Hello All,

Our family has a few things to share. Those of you at the December Tiny House Chat know this already, but I thought we should share with everyone else. The first one is that we are expanding. In fact, by next month, we should have a brand new member of the family. A second little boy. Hurray!

Second big announcement is that we’ve moved! Not just down the street either. We’ve gone cross country.

That’s right, we no longer live in Wisconsin. We have moved to Oregon. I applied for a job back in August, got an interview in November, and started work in January. Unfortunately, we didn’t bring the tiny house with us at this time.

We didn’t feel comfortable driving it ourselves through the snow filled Rocky Mountains in the middle of January… and didn’t have time to find a different way to get it out… not to mention we didn’t know where we’d park it (still don’t). As of right now it is sitting in Wisconsin at a farm.

Above is a photo of us trying to get the Tiny House out of our driveway with snowdrifts in the way. Below is a photo of our House in the road.

We could really use your collective help right now. We would like to bring the Tiny House to the Northwest this summer, but we have nowhere to put it. We are currently renting. The Tiny House isn’t complete so we can’t just move it and live in it right away. If have any ideas of places to go in the Portland, OR region, let us know in the comments.

Thanks!

We did this interior painting in September. We did a white wash look on a few walls and a full white for most walls.

Abby and I came up with a great idea to add a unique quality to our living room area. We stenciled a quote on the wall. “Live Simple. Dream Big.” Here is Abby putting up the tape.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Hey All! I just want to invite you all to check out this Monday’s Tiny House Chat. It is an online video chat opportunity to connect with Tiny House enthusiasts around the world. It is hosted by Ryan Mitchell of TheTinyLife.com and Macy Miller of Minimotives.com. This particular chat will also be guest hosted by Kacie Erickson of TreadingTiny.com and me (and hopefully Abby too)! The chat will be centered around questions about family life in a Tiny House.

It starts at 7pm CST. You can find a link to the chat client over the Tiny House Chat Facebook page. Please join us!

I have neglecting posting for too long. We have been so busy… as you can imagine. Though I am constantly thinking about it and taking pictures for it, I just forget to make time to actually share those with you. If you want more frequent updates… you can follow me on Twitter or Tumblr… but those also have non-Tiny-House things mixed in.

But the good news is that I have lots of pictures! Hurrah! These pictures focus on the insulation and interior walls.

For insulation, we considered a bunch of options… Denim, blown-in, rigid foam, spray foam, and fiberglass. Ultimately, we decided on fiberglass mainly because of the price. We felt that the benefits of other, perhaps more “green”, options weren’t significant enough to justify the steep price tag.

We did however decide to buy pine board (also sometimes called tongue and groove, pine planks, and car siding). We found an amazing sale at Menards that brought the cost down to just barely over the price of drywall. The benefits of pine board are significant in non-green ways in that it is extremely light compared to drywall, which is great for a trailer. We also like the look and feel of wood. Check out the pics below.

You can see the insulation in the ceiling… and we’ve started the Pine Board by this point. I should point out that these photos were taken in July and August.

You can see a good cross section of the insulation and pine boards used on the back wall. We put pine everywhere, including the ceiling.

Here is the insulation in our kitchen. You can also see some of the electrical.

Just needs trim.

This was the first wall we put planking on… with the help of my dad. The grey rectangle next to the door is an in-wall speaker.

Being a tech guy, I’ve always wanted a whole house audio system. No easier, cheaper, or better place to make that a reality than in a Tiny House.

View of the living room from the loft. Just needs trim.

This wall will be used as a spacer between the refrigerator and the stove. The stove side will have shelves for spices. Apologies for the tripod in the shot.

Here is the stove side of the divider.

This is the view towards the bedroom.

Here is the same kitchen wall painted white. We decided to paint because we really loved the look of the Protohaus.

That is all for now. We have lots more to show you. Thanks for stopping by.

If you are new here check out our Tiny House Journey to get up to speed. If you’d like more frequent updates, follow me on Twitter.

I started a weight loss journey on started May 17th, 2011. Each week I thought I’d weigh in and let y’all know how I was doing. By week 6 I stopped recording… because by week 8 I wasn’t losing weight or actively trying. BUT, wouldn’t you know it, I’ve started to try again. And I’m down to 299lbs. (started at 324). This is a large milestone and is very motivating. I haven’t been under 300lbs. since 2005 when I picked up running for a few months. I feel like I am finally doing the right thing.

Last time I actively tried losing weight, I just went with exercise. Which is good, but was hard to maintain. I truly don’t want to make time for exercise. I feel my time is better spent elsewhere… at this point in my life. I can’t make a habit of it. Hopefully someday that will change. In the meantime, I have effectively been changing my diet. Less carbs, more fiber and more fruits and vegetables in general. That is it. I’ve started this about 6 or 7 weeks ago and have lost 15 pounds… without sacrificing time to exercise. ~2 pounds a week. That is pretty amazing. So, I’m going to keep at it and see how it goes.

I have met one of my goals and now can cross that off the list.

Where I’m at (324 starting):

Weight: 299lbs!

A few people have pointed out that we haven’t posted our updated Tiny House layout. Whoops. I’ve been meaning to do it… but just have been too busy. Having said that, I’ve got some time today to  sit in front of the computer and give y’all a look at our layout.

Here is the general floor plan with the loft transparent.The Left side of this picture is the front of the trailer. The big open room is going to be the “master” bedroom”. It actually sits on top of the gooseneck as you see in the next few pictures.

I should point out that a few things will be a bit different. For instance the bathroom entrance will be on the kitchen side. There are also some things we haven’t planned out like how we want to close off the loft.

If you are new here check out our Tiny House Journey to get up to speed and please subscribe to the blog. If you’d like more frequent updates, follow me on Twitter or Google +.

Wow… it has been way too long since I updated. It has been a busy summer. We have made lots of progress. Most importantly is that we have the exterior 97% done. All of the vinyl siding is up and the metal roof is on and looks sweet. Check out the pictures below.

P.S. I’ve started a Tiny House Photo album on Google + that people can stay up to date with. Check it out!

Abby and I worked on the siding and roof during the hottest days of this summer.

This is why you should probably wear gloves while installing a metal roof.

This is the finished product! Well, the exterior anyway.

If you are new here check out our Tiny House Journey to get up to speed. If you’d like more frequent updates, follow me on Twitter.

Alex Hummel and Doug Sundin did a great piece on our Tiny House. It appeared online at UW Oshkosh Today, a news outlet for Abby and my Alma Mater. If you have a moment, check out the article. Otherwise, scope out the video below.

If you are new here, check out our Tiny House Journey to get see why we are doing what we are doing. If you’d like more frequent updates, follow me on Twitter.

Here are the pictures from the move we did about a month ago.

Chris Kleman graciously helped us get the truck in working order and then helped hook the house up to it.

The truck pulled it quite well. It was my first time driving anything with a trailer… and it is one heck of a trailer! Now it is sitting in our Driveway in the City.

If you are new here check out our Tiny House Journey to get up to speed. If you’d like more frequent updates, follow me on Twitter.