So What's Next?

The question everyone is asking me now is, "So where is your house now?  Is it done?"  I guess I forget that everyone doesn't know everything that I know.  Go figure!

My house is in Thousand Oaks, CA.  Daniel is doing a bit of work on it to ready it for travel.  (Thank you, Daniel!)  My house is not complete.  It has a floor, walls, a roof and a porch.  The roof decking will be tarped for travel, in case it rains along the way.

Daniel will tow it from Thousand Oaks to Boulder, Colorado, arriving in Boulder on Friday, July 12th.

Why Boulder?  There is a Four Lights Tiny House Company workshop in Boulder July 13th and 14th. My house will be there for "show & tell."  I'm so glad I can share my house with the attendees.  I know that when I attended the 4L workshop, being able to stand in a tiny house was a high light!  Of course Jay's is spectacular, and well, finished, but ... details, details.

I will fly to Boulder (?) on Friday, attend the workshop along with my house : )  and then get on the road with my house on Monday morning (I presume.)  I should be in Dallas by Tuesday evening.  I think.  It's a goal.

Yesterday I went to visit with the friend who is letting me park on her land while I finish the construction (and perhaps beyond.)  We scoped out which of her driveways my house will fit down.  We assessed sheds for secure storage of my tools.  We checked on electrical outlets, evening light poles, and shady places to park.  We discussed mini water meters and mini electrical meters, "home tour" schedules, additional traffic to her place due to the house... and so on.   She is having keys made for me, and giving me the lay of her land.  Nine acres.  It's gorgeous.  I clocked it when I drove there, and it's less than 9 miles from my apartment.  Not bad at all. 

It's all feeling very real now.  Very, very real.

This will be my new driveway:

Here's one of the possible sites to park for the duration of construction.  I'm hoping to look around a bit more and choose a place with shade...  It's beautiful here, though.

I went to a friend's newly purchased (older) home today to help her assess a shed that needs a new roof and a new floor.  We ended up sitting in her backyard and getting caught up on our lives.  So fun!  In the course of conversation she said they are having a garage sale on July 20th.  Total score!  I'm going to sell my couches, my huge framed mirror, my bed frame... all that stuff that I've been keeping (and that I am still using) but that I can easily do without.  I'm super excited to finally have bumped into someone who is having a sale.  Plus I totally owe her a bunch of hours of work - she helped me so much last Fall with my sale.  And I'm so happy for the opportunity to repay the favor.  Plus - we just have fun.  : )

What's next for my tiny house?  Here's the rough order of things: A trip to my steel friend for stabilization jacks and "L" brackets  A metal roof and windows, both professionally installed.  Exterior trim.  A front door.  Electrical - professionally installed - I hope I can still find my favorite electrician.  Plumbing. (this may involve another trip to my steel/welding friend.)  Insulation.  Interior trim.  Cork (I think) flooring.  A tiny furnace... which is of lesser importance here than a tiny air conditioning unit.  And then... a futon and a pillow.  : ) Holy cow.

The First Move

This post is sort of out of chrono order, but oh well.

Here are a few photos of the first move.

Hitch and brakes

Tying on the red flag - lumber inside the house is hanging out

Ready!

 

That's my house in the rearview mirror!!!

 

Roadside rest

I remembered the fear of overpasses just as we whizzed under the first one.  I am not sure if that is good or bad timing!  LOL    Here it comes...

Approaching first overpass

Sailed through no problem!

Cruisin'...

Daniel looks so happy!  (I look nervous.  LOL)

Ordering Materials and What's Ahead!

In the next day or two I will be placing my first big materials order!  This order will be for the shell:  framing the floor, walls, roof.  Insulating the floor.  Sheathing the house.  Wrapping the house with house wrap, and installing exterior trim.  All of those materials are for my June 24th build week.  EXCITING.

Last week I sat in on the MAGIC Camp's Board meeting via Skype.  It's still sort of an out of body experience to hear construction professionals discuss construction of MY HOUSE.  And at the end of the meeting, Laurie was kind enough to take her phone outside and give me a video walking tour around my trailer.  ::::: beaming::::::  It's gorgeous.  

Along with ordering windows, and ordering construction materials - but for some reason not so much with ordering the trailer - is a sense of being on yet another precipice.   I've been here before: selling my possessions.  Selling my beloved house.  Moving.  And now...

Laying out hard earned cash for materials is another "okay, no turning back now" step.  I did take a bit of time to reflect, assess my plan, and observe my feelings about my adventure to confirm that yes, this is what I want to do.  Yes, I feel like it is a solid plan.  Yes, I feel like it is going to make just a mind blowing difference in my life.  YES.

I'm in a midst of a bit of a re-work of the construction plan.  A few weeks ago I'd been advised of the possibility that the school build with Thousand Oaks may not be happening.  (That's the Fall construction class - not the June MAGIC Camp.)   Despite my offer to sign any waiver the school puts in front of me, the risk management folks at the school are dug in with fear of liability.   That's something I cannot change - their fear based thinking - but it's okay. Thursday last week I pretty much got the 100% "no.".  So now, I'm looking at a 5 day build in June, and then I am working with Daniel on figuring out a new plan of getting my house to Dallas. It won't be the same trip I had envisioned in December - my house complete, pulling over along the way from CA to TX to sleep in it when the travel day was over... but I don't see the change as a negative; it's just a change.

In the beginning, before I had struck the arrangement with Thousand Oaks, I had been determined to drive every nail myself.  Then the win/win partnership came up, and although I was sort of bummed that I wasn't driving every nail myself, and able to scavenger Craig's List and sales for deals, I was excited to know that my house was contributing to learning for students, and that it would definitely be ready for a December move in.

Now I am settling somewhere in the middle:  The MAGIC Camp will build my shell.  And then (in July?) I'll go get it from CA or Santa Fe or Boulder, or somewhere in between and tow it back to Dallas, and finish it up here.  I can do it - I'm not worried about that - I just have to figure out some new logistics:  Where to park it for the actual construction (I already have 2 offers) and finding enough time to do it while working full time.  But it also allows me to have my house here for show and tell which will be amazing!  (Note: Look into truck rentals for local towing...) I believe it will be a marketing tool - for folks to be able to stand in it, and spin around and see color photos of the finish out - and to help me dream.  And to want to be a part of it - and to share their ideas and their dreams with me.  Fantastic.  I am brainstorming about a local partnership for the finish out build - and have some ideas to follow up on.  Dallas is my base - I have connections here - I'm much more able to network here than anywhere else, and so I'm optimistic.  There is a reason for this schedule change - there's a bigger plan that I don't know about yet - but in time I'll figure it out.  Amy and Kelley and I are already scheming on amazing design ideas we want to try... it's so fun to collaborate!

I've had this feeling weighing on me for a couple of weeks now that I need to put together the equivalent of a media/press kit to hand out or email that tells my story and offers a way for people to get involved.  When I say that aloud, it sounds wild even to me - that I am doing something, anything with my life that would require an informational kit of some kind -- !  But it's been a niggle in my brain for a while now, and I need to start assembling it.  I have already had a handful of opportunities when I wished I had something like that to hand over - and there will just be more coming.  

I'm working on my website, too.  Doing the content writing, and coming up with some design ideas.  I'll say for a 7th or 8th time that I am so grateful to have professionals on that task!  A huge thank you to my bestie Kelly at Beyond Indigo and her staff.  A special shout out to Zach...  : )

So onward.  It's all feeling very REAL now.  But it still feels really RIGHT.