sleeping bunks for the kids with a private desk/play areas below. (blue+purple)
• A murphy style bed that pulls down over the couch area instead of a couch that slides out to become a bed. This will allow us a dedicated mattress instead of a couch cushion-y mattress. Thats important for two people who have both broken their backs in the past, we’re delicate! (green)
• The kitchen is almost identical to our little kitchen because it worked so well! (red)
• A bathroom with a shower/small tub and toilet. (yellow)
• Open space on the floor for Denver to lay. (pink)
• The biggest change, and the one that I think bugs James the most, a separate office space to work without being bugged by the kids or sitting in a cold car! (orange)

I seem to work in plan first so the vertical aspects aren’t worked out yet but the layout is there I think. I’ve got some different ideas for the exterior to make sure it’s unique and pretty as well as functional!