Living Little - Living Large
The concept was to
downsize. This is the lot as it was in the fall of 2006. It is next to
the house we used to live in and the building you see in the photo is
the garage to our previous
house. When we purchased that house in 1991 it had two tax
lots, but we weren't sure this smaller lot was buildable. After
a boundary line adjustment which took into consideration the
critical habitat area around the seasonal creek on the land, we
were able to get enough space to build without asking for a
variance to the creek's buffer of 25 feet on each side. The
small building you see behind the garage has been moved.
The house we wanted to
build would have a small footprint and be two stories. The first story
would have a guest bath,
and laundry. It would also house Mike's guitar shop and my
art studio. Each room would do at least double duty, with the
stairway having a shower under it as well as the hot water heater and
storage. Upstairs, the one bedroom would also have an alcove
for
an office and the living room would share space with the dining
room.
We planned the plumbing to be stacked all in the same area, the deck to
be under the big trees, the sound of the creek to be in most of the
rooms and an out of rain shelter on the back and front of the house for
access. When Clint layed out the footprint, everyone who saw it thought
we were building a
small accessory building.
We moved out of our
previous house on
October 22, 2006 and into our Alaskan camper, and promptly left for a
warmer climate, leaving our good friend Clint Crist with a building
permit so he could start the foundation. He started it in
"slimy" weather, and sent us this picture with a note not to
hurry home as things were wet and COLD.
The framing went fast,
like usual. Clint and Mike were virtual monkeys, walking on beams and
lifting up walls.
After lots of stuff, you
can only imagine if you have done it
yourself, the pile of lumber and stuff started to look a bit
like the house Mike, Clint and I had designed. The architect
who drew our design never saw the site, so it was up to us to
fine tune the plan to fit the site, which Clint started when he
turned the house on the lot to take maximum advantage of every aspect
of this special little spot. Here Mike and Clint
are working on the roof.
Mike seems totally at
home in high places at this stage of the
house. We were blessed with good weather for most of the project and
took advantage of it to prefinish everything we put on the house.
In this photo the outside
is mostly done and we are living
in the camper in front of the house. The porta potty is gone
and the downstairs bathroom is done, as well as the laundry room.
The trees are starting to turn and it is fall, we have been
sleeping in the camper for a year!! Thanks to friends, that
wasn't too bad. Jim and Judy took care of us for months in
Baja,
and Clint and Bird took care of us for five months on their land, and
Bob and Sandy put up with us for a couple of weeks as well. We were
stoked to be on our own land, the junkyard dogs so to speak, while we
finished the house. From this point Clint went on to other work, and
things slowed down as then there was only Mike, and me. You can imagine
how handy I am with a hammer. But, I can varnish and paint, get
materials and food.
Here is another view of
the house, showing Claudia's house, where we used to live, next door.
AND, in December we had a
kitchen!!
It isn't done yet, but it is useable. No more
heating up
water to wash dishes in the camper! Thirteen months in the
camper. . wow. I can't say we thought it would be that long when me
moved into it.
As we work on finishing
up the house
we are very pleased with the decisions we made, plenty of which would
have been wrong if it hadn't been for Clint . . . shhhh don't tell him
as he doesn't like compliments. . . and we are very happy with the way
things turned out. You will have to visit to see how compact
and
useful this 1200 odd square feet of house turned out. We do
have
a guest bathroom downstairs, but you will have to bring your RV or
tent!!
Mike and Linda
December, 2007
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