Tiny House, Big Project!

[convertkit form=825218]

Disclaimer: This post contains Affiliate Links for your convenience and at no additional cost to you.

So this blog is a passion post, a story of how our tiny house on our little farm went from a late night brain fart to a solid reality! Crazy dreams do come true!

How it began

How did we decide to get into the tiny movement? It wasn’t because it was the latest coolest thing to do. Rather, it was out of necessity. We had a 3 bedroom 1900 sqft home while Brady was in the Army. But he was getting medically discharged and we knew that the large house was not going to be feasible after getting out, so we had to make a change. We knew that we wanted to stay in Alaska but weren’t sure about the logistics. We wanted stability for our daughter, a home base that no matter what this near future took us we would have a place. So, as we were in what seemed like a peculiar Alice in Wonderland dream (nothing making much sense), we prayed for a plan, for guidance, a sign… anything to know what direction to go!

One evening we were watching good ole’ Netflix. We were scrolling thru what was available and saw a show about tiny living by HGTV. So we watched it. When it was around bedtime I was like, “Hey! We could do a tiny house! So no matter where we go, whether if we stay in Alaska or go south, our baby would always have the same house if we were to move!” I shared my idea with Brady, and he got excited.

I took to craigslist, my go-to for anything we need. I found a tiny house ready to go but Brady, being the DIY man that he is, was like, “No! We could design and build our own!” I am telling you, by bedtime we had a rough design of a tiny house and potential trailers picked out on craigslist. This idea gave us direction. We didn’t know what life after the Army would be like, but this gave us a plan.

The planning

Wait one second… this is a cool idea, but where are we going to build it? We were living in a HOA community with rigid rules. I got resourceful and phoned a friend, literally. They agreed to let us build on their property. With the building location set, we began the planning. We were wanting a home that would be functional for a growing family, as we didn’t know how long we’d be in the tiny house. I think somewhere, sometime, we mentioned five years. After watching countless YouTube videos, all the tiny house shows we could find, and reading lots of blogs, we came up with a design that we liked. Little did we know it would change another 200+ times (and still is). But that’s the beauty of planning your own house design! Your home needs to suit you and be functional (and in a tiny house, multifunctional!).

The trailer

Hahaha! Oh, the memories flooding back as I write this! So back to the first night of this new adventure. Most tiny houses are on 8 ft wide trailers. That just sounded too narrow to me. Cause, guess what? I don’t like small spaces… at all! Ironic , right?

Anyways, that night as I was trolling craigslist for trailers, I found what I thought to be the PERFECT fit for us. It was a 10-foot wide trailer, and a massive 30′ long. We were going to have a “HUGE” tiny house, lol. I called and it was still available. I think it was the next day that we went to go look at it. Oh, my word, y’all. That trailer was sound and sturdy and all, but it needed help. It had a rotten nasty deck on it. I remember looking at it and thinking… this is a terrible idea. At about that time Brady tells the guy, “We’ll take it! We can pick it up tomorrow.” Oh my word, WHAT did he just say?! So we did it, we started the tiny house building journey.

Framing

After a very tedious process of prepping the trailer and putting on the subfloor, we FINALLY began the process of framing. It was surprisingly a quick process! We had help from a friend and from my Dad while he visited. It was so exciting to see the walls go up, our home literally taking shape. I thought, “Dang, we are almost done!” Little did I know it was just the beginning.

After the framing things slowed down a bit, you know fishing, and oh! Telling us we were getting out of the Army in 12 months? Yeah, four months. And you’re on terminal leave. Heart attack. We had planned to take a YEAR to move into our house, timeline and budget wise. It threw us for a loop! Then hunting happened.

Moving

We moved out of our big house to expedite selling it (lonnnnnnnnggggg stressful story for another day) and moved in with a very good friend. After we got the siding on the tiny house, we had to move it closer to where we were now staying. Let’s just say that move was adventure filled. Here’s the jist: hooked it up to Brady’s truck, glare ice, snow chains and brake lines going where they’re not supposed to, stranded, a friend with dump truck came to rescue us and haul the tiny house the rest of the way. Many prayers prayed, and all of them answered!

After we go it moved, we slowly started the inside work. By this time it was winter here and working in the cold was not fun, especially with a toddler.

The help

Brady was working as an EMT at the time and doing as much work on the tiny house as he could between shifts. Thankfully, my dad was able to come up for a month to help us finished it. He worked looooooonnnnnng days and I helped as much as I possibly could.

The timeline we were given to move the tiny house from that friend’s house was up and we needed to move it to our own property (now THAT was a true answer to prayer!)

The tiny house, at that point, had the kitchen cabinets and countertops, bathroom, and closet roughed-in. The electrical was finished and the exterior walls were closed-in, and that’s about it. The plumbing and propane lines would have to wait until we got the tiny house to our place.

[convertkit form=817745]

Moving to our property

January 25th, 2017 we started the day working on the tiny house like any other. We were shooting for moving the tiny house in the next few days based on the weather and when our friend’s dump truck was available. Like I meantioned earlier, we have a BIG tiny house for being tiny. Brady’s truck *could* haul it but not without some serious concern,lol.

I randomly checked the weather and, oh crap! A storm is coming TOMORROW! So I texted our friend with the dump truck and he said we could use it but only today as he needed it for work for the rest of the week. My dad was doing last minute electrical work and I said, “Hey we have to move it today, like right now!”

I gave my dad a ride to get the dump truck (he has his CDL). Man, we were crazy. We moved during rush hour. Which, its Alaska, how bad can it be? Well, when there is one highway to get everywhere and over 50,000 people are on their way home and we are moving a clumsy tiny house, its a big deal. Happy to report that the trip went smoothly until we got to our property… which is where we got the dump truck stuck, then Brady’s truck, then our friend’s truck. It was a mess (to be fair, there was 18″ of snow on the ground). But with LOTS of prayer and sweat, we got everyone unstuck.

Once there, we hooked up to the grid, finished the plumbing (SO tedious!), and set up the hot water heater and water pump. We will have to do a whole blog post on our plumbing saga with this tiny house. Did I mention we did all of this after moving to the property?! It is tricky to work on a tiny house while living in it.

Not done yet!

As time has progressed we have made changes to the tiny house and made it a home. We are still working on updates and projects to make it more functional for our family (Be sure to subscribe to be notified for future posts!)

[convertkit form=817745]

This year we celebrate two years of living on our property. It is, in a way, a childhood dream for both of us come true. A home that we built, on our own land with room for animals. It was a major step in our simply wild life. We have made a tradition for this day, January 25th. The first thing I baked in my new oven was an apple pie. So, in honor of this very momentous day, as any tradition goes, I am making an apple pie today (and gluten-free at that!).

We hope you enjoyed this tiny house building journey in a nutshell. If you have questions or comments be sure to contact us, we’d love to hear from you!