Sunday, June 9, 2013

A Shed First

I am hoping to soon find a place to build and then park my tiny house.  I need a place in the country, and with access to electric service.  But what I'm thinking of doing before I start building my house, is building a small shed, very close to where the trailer will be parked.  

One of the things I really want adjacent to my house on wheels is a small hen house.  So I thought that if I build that first, then I can use it to house my tools and supplies while building the tiny house.  It will give me a secure place to store things and at 8' x 10' it will give me enough room to also work inside of it.  Once I'm done building I can fix up the inside to house my hens and still have an area for tools storage too. 

I have always loved designing and building pretty, useful structures.  In looking for a nice shed photo to place here I came across this:





Oh - my - gosh.  Have you ever seen a more gorgeous hen house???  You can buy the plans for this beautiful "chez poulet" here: http://heatherbullard.com/2012/11/at-home-chez-poulet-coop-chickens/

I think my shed will be of more simple design, but wow, is this a gorgeous inspiration.  I have always used bold, black hinges and handles on my fences, gates, and outbuildings, and would love to incorporate that into my tiny house.  And I might just have to put a cupola on my hen house. 

5 comments:

  1. I love your idea of starting with the hen house and using it to store tools. Great plan! I'm about a year behind you in my plans to start building a tiny house on wheels, and about the same age as you, too, so I'll be interested to see how things go for you. I currently have a house that's too big for me, no one to share it with other than a house full of cats and birds, so I want to downsize eventually. Plus, I need to find a cheaper way to live if I'm ever going to be able to retire.

    My dream would be to build a moveable tiny house and to own property in 2 states, and to move the home for different parts of the year. Or, depending on how affordable it is, to have a tiny house at each location and to just move myself between them. We'll see. I've done a lot of renovating, building arbors, decks and walls, so I know I can build my own tiny house. It's finding the time and money that's the problem right now, but I'm working on it.

    Again, good luck with your plans and definitely keep blogging. The tiny house movement is growing in leaps and bounds, and I'm sure your blog will become a resource for many. For now, I'm keeping myself content with reading others' journeys and pinning ideas on Pinterest. I have many tiny house pins there under Mary Mac, in case you need some additional inspiration. :)

    Thanks for the posts.

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    1. Thank you for commenting :). I would also love to be able to be up north in the summer, and back in southern MI for the rest of the year. I really struggle with heat, and it is absolute heaven in the UP of Michigan - up near Lake Superior. Where is it you would like to be? Maybe you, or I, could have a "smaller" and more simple tiny house as our second living place. I know that being outside a lot in the summer I wouldn't need as much indoor living space.
      I also plan on building "add-ons" to my tiny house - a mudroom, a pantry... and it would make moving it much more difficult.
      I hope you share your tiny house plans and journey - I love hearing other people's ideas and watching their progress.
      I think I found your pinterest...cabins and tiny houses? It's an absolutely gorgeous collection of photos!

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    2. Actually, my Pinterest board is called "tiny/small houses" and is listed under Mary Mac. There are about 1,200 photos now, some helpful links, but mostly just a collection of cool small and tiny houses.

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  2. By the way, I assume you've visited these already, but just in case you haven't:

    tinyhouseblog.com
    tinyhomebuilders.com
    tumbleweedhouses.com
    tinyhouseswoon.com
    fourlightshouses.com
    tinyhousesaustralia.com
    tinygreencabins.com/blog/
    tinywoodhomes.webs.com
    thetinylife.com and
    120squarefeet.com just to name a few.

    Even if you're building your own home yourself, I find these sites give good ideas on how to build and what to include. I'll stop commenting now. : )

    Enjoy!

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    1. Thank you for the websites! Yes, I pick up so many good ideas and I love the detailed photos of building progress. I have a book that details building techniques and has wonderful photos - I had gotten it from Home Depot back when I was building barns and hen houses - it's Tauton's "Build Like a Pro - Building a Shed". I've also thought of getting the book "Working Alone" since I'll be working mostly on my own.

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