I have been planning and researching for the past 5 months now – carefully balancing work, hobbies and tiny house planning. It’s been busy, but apart from a few workshops and building plan investments, it’s also been relatively risk free. Everything I have done up to this point has been easy, knowing deep down that this is the right thing for me to be doing.
The purchase of the trailer is now looming, as is my full-time employment end date. Its time to make the first big financial investment and really put my money where my mouth is. I try not to swear in my writing but I just can’t find any better phrase to describe this point in time but it feels like sh*t is about to get real.
My arrival home in Sydney in 3 short weeks marks the transition of my time from paid employment to building as my own boss. I have moved out of my flat in Sydney (whilst I was in San Francisco – word out to all that helped with that logistical nightmare!), and everything I couldn’t sell on eBay is in a storage shed. My aim is to continue to sell stuff and move into a smaller storage shed as an on-going project when I get home. I am moving in with my parents (eek!) to save money so I can stretch my time off to the maximum. I have yet to find a place to build.. am about to hit facebook and tiny house forums to get the word out and find something.
My design also has to be finalised. I have spent most of my time designing around the Tumbleweed Cypress 18″ design. The advice from those who had built their tiny houses at the Tumbleweed Workshop was that they wish they had built smaller. I took that advice to heart, however when I realised that an Australian Tiny House had to be a bit narrower due to towing regulations, I decided that I would try to make up for some of that lost space in length. I made the decision to build a 20′ Tiny House. I also discovered Vina’s Tiny House online. This house appeared in one of many tiny house feeds I am subscribed to, and once I saw this design I couldn’t get it out of my head. I loved the way she used the french doors to allow the space in the great room to flow on to her deck. I’ve always loved that flow of space into the outdoors and I thought it was a really clever way to increase the living space of her tiny house. I also discovered that Stuart Dakins, who was building a tiny house in Australia, had bought her plans and the photos he had up on Facebook showed his Australian version looked great. So I have jumped ship and bought Vina’s plans to build a version of her Tiny House.
Another thing that came up on my radar at this time was Marie Kondo’s book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up“. This is an absolute gem! I have been slowly reducing how much I own over the last few years – succeeding, albeit very slowly – but this book articulates a strategy that deals with every excuse you have ever come up with to keep stuff. And she has some great tools to ensure you see all the stuff you have and so want to get rid of stuff you don’t use. Such as her clothes folding technique. I was able to consolidated 3 drawers of clothes into 1 – and I can see everything at once. This has changed the way I am thinking I will store clothes in the tiny house. But more importantly, her whole premise of only keeping things that bring you joy match perfectly with the Tiny House ideology.
So.. to summarise:
Final floor plan decided – check.
Trailer plan submitted, awaiting quote – check.
Flights booked home – check.
Temporary place to live sorted – check.
Stay tuned for the trailer purchase and build site decisions!!