Having never towed anything before I was both excited and a little nervous about the prospect of driving a 26.6 foot trailer 650km home from a different country. I managed to get a couple of practise sessions in from kind (and trusting!) individuals (thanks Dayna and JP) who also gave me a few tips. I was most worried about reversing, but had been assured that the longer the trailer, the easier it becomes.
I have to send out a huge thank you to Morgan, who kindly allowed us to use his truck to go and collect the trailer. This made life a whole lot easier, and ol' red did us proud, so Continue reading →
With the plans in hand my first job was to learn how to read them! I spent a few days learning architectural acronyms and notations in order to make sense of what was in front of me. Once I had figured out the basics I started 'building' a 3D model of the house in SketchUp so I could get a grip of the elements of house building I needed to learn. Every step seems to spawn a whole set of questions, so this really put into perspective just how much I have to learn. I am not learning one trade, I am trying to learn all trades required to build a house. I certainly have my work cut out for me, Continue reading →
One of the best things about the tiny house movement is that so many people who go down this road want to share their knowledge and experiences. This means that no matter what you need to know, there is plenty of great (most often free) information out there. This page will list the resources I have found useful during my own project and I will continue to add to them throughout the course of the project.
Introduction and Inspiration
Books
Tiny House Living - Ryan Mitchell does an excellent job of introducing the tiny house movement and inspiring people to join in
Tiny Homes: Continue reading →
So far all of my work on the project had been very speculative and I was feeling the need to focus my efforts, to do this I needed to decide what to build. In a previous post I outlined some of the tiny house plans I had found for purchase. Deciding the house I wanted to live in was not an easy process. This isn't a space I will be spending just a day or two in, this will be my home for years. Going tiny relies on good design, in order to make the most out of the available space and create something pleasurable to live in.
After much deliberation I decided to go with the Ynez from the Oregon Continue reading →
I have been busy working on the tiny house project recently, so it's time for some updates. Instead of one long post I am going to write several shorter posts. This is the first...
Before I start my tiny house project I wanted to get an idea of where I would be able to live in my tiny house once it is complete. At the moment I'm not sure if that will be on Vancouver Island or somewhere else, but I thought it would be a good idea to find out what is possible here. Having read that it is best to work with your local planning authority rather than against them I brushed up on some terminology, shifted Continue reading →
It's been a crazy summer. At the end of July Carly and I packed up the van to move from Whitehorse, Yukon down to Vancouver Island, British Columbia. This seems like a long time ago now looking over the photos, but as we are finally slowing down and getting settled in our new home we can take a moment to reflect. Below covers our two week drive down from Whitehorse to Vancouver Island.
I had been a little concerned about filling the van with all of our worldly possessions as it was also to be our home for the next two weeks. I had purchased a roof bag for the van so we could store things Continue reading →
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