Winter Wonderland

We got a dumping of snow in Vermont this week, which has been sticking to the trees and is quite beautiful. Here’s our home in the middle of the winter wonderland, plus Jeremy shoveling snow off the roof:

Life is quite a bit more relaxing now that our tiny house is in Vermont, so that we can just drive 15 minutes down the road and work on it. We’ve been making progress on the inside of the house, and doing lots of research on our next big endeavors: walls, flooring, kitchen counters, etc.

One of the first things we did after the house moved to Vermont was set up some of our utilities. Jeremy’s Pop surprised us with a fabulous electrical box and plug, and we got the propane hooked up for our heater:

Then we framed up a box to house our energy recovery ventilator (ERV), and we mounted and hooked up the ERV for the first time. Right now the ERV frame is bare studs, but we will box it in with plywood and then cover that with wallpaper, etc. The ERV runs pretty quietly, and it exchanges inside and outside air to keep the house fresh and healthy to breathe in.

Lastly, Jeremy built our front steps! I was so excited to walk up them, they feel very cute and homey.

Next big step that we’re getting ready for is finishing the interior walls, we are going to prime the OSB (oriented strand board) and then apply paintable wallpaper. This should be a very thin and fairly simple option for the walls. Here’s what the inside of the house looks like now, hopefully next post will be much different!

A very happy holidays to all, until next time!

Maiden Voyage

It’s been a stressful couple of weeks leading up to this move- securing a place to land the house, and getting it ready to go. Matt helped me put on monster ratchet straps to hold the house on the trailer, and close up the utility shed.

Laura and I organized our materials and loaded up the house with everything that would come north with us. Then the day came! I woke up at 5am because there was still lots to do- checking tire pressures, final tweaking of the ratchet straps, knocking snow off of low hanging tree branches in the driveway, shoveling off the roof, etc.

After stressing about it for weeks, it all faded away within the first five minutes of getting on the road (aside from the occasional nervous moment).

The trip was uneventful. Our driver Jody of Windhorse Transportation was great. He slowly worked up the courage to go top speed at 50 mph, and the house didn’t fall off or fall apart! It was very entertaining to watch folks excitedly try to sneak another peek in their rear view mirrors, and people pointing and gawking.

The house landed safely at our new build site, just 15 minutes down the road from our current apartment, which is super convenient.

We owe a HUGE THANKS to our friends for letting us build the tiny house at their property in NH this summer and fall, and for all of their love and support. We also want to give an ENORMOUS THANKS to family and friends in NH that have lent many many hours, sweat, and a few tears helping with construction. We wouldn’t be at this stage without you all. Any and all are welcome to visit us and the house at its new spot near Middlebury, Vermont. Here’s to warm and happy building the interior of the house this winter!