DIY Shower Curtain

Waverly

Even though I am still teaching summer school until the end of June, summer is upon me. I love being a teacher who has extra time in the summer. I have a mental list of all kinds of things I would like to do, but just cannot muster the energy to do during the school year. Yes, teaching (good teaching that is) is exhausting and by the end of the day I just want to relax. So, all year I come up with projects and I tackle them all in a whirlwind of activity during the summer.

My latest project for the tiny house is the shower curtain for the bathroom. Now I understand that most will just go buy a shower curtain and call it done, but I wanted something more custom. As I explained in my earlier post Interior Decorating, Are You Serious? I have a plan to keep the color pallet and pattern specific. I already use this pallet in my house, so I will be able to use most of the bedding and curtains I already have in the tiny house after modifying them to meet my needs/fit the new space.

Help, I Have Fallen and I Can't Get Up!

As I have stated in my prior posts, my plans are to live in the boonies. I envision trees, gardens, critters, blue sky, rain, snow, wind, but NOT people, busy highways, or concrete buildings. This tranquility is a heavenly idea to me, however the thought of a medical emergency far from help is worrisome. Preparing for an emergency in an isolated place takes forethought. Deep in the thick of an emergency is not the time to realize that you don't have scissors, or bandages, or pain reliever.

Flooring Bargain!!

www.HomeDepot.com

Since my plan from the beginning is to get a trailer that is 24' (pipe dream, I know), I figured out the floor space to be 8.5' x 24' = 204' minus the area covered by framing. So, to be safe, I just figure the square footage to be at 200 (not counting the lofts) when I have looked at flooring. I was budgeting about $500 for flooring and would peruse the big box DIY stores to see if they had any good sales while I was there buying whatever I needed for my latest project. The other day I was on the Home Depot website looking at hinges for a project to estimate costs before heading to the local store when I decided to take a virtual gander at flooring. I found a great bargain on flooring that I thought I would share.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Perfection 525M-1

Well, not exactly. I know it is June 1st in Phoenix, AZ, but in Oregon come February it will be cold outside. I have been working on the heating conundrum in the back of my mind for some time. It seems the popular method for heating tiny homes is the Dickinson Newport P9000 Propane Heater. While it looks like a lovely little fireplace hanging on the wall, it retails at $900+ and the P12000 is over $1000. I don't know about you, but that seems like a lot of money for me right about now. So I began a search for alternative ways to heat my tiny house.

Cool Cast Iron

LPG13 by Lodge 

Last week I went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel. I love Cracker Barrel because they have some really cool, old-school stuff. They also sell Lodge Cast Iron. Luckily Lodge products were on sale! Whoot! I have been wanting a double-sided griddle/grill that covers two burners. I was so excited to find they had one and it was on sale. Total, including tax, was $52.46. The cost when not on sale is $74.95 plus tax, so it was a good deal. Even better, my good friend who I was with decided to buy it for me as an early birthday present. How sweet was that?

Beginnings of the Kitchen Cabinets

Rev-A-Shelf Slide Out

This weekend is a 3 day weekend and I only have 1.5 days of school left to teach! I am really looking forward to the summer. I have put roughly 25 hours into the planning of the kitchen area of my tiny house. In studying what everyone else has incorporated into their kitchens vs what I think I will need, I have come up with some very clever ways to improve kitchen use and storage. One of the best and most efficient storage ideas for in the kitchen I found are pull outs.

Don't Worry, When You Die I Will Be Happy To Use All Your Stuff

One of my obsessions is watching Youtube videos of things that can help me in my quest to live off grid and have a sustainable homestead while still living comfortably. This morning I was poking around for a DIY on building a rocket stove. True to form, I got off on a tangent and found a guy who is a "Prepper" who decided to shut off all  his utilities and try to live "off grid" to simulate an emergency situation for one full week. I can see that this man makes a comfortable living. He has purchased/built a home solar system and also built a rainwater catchment system. I totally got sucked into his first video when I saw the beautiful gardens his wife manages to maintain that fill their backyard. Other than the ability to harvest immediately the plants that are edible, this guy is in serious trouble.