Greetings from our Tiny House in the Charcoal Forest!
Our Tiny House arrived here at the beginning of May, and now we have fully nested back in our charcoal forest. It was a major ordeal hauling it up the mountain with low branches over the roads, and a colossal stress, but things have calmed down now and we are getting use to two people and one large dog in a place that is very small. Our tiny house has frightfully few drawers, or closets, but very nice walls, surfaces, fixtures, and huge windows. It is tidy, efficient, artful, and crazy cozy! I even have plenty of blithe sunny angles to contemplate …
We’ve managed to get the bare essentials in as best as we could. Jeff made a counter extension into the stair landing so that there is a tiny bit more kitchen counter and a couple shelves for necessaries (ahem, those “drawers” in front of the sink, they’re fake, a tease, just for looks, but no complaints about the deep sink!) , and we still need to put up some shelves and cup hooks and such. There are two lofts, one with stairs going up to a platform with a just-shy-of 5 foot overhead, it is our bedroom & has room enough only for our mattress ( restorative naps like from a nest in the trees !) and the other loft has a steep ladder going up, over the bathroom, with about 4 feet overhead and which serves as an attic. The saving grace is that Jeff built a shed, which is about 25 feet from the Tiny House, and where we have the luxury of temporary storage, all of our clothes, chairs & dressers I collected in last 6 months, and boxes etc… and… a washer & dryer which will be moved to the house when it is built one day. So that’s me trotting back and forth countless times a day, and with my knitting trail right at the doorstep, and all the wildness I am in need of ~~ ho hum, I tell you, this is “glamping” !
The outside paneling is torched & sealed wood , a method called shou sugi ban , which apparently has excellent preserving qualities, as well as fits right in with the charcoal forest ! Hunkering down for the long haul now, until our former house is rebuilt.
Knitting as usual…
And napping…
I’m so grateful that our Tiny House has super efficient heating & cooling, so I can close all the windows up and it becomes nearly sound proof, which is helping me cope with the loud noise of chain saws and bulldozers from the loggers at work – very closely -nearby, and eventually the construction of the house. Eventually. Once in a while a huge tree lands with a thud and shakes the Tiny House, but here inside we are safe and far enough away not to be bothered too awfully much. Still trying to find my former manic wave, while adapting to the big changes going on, but I wanted to post this for our friends and family who have been wondering how our new living situation is since the wildfire, now almost six months ago. We’re moved back up on the mountain now, that’s us. Here. Now.
Everything in its place, and life is good.
♣ ♣ ♣
In closing, I just wanted to say that I’d love to hear more from you. I want to encourage some chattiness (plenty of space in the WordPress comments)…so please don’t be shy, and tell me about you!
Jenjoyce Design 
Thats exactly as I imagined it. I love the tub angle you got. Silly girl. You are too funny. Sending you hugs. xoxo
Oh, right, the bathtub with optical illusion of a woodpile??? Thought you’d love that one. 🙂 xx
Chookie, I was thinking about you just half an hour ago and was going to email you once I’d got Cuily settled for the night. Your house looks small from the outside but a good size inside, a bit like the tardis! I love the bath tub! Emma looks quite settled and I’m pleased you’ve got your wee knitting nook. Hopefully now you can relax being up in your mountains with plenty of birdsong around you. That’s my favourite thing to listen to, that and the sea. I hope you are ok. Xxx
Kelly! Thanks for speaking up , I’ve been thinking about you too, wondering how you’re doing on your knitwear design and everything. The tub as you know, was bought a few months back, when I found it at a thrift shop, hugely discounted, and now we have to let it sit out in the woods covered in plastic until the house is rebuilt. I uncovered it just for the photo ( the logs are an optical illusion , piled behind the tub). Yes mostly robins singing now, but a lot of sawing is here for a while from the loggers. Not really peaceful yet. BUT, they seems to quit at about 4pm and don’t work on the weekends!
Take the best care of you and Cuily xx
I’ve finished my course finally and am waiting to hear if I’ve passed the final assessment. My tutor has asked me to reknit a tiny little bit so that won’t take long and I’ll send it back. x
Kelly, what are your plans for when it is all complete? Are you in a place where you can put all of your energy into designing now? I am so excited for you!!!
I’d like to get into designing babywear and small items. I need to learn how to use my knitting machine too and start using that and maybe combine hand and machine knitting.
Kelly, if you were to start with only ONE thing, (often a good way to start, lol) what would it be?
And would you offer the pattern only, or the knitted-by-you piece, or a kit???
How about a knitted pieces, like a baby hoodie, for the customer to sew together (back, fronts, hood, buttons, etc, maybe embroidery) sort of kit?
That would be different!
I was thinking all three, designing probably a jumper or cardigan, offering the finished item for sale once photographed, selling the pattern on its own and also in kit form.
Good luck in your tiny house!
I am intrigued to hear how you like tiny house living. It has interested me but sadly my stash is too large to fit.
Hello NothingButKnit, well it has to be! I was evaporating not being up on the mountain, and as our rebuild process is going to be very likely longer than expected, we can settle in and hunker down… it is a good decision financially too. Best way to see how things are going is just to watch this space. 🙂 Thanks for the comment xx
Oh, no way would all of my knitting/sewing things fit in here, that is what the shed is for! 🙂
It might be tiny but it’s beautiful and it’s your space…yay!
It’s nearly midnight here and I can’t think of much to say in answer to your appeal as I’m tired and I really must go to sleep, haha 😄
Sending hugs ❤💛💜❤
Love Tracey xx
Tracey, thank you, you get it… and I will chime in with Yay. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy your lovely & verdant place on the planet, and sleep well. xx
Thanks for sharing photos of your tiny house! I love the things but can’t imagine really living in one. Especially with a dog and another human! They are adorable, though, and amazing when it comes to clever storage.
I hope you share more about how it goes!
I have heard about that kind of siding – on tiny house shows! But never heard of anyone who really has it. Very cool, and appropriate.
Nothing much is new around here – we are off for the weekend to my niece ‘s graduation, I have filled a bag with yarn and needles and patterns. Might add a clean shirt and toothbrush if there is room…
Thats crazy, I have a niece that will be graduating in a week (high school) , and I hope your trip is happy and many rows knit! At least you have your priorities well defined. 🙂
Lol They grow up so fast, don’t they?
I have twenty hours in a car. Bringing a pair of socks, a sweater, and some afghan squares and hoping it is enough, lol
Yes, and I’d lay bet that nieces grow as fast as daughters! Seems like only a year ago graduating elementary school. Well , I’d be all over those socks first, and might have them done on the way out. I think you could make some great progress on a sweater for sure. Have a relaxing and wonderful journey!
Thank you! The afghan squares have a deadline, so they are first but won’t take long. Then we will see! I am just glad the days are long so we will be in daylight all the way.
Oh, well then the afghan by all means!
May I ask where are you driving to, and from?
We are leaving from Maine right now, heading to Wilkes-Barre PA. Sun’s up, time to knit!
Fantastc to hear you are back on the property and loving life again. Love you tons!!
Michele
Michele, how bittersweet, but yes, here in the charcoal woods, but so much better than being shuffled about. I am so glad you and Barry got to stay in the old house, and we got to hike the neighboring vineyards when they were so given to nature, and that was a great time of memories. Love to you both! xx
You have a lovely new space. We’re in the process of downsizing and will be living in a fifth wheel soon. Our plan is to be slightly nomadic. I know your downsizing was not voluntary and that you didn’t plan to be tiny home dwellers. I hope this time is restortive for you.
Nomadic is good! For most people I think that travelling in and among other tribes is loving life itself! (( not so much for me, I am a recluse, and get stressed travelling about)). Things are going to be okay, I am learning to keep smiling and stay looking forward. x
Oh Jen, how exciting to see some impressions of your new / old home! It looks so lovely fresh, between in between the charcoal landscape, and gives a mood of hope and new beginning life!
(maybe in one or two year time it will be your guesthouse? or knitting and spinning studio? or meeting point for knitting classes?)
Enjoy your days!
xx Petra
Petra, I had my brothers family and you in mind when feeling the sudden urgency to get on with posting some photos of our new quaint dwelling. The charcoal is fine with me, it will be an oasis eventually of a logged mountain, and the fog will still roll over the ridge and bring life into the ridge, new green will sprout up into trees at a rapid rate. We can’t think so far ahead as to what we will eventually do with it. I am really excited that you are enjoying your transformative chapter in life, having so much hard work to do, but your knitting (and YOU) is as beautiful as ever!
Nice!
Lizzi, I dreamed about you last night, not kidding, then woke to your little comment. I think of you often and I hope you are continuing finding places that bring you contentment, and baking bread for your hungry husband, and knitting your fine things. Your heartfulness and strength has been an inspiration to me ~ x
So lovely to think that you are back “home” again, in a lovely, crisp, clean tiny house. What a perfect place to live while you contemplate, plan and begin to rebuild. So happy this has worked out relatively quickly…I know you will be feeling much happier to be back where you love as the new house begins to emerge. Sending hugs!
Thank you Dianne, I hope you are happy travelling to and from Australia, making pit stops now and then. Yes, ‘crisp’ describes it so well! 🙂 I know you don’t mean that in an ironic way (like burned to a crisp) but more like Clean & Crisp. Yes… inside it’s very clean and crisp, and outside, very sooty , and yet, I am happy. The proof will be in the forthcoming knitting and design(s)… xx
Hi, Jen! The first two times (!) (bad, changing signal) I tried to comment on this post, I was sitting glumly in our pickup watching a sad wheat harvest in a field near ours where I live in Central Mexico. It was sad because weirdly, suddenly, May had played at becoming June. May was a wild child, and sent us evening rains instead of sun and breezes. Our neighbor’s harvest isn’t being accepted at the grain elevator. When rain falls on almost-ripe wheat, the grains get wet, of course. They swell. And during the sunny days, the grains shrink, develop brown spots, and lose weight. They’re just not perfect any more, and the grain elevator owner either discounts the amount paid, or dumps the wheat in a big pile near the elevator.
All the famers in our area are being affected in this way. It’s devastating, as the income from the sale of the wheat crop is used to buy the seed and fertilizer for the larger crop of corn that will follow.
Your blog post was warming to my soul. Something good and lovely can come out of devastation. Thank you for taking the time to make your post with photos (I LOVE to see photos in a blog!)
Gail
Gail, thank you for your heartfelt & poetic words from your life. I love the stories told in these little boxes from here and there all over the world and along the wayside, for whomever has a minute and a thought!
Sigh. I am hoping that your neighbors do okay, farming must be a very risky way to make a living! I am glad you find warmth in my small shift to better days, and when I’m not too shy, I will post more from Life here. xx
Your tiny looks amazing. Small but the space is yours and the view is still grand. Fascinated to see what sprouts through the charcoal.
Oh wow Morrie, thank you. It is okay, I’m just enjoying it for now and trying to ignore the logging (( its devastating, if you ever come this way again, you would not recognize it!)) How about you? Wondering what is going on in the world with you, 🙂 xx
Oh wow! A tiny house; how neat. Will you keep it and make it your studio when your new house is built?
Hello Stefanie! Yes, a real Tiny House. Not sure if we’ll sell it after we move into the house ( that’s not even had plans submitted for permit yet)I’m trying not to forecast the future. How about you? What’s going on with you and the fam? 🙂
Lol it’s amazing how we can manage to live sometimes!
Managing is just about it. I am so looking forward to having our house built. xx
I bet! Maybe this interval will make you appreciate it that much more
I think so, ultra simplicity changes a person. How about you?
I think every experience changes us as people:)
I agree, big or small. What challenges can you remember that changed you? (if you don’t mind…lol)
Working four jobs and going to university full time. Having my family all move away. Those are the two that come to mind though I’m sure there’s many more
Wow, is that even possible???? You are superhuman AJ! I hope your life has found a settled sense of calm since. xx
Oh yes and I’m much more appreciative of sleep and quiet time now:)
I have heard so much about tiny house living and I was thinking about attempting it. I hope you, your husband and Emma are happy there until your house is built.