My tiny house is decorated for Christmas

My tiny home just arrived here in Washington state just a few weeks ago. The day before she was due to arrive I  purchased several gallons of white paint, and I was standing with paint brush in hand when she was towed down my driveway.  However, life throws many curve balls and I was not able to work on the interior of my tiny retreat as soon or as much as I had planned to do.  I was able to do just enough within coming days to at least shoot some holiday pictures.


Decorating a tiny home does not have to be expensive to be beautiful. Most of the items in the pictures, excluding Santa were vintage treasures picked up from garage sales, thrift stores, and garage sales during this past summer. Craig's list is another wonderful resource and quite often you can buy used items at an incredible price.



The candles are from Ikea and they cost $2.00 for a four pack.

 

The white rose wreath was a $1.00 garage sale bargain

 

The little vintage style trees are from the dollar store

 

This fireplace was a Craig's List find for under a hundred dollars

 

The Christmas tree is from a local shop and was priced at 75% off after Christmas last year

 

Plastic snow, .97 cents

                                                    
                                                    

My farm table is close to 200 yrs old and I purchased it from a flea market for $65.00

                                                                               

 

                                                                           

Hand made vintage snowflakes were $1.00 each at a antique shop

                                                                     
                                    
                                            

Holiday cookies are practical and festive

 

                                                                            

Sprigs of fresh holly from my yard adorn the upper shelf in the tiny house

 

An old bed skirt doubles as a tree skirt

 

                                                                               

Santa brings me some holiday cheer, Thanks Santa

                                                                        
                  

Santa is checking his list to see if you were naughty or nice this past year




Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

 

                                                    

Santa stopped by my tiny retreat

I came home today to find that I had a huge sleigh parked next to my tiny house. What an incredible site and a HUGE surprise.  It was amazing to see such a grand sleigh, toppling over with burlap sacks full of what seemed to be thousands and thousands of presents.  The reindeer grazing on my land were just stunning and I felt like a kid again taking in the sight that not many are so fortunate to witness first hand.

 This of course meant that Santa Clause himself had excepted my invitation to come and visit my brand new custom built Slabtown  tiny home. But, Santa was not in sight. I quickly stepped into my tiny home to get my camera and snap some pictures and I was surprised once again. There in person was the jolly old man that I had known from childhood stories and books, sitting before me, right in my own tiny home. I welcomed him and told him how happy that I was that he made time to stop by my little retreat. He explained that he had heard that there was growing interest in tiny homes all over the world and he wanted to come by and see what the buzz was all about for himself.   He was a bit miffed that I had a faux fireplace and no chimney to slide down. He had to use my front door to enter, instead of a chimney.  I was so happy that I had my builder install a normal size front door on my tiny house instead of one of those tiny home mini front doors.






Santa tracked in snow from the North Pole

                                                                                                               
I told Santa to make himself at home, take some time to have a bite to eat and to get some rest. I offered him some cookies and milk.  I then took some warm oatmeal sprinkled with cinnamon out to Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner  Blitzen and Rudolph.

Cookies and milk for Santa

                                                                       
 For those of you that are interested, here are the specs on Santa's sleigh.  It was designed and built by K. Kringle & Elves, Inc., the Sleigh is 75 cc (candy canes) or 150 lp (lollipops) long and 40 cc or 80 lp wide. It takes off with a weight of 75,000 gd (gumdrops) and is propelled by 9rp (reindeer power) consuming high octane organic fuels. Emissions are strictly classified. With less than a millisecond to deliver toys to each child in the world who believes in Santa, The sleigh somehow functions in a different time and space continuum than what we experience. Such Einsteinian operations require tremendous energy, which is fueled by the 12 billion grams of protein from cookies and milk that are provided at households around the world.


I was able to capture some pictures of Santa while he spent a bit of time at my tiny retreat. When Santa was napping I made up a huge batch of warm oatmeal topped with lots of cinnamon for the reindeer. They loved it. But, by the time they had finished and I was ready to shoot some pictures of them grazing  near my tiny home, my camera battery had died. I did not have time to charge it before Santa was ready to leave for his busy weekend ahead. Darn it... those reindeer were amazing, sorry I didn't get any shots of them.

The table is set for Santa

                                                             
                                                   
                                       

More sweets for Santa

                                                               

Santa enjoys a good read near the fire

Santa relaxing near the fire

Santa looks a bit tired

Santa nodding off

Santa... Wake up, go rest in the loft

Santa decided to take a nap in the loft

Santa warms up his boot and gloves

Santa is snug as a bug in a rug

Catching some Zzzzzzz

Sweet Dreams

Dear Santa, Thanks so much for stopping by my little shabby chic tiny retreat this holiday season. Please remember that you are always welcome to drop in next Christmas season.


Love,
Tonita

                                                            

                                                                      
                                                                                     















                                              

My tiny home has arrived

WOO-HOO,

Quick Update, My tiny home is finally finished and it is now sitting in my front yard.

Just days ago, my tiny home was towed all the way from Springfield Missouri to it's current spot just outside Seattle WA. It all happened so fast. Actually, I didn't have any updated pictures until it was in tow. So, I will be back tracking and tell you more about my tiny home in coming posts.

 It was quite an adventure towing it here through really bad winter weather. Glen towed it through, snow, ice,  extreme high winds as well as white out conditions. Even with the bad weather he put in between 500-600 miles per day to stay on schedule and have it home by this past Sunday, December 4, 2011. Glen will post his amazing story in the near future.

Here is a video of it my tiny home before it left Arkansas last week.

I will be girl-ifying it soon and adding my personal touches to make it my chick cave.  Stay tuned for updates and tiny house transformations.

My really tiny bathroom

The cutest tiny bathroom ever 

Most tiny house enthusiasts as well as those that are planning to build their own tiny home in the future enjoy seeing pictures of every nook and cranny in a tiny home. And even the itty-bitty details are important. It helps to give them ideas of how they might build their own tiny home. Often a person will look online or tour a tiny home in person and imagine themselves living in that space.  They may say - " I would add this" or "I would not need this or that".  Looking at even the smallest details in another persons tiny home can help people make a plan for their own little space.  I spent hours online looking at tiny homes and other little living spaces, before figuring out just what I wanted the interior of my home to look like. There always seemed to be plenty of pictures posted of the 'great room' or the 'kitchen area' in a tiny house but often no pictures of the bathroom, the closet or storage areas. I wanted to show off my little bathroom which I love.

 When building a very tiny home every foot and in many cases inches does matter. Hopefully this post will give you some ideas of how you can incorporate a bathtub, into a tiny bathroom as well as a sink, which many people do not install in tiny homes. We did have to make some last minute changes to make everything fit and not feel cramped. We had to switch out toilets as you will see below.  Often 32" x 32" shower stalls are installed in tiny homes. I chose a bathtub to allow for a more room than a shower stall would allow. It is dual purpose and works as a shower also. It is a place to soak my feet, bathe a dog, take a shallow bubble bath, or wash dirty laundry.  A 19 gallon water heater was installed under a kitchen cabinet and piped into the bathroom.  I choose this over the hot water on demand because of water pressure requirements to run that unit.

 It was a bit of a challenge for me during the construction process of my little home, not being able to actually walk into the tiny house during the building process, to get a feel for the layout.  I have had to depend on phone communication, emails and pictures. But you can see that Scott did a wonderful job.

My tiny home was built in Arkansas by Scott Steward of Slabtown Customs.  So here you have it. This is the bathroom in my tiny home. The measurements of the little bathroom are 8' long by 40" wide. It includes a bathtub that measures 24" x 40" and a tiny bathroom sink that was a gift from a friend and a RV toilet that was purchased from Camping world. I originally was going to use a normal home style toilet but once it was sitting next to the bathtub it was easy to see in the pictures Scott sent me that it was just to cramped in the bathroom.  I opted to use a RV low water toilet instead. It has a china bowl and a full flush that mimics a normal toilet. It can be tied into a sewer line or a holding tank can be used also. It is not the most attractive toilet but once the tiny house is decorated and fixed up I don't think it will be a focal point. Many people who live in tiny houses use a simple and efficient composting toilet option. There are several good inter net articles on how to build your own for under $20.00 .



This is the first toilet we tried in the tiny house. As you can see there is not much space to comfortably sit on the toilet to read a good book or enjoy a your favorite magazine.



Since I live over two thousand miles away from the tiny house site, and I only have pictures to go by, so I enlisted the help of a construction site model. Thanks Willy for being a good sport.



Be careful Willy, don't hit your head on the wall



Thanks Willy, You are a great sport.  I think I will go with a different toilet for my tiny house.

Thumbs up, this is a fit.

Let's try this toilet. It has a porcelain bowl and is a low flush tank less toilet

                                       


Top view of the toilet



A curtain or cabinet can be used to create more storage under the sink

A great little sink with an area to hold soap and toiletries

The bathtub & shower surround is optional

The upper portion of the bath and shower surround

I choose to have Scott build a front panel for the tub, but factory styles are an option

This picture was taken in a 5200 sq ft Victorian home. It convinced me a tiny tub was a must in my tiny home.



Stay tuned for more updates once the tiny house is decorated.

In and around the coop

 I am blessed. Living in the country allows me to observe the process that many trees go through, as they oddly undress for the coldest months of the year. The cool winds of Autumn take many deep breaths in an effort to blow the beautiful leaves from their branches.  Thus far, most that surround me are refusing to budge from their 'connected place' and they are still hanging on for dear life before their final surrender, which will send them to their destiny.  

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October 31, and the leaves are still holding on

The Coop for pampered chickens



A mini pumpkin

The fancy vintage wrought iron archway for the pampered chickens

Hank checks out the mini pumpkins

Not quite sure about the pumpkins

A lavender Orpington hen checks out her options.



Halloween at the coop

What is this? Who cares, LET"S EAT.

Small ceramic vintage chickens sit in the window flower boxes attached to the coop

Tricks are over, now it is time for treats.I make a cold stew mixture of organic foods for the chickens each morning.



Here they are enjoying Organic raw goats milk, raw sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, oats, grapes, sprouts, peas and brewers yeast, along with super green food supplements.

Come inside the coop

Another trick, - a plastic spider

OH NO !!!!! Pink spiders - IKE'S

The little chicks insisted I put this sign in the hen house.

Most of my chickens love to be held and they want to sit on my lap whenever they have the chance

 I love to listen to Hank, my rooster - as he practices his garbled crow. He sounds like he could use a throat lozenge but hopefully he will improve with practice. 

Morning dew,  left on a work of art

This is the real deal. I saw this web early in the a.m. near the coop.

Different yet similar. Strength and beauty

If only the spider would sell a set of plans for his web... Ah the possibilities.

Please come back to visit the coop during the Christmas season.