The Cost of a Tiny House

So I thought it would be fun to calculate the price of our home if I was to purchase it from Tumbleweed (provided they even made something in our size, which they don't). I took their squarefootage from the Fencl, broke it down to price per square foot ($372.73 - the Fencl is 144.875sqft including the loft space), and then took our squarefootage (255.5sqft) at the Tumbleweed price. I about fell over when I added it up......$95,232.52!!! HOLY CRAP!!!

I guess I never really took notice when people complained about the "$400 a sqft pricetag" on the Tumbleweed homes. I wasn't buying one, so I didn't really care, but now that I've done the math, I can't see how anyone can think that at those rates these can be considered affordable housing!

I think that a quality home is very important, but I also think that one could build a quality tiny home for far less than that and still make money off of it. We have spent what I consider to be quite a bit of money on our home, but we made different choices than some do as building a non-toxic house comes with a larger price tag. I just can't see how almost $400 a sqft can be justified....at that price it would have to be gold plated.

Overspending is what got our country into this mess in the first place......how does $400 a sqft at any size lead to a debt free, minimalist lifestyle? Living in a tiny home is a change of life, goals, and the ability to follow one's dreams....sometimes I think that some of us forget that and get wrapped up in the "cuteness".
Anyway, no pictures today, just some random thoughts......

Window Coverings

My fabric that I ordered for the draperies arrived yesterday, so I spent all day today sewing

and have the living room panels completed and had hubby help me hang them.

The paneling isn't finished on the walls yet, so I'll have to pop them down quickly when he is ready to install the tongue and groove, but I really wanted to get some nice window coverings up. We had burlap bags stapled up over the windows and it was getting old.

The undyed organic cotton flannel fabric looks great against the wood and really lightens up the house. The long panels give the living room a really chic "loft" feel, with the nice warmth of a cabin :o)

New Gutters

Well, today we moved our home into her semi permanant location in the yard. It's nice to be out of the driveway!

We also had seamless gutters installed that we will use to divert the rainwater into barrels to use for irrigation.
I think that they blend in really well!

A Few Photos of Everyday Life....

Here are a few pictures of what our tiny home looks like after a week of working and running around, neglecting chores, and general chaos.

Loft, complete with unmade bed and dog sleeping in my blankets :o(

It would take an act of God, Congress, and the devil to remove him from the bed....he's like a giant cat.

Living room, I did put a new cover on the futon, I like this one better :o) Shelf under counter top for dishes, I don't think we're going to put in upper cabinets as I've got lots of storage underneath, including a wheeled cart that has drawers for utensils and a spice shelf that I can roll out and use as an island when I'm cooking, and then roll it away when it's not needed.

It's fabulous having such a large space to work, but I always manage to clutter it all up! :o)

I've ordered organic cotton fabric and will be making curtains for the front of the counter to cover up underneath. We decided against doing cupboard doors (I decided against them anyway, I wanted a bit softer look, more cozy). So I'm waiting on the fabric to arrive and then I will make the curtains for the storage, and also the curtains for all of the windows.....and I don't know how to sew, so it should be interesting :o)

Anyway, I thought you all might like to see some "real life" pictures of our little home in action :o)

Who Would Have Thought.....

Well, we've completed the insulation as of a few days ago and are now enjoying the warmth, in fact, a bit too much warmth! While we've spent the last 3 winters freezing our butts off in the 5th wheel, we are now way too warm! It's fine if we leave the heater on low, but you put it on anything higher than the first setting and we're sweating and the dogs are panting.

So, while we still intend to install our beautiful little marine stove as at some point we will be using only solar/wind power, for now while we are hooked up to the grid, we're going to stay electric as it's now apparent that we're not going to wake up with icicles on our noses anytime soon :o)

That being said, I wanted something more attractive than my radiator style freestanding heater, so we picked up this little gem and I think it does the job nicely :o)

It uses less power than radiator heater we've been using (which was still very efficient), and it gives us that warm "wood" glow.

We'll finish off the platform that the heater is on in preparation of installing the woodstove at some point, but for now we're going to use the electric heater until we've got our alternate energy sources in place and are ready to travel off grid.

It's so exciting though to have a warm, toasty home that doesn't require much electricity to heat, and we should stay nice and cool in the Summer with as well as everything is insulated