So, we bought a house.
The house is brand-new — a rare thing from what we’ve seen in our area’s real estate listings. It’s a wee little home, and at just over 800 square feet, it’s exactly the size we were looking for: bigger-than-tiny, but still small. The house sits on half an acre — flat and useable land with lots of sun and patches of shade, surrounded by trees. Which means there is space to park our tiny house.
There’s a lot of work to do on the land: digging out junk in the dirt (bowling balls, bottles, tires anyone?), prepping a pad for the tiny house, possibly cutting down some trees, and landscaping. But in the meantime, we’ve moved in and completely love it. Moving from a tiny space into a home with three rooms, we’ve had to buy essential pieces of furniture we donated, gave away, or have left at my parents’ home. That’s what happens when you purge dramatically and then, a few years later, find yourself back in a somewhat standard-size home. But it’s all good: it offers a clean slate. When Nick moved in with me in San Francisco in 2012, all of the furniture and stuff was mine. This is officially our first home as partners, so it’s nice to fill it together.
For those of you who have been following along from afar, this might seem sudden. What happened? Could they not stand it any longer? Did they fail? Moving on to a bigger space was always part of the plan, but I didn’t expect it to happen so soon. I thought we’d last in the tiny house for a few years; I thought we’d park in at least one other location. But as you might have gathered from these posts, the time in our tiny house was temporary. The space felt like a testing ground. We used it to see if we really wanted to live in the country. We lived in it to understand how much space we truly needed to feel comfortable (and no, 131 square feet is not enough). We stayed in it to save money, pay off bills, splurge and travel and not feel like we’re drowning, and just try something different. When we realized that we’d achieved our various goals — yes, we love this town! no, we don’t need a really big house! — we did what we always do: devised our next plan, acted quickly, and (somehow) made it happen. On a random Thursday afternoon, we decided to see a house for sale — we were flying to New York City that evening, for a weeklong trip, so we thought, why not see this house? Why not collect more data on what we like and don’t like? But we didn’t expect to fall in love with it. And we certainly didn’t expect to put in an offer. But we did. Two days later, as we sat in the lounge of our Midtown hotel, we learned that our offer was accepted.
We’ve been in our new home for a week, and I still can’t believe it’s ours.
Here’s a peek, courtesy of Prisma, which transforms your photographs into little works of art:
I’m not sure what this means for this blog — I may write another post or two in the coming months as we transition into this space. A truck driver will tow the tiny house here next week, and getting it situated on the lot will be yet another adventure.
So I won’t say goodbye just yet!
Hi there, I followed a link from the 2nd lesson of “Build a Business Website” but understood that the domain tinyhousetravelers.com is no longer active. Maybe those lesson link(s) could be updated? Appreciated.
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Thanks for flagging this — I will let the course creator know and she can incorporate in the next course update.
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I like your tiny house! I too like tiny living. I even built a tiny house! https://josmith1845.wordpress.com/2016/12/13/tiny-house-updates/
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Cheri and Nick,
Hi!
I am a Ph.D. student in sociology at Indiana University and I am studying tiny homes for my dissertation (people living in them, legalization efforts, etc.). I am writing to ask if you would be interested in taking my Qualtrics survey? It’s short (about 10 mins), will really help me produce high-quality research, and you have the chance to enter yourself in a gift card raffle if you’re interested. I am especially interested in hearing from you since you lived in a tiny and are now transitioning back into a more conventional home.
Link: https://iu.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_cBjkCE36OqRXVR3
Contact me at nesummer@umail.iu.edu or at 812-219-5214 if you have any questions or just want to confirm that I’m a real person and that the link is not spam. Thanks!
Nik Summers
Sociology Department
Indiana University
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Hi Nik — sure! I’ll take a look at the survey when I get a chance. Currently traveling and on a business trip but will answer it when I can sometime this week. –Cheri
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Thanks! Safe travels!
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Thanks for letting us in on your thoughts and adventures. Simplifying is also something you do after you’ve cleared out a few estates and taken care of the saved treasures of others. My own savings have been edited altho not enough for 800 sq. ft. Learning about what we truly need is a constant challenge. Sharing with others help those you don’t even know.
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All that warmth from the wood, I like how the one shot makes it look like a Tiffany lamp. God, 131 to 800 square feet. You and Nick must really love one another, and funny to find newfound fascination in poop in one’s 30s. If it helps (though it doesn’t sound like you need it), our first house in West Seattle was a bungalow built in 1919 as a beach home, so pretty sparse, and like 900 square feet (have to go outside and down to a basement that floods) to do the laundry. And man, we miss it. But it’s funny, when we tried to entertain and always wanted more space, less people having to eat in their laps kind of thing. “Grown up.” It’s boring. You know it, I’m just telling you as a kind of confirmation bias or something. The poop probably gets old after a bit, too. Bye — thanks for the nice post Cheri.
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This lovely property was meant to be for you and Nick as everything was in alignment. Just perfect! So, so happy for you.
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Such a nice and cozy home (love the photo FX too). At least you’ll always have the option of stepping back into your former, tinier-sized, home 😉
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Lovely! Reminds me of our place 2 hrs north of SF. Congrats!
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Congratulations, it’s beautiful!!
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In many ways the wee house looks like the tiny house. So you are still keeping your genuine love for small and wood and natural. It will be cool to have the tiny house parked there, either ready for new adventures or just as a reminder that we people are in constant evolution and that it’s okay to change our mind and explore new paths along our journey on earth. It sounds like you are also staying in the same town or at least area, so it means that you also fell in love with the community. Whatever you choose to do with your blog, it has been (and always be) a pleasure to read you. Best to you and your husband in your new nest.
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Having a tiny house or a small house is still a wonderful thing. You have established what your non-negotiables are. And the best thing about a small house….plugging the vacuum cleaner in one socket, and vacuuming the whole house without having to change plugs.
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Congratulations. What a beautiful home you have!
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Congratulations on purchasing your first home and for having room for your Tiny House on your property. It will be interesting to read about the influence that the TH experience will have on your future lives in a conventional home.
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Loved the article. Don’t stop writing, small house, big minds
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It looks nice. I’m one of those who has followed from afar, so yeah it was a surprise. But in a way, this looks like the Tiny, just … bigger 🙂 Good luck.
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Wow, and congratulations ~ now a little chalet, that is pretty cool. Still, the idea and romanticism that came with the Tiny House is pretty cool – but, when I think about it, 131 sq.ft., yeah you definitely will be on another adventure with this chalet and the half-acre. This is what life is about: do, experience, find another adventure and then go for it. Cheers!
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It’s beautiful!
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Beautiful house and pics. Life is a journey, looks like the two of you have a pretty good handle on when to move on.
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