The Story So Far...

We've been told that once we get through the process of a complete home renovation, we could write a book. Instead, we decided upon a blog to document our journey. Who knows?  In ten years, we might look back on this whole experience and have a good laugh. Let's start with what's happened so far, shall we?

So why would you even do this to yourselves?!

Good question. For years, I have dreamed of having my own teaching space. Right now, I teach in the choir room at the church that I attend and also work/volunteer at. It's nice space, but it has its challenges because it is a shared space. Also, we bought our house as a fixer-upper special. We did some of the work that was required and then ran out of money. Over the years, we had other priorities and didn't give the house the love that it deserved, so it needs updates.

My teaching space.  Nice piano and big room, but I have to share it with Creepy
Mozart. He lives in the shadow box over there on the filing cabinets.

Two years ago, we decided it was time to do something. Move or stay put? Moving meant sinking some money into our house so it would be "market ready", plus we would have to mess around with Title V septic system stuff (also costly). Then, when we found our next house, unless we got really, really lucky, we would still need to do renovation work to make a studio space for me. How many houses do you know that have a big open space with a separate entrance, a bathroom, waiting area, and sound proofing? If we stayed, we wanted to create our dream house because we have no intention of moving any time soon. This may cost more money (maybe) than moving, but we have a great location -- just a few doors down from Tower Hill Botanical Garden in a relatively quiet little town. After quite a bit of discussion and researching the housing market, we decided to stay put.

We hired an architect and designed our dream home to be built on the bones of the existing house. Our cape will become a gambrel colonial.  Our segmented first floor will become an open floor plan. And we will have an addition that creates a studio space for me and gives us a two car garage. Designs were done by Fall of 2016 and we found a great contractor shortly thereafter.

Drawing of the front of the house.

The downstairs.  Check out my swank music studio in the back.
And a two car garage -- no more shoveling out cars!!!

And the upstairs.  Look at those bee-yoo-tee-ful walk-in closets.

Here's where I am going to take a moment and recommend our architect, Mike Halley. He's a really nice guy and is awesome at taking your requirements/wish list and turning it into a solid plan.

Work Starts in March and Other Adventures

Our house is too close to the road. It's not the house's fault. The town widened our road long before we bought the house. This means that any work we do requires us to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals.  ZBA application work was done in December before the holidays. Meanwhile, the contractor gives pencils us into the work schedule for March. Before loans can be applied for and permits pulled, we have to have our stamp of approval by the ZBA. In hindsight, this is something that we should have moved on more quickly.

Too close!!

Mid-January, we have a meeting scheduled with the ZBA and we run the legal notice in the paper and send out all the certified letters to our neighbors about it. The day of the meeting in February, we get a snowstorm. Meeting canceled. And it can't be rescheduled until late March because one of the board members is a snowbird and is in Florida. So much for our timeline.  

The contractor pushed our start date out to the beginning of June. Our meeting finally happened on March 27th where the design was approved. We got our official notice (after the requisite waiting period after the meeting) in April. Construction loan application is started.

This is where we learn that construction loans are bigger pains than a standard mortgage. And here's where we sit, waiting on the bank. This is a slow process. If the appraiser approves of the work and the bank doesn't want to dicker over the payment schedule with the construction company, it looks like we'll probably close mid-June.  This means we lose our current slot on our contractor's schedule, so stay tuned when the actual start date is.

Trailer Trash

Given that the house will have it's entire second story removed to create a colonial, we cannot stay in the house. The construction is slated to take approximately 5 months, so couch surfing, staying at the in-laws, and a tent in the backyard were not options. We decided to obtain an RV Trailer and park it in our yard. The construction company is happy because we'll be there to answer questions. We're happy because we can keep a close eye on things.

Picking out the trailer was the easy part. We went with the biggest one we could afford.

Roughly 320 Square Feet of Living Space for 3 humans
and 2 cats (one of which is flatulent).

It turns out that buying a trailer is actually easier than buying a car.  The process from beginning to end was painless.  Delivery has been a whole 'nother ball of wax.

On Wednesday, the Trailer Delivery Guy showed up around the time he said he would (8:30am). After he and Wombat disassembled the swing set, he backed our shiny new trailer into its spot more easily than I can back my CRV into the driveway. This is when he tells us that in order to set it up permanently, we need 55 cinder blocks and some wood to make piers. (This will keep movement to a minimum when we walk around in it, etc). He tells is to go get the stuff and he'll come back and do the set up.

Side note: This is the first time we are hearing this in spite of countless phone calls and several visits to the dealership. They knew it was being parked in a yard and not on a pad in a campground.

So off we go to Home Depot. When we arrive, we are told all the rental delivery trucks are out, but one will be back within the hour. We go to find someone to help us collect the blocks and the wood. Once it's all done an hour has elapsed.

Another side note:  Y'know those big shelves that Home Depot has?  The ones they put palettes of big heavy stuff on? So apparently, they are supposed to rotate the palettes so the heavy stuff never ends up all the way in the back because then you can't reach the heavy stuff nor can you use a forklift to get it down because...physics.  Our concrete blocks were sitting at the back of one of those palettes on the second shelf up.  The Home Depot guy had to climb up on the palettes and retrieve them one at a time with the help of another Home Depot guy, all while telling us how this goes against regulation.  This is why it took an hour to get our stuff.

Materials collected and paid for, Wombat returns to the desk where you rent the truck. Initially he's told there is one, but jk.  The one in the parking lot is actually slated for a grill delivery.  After briefly pondering how badly we would break the CRV with all those blocks, he leaves me to hang by our carts of stuff and goes down the street to Budget and rents a box truck. While waiting for what seemed like hours, I had one old lady question whether I was helping Trump build his wall. An older gentleman wanted to know who would let a "little lady" do the hard labor that these materials would require. Plus general stink eye because, god forbid, you had to take an extra 5 steps to walk around me.

55 concrete blocks.  3 Carts of stuff.

Once home, Wombat calls the trailer place to let them know Trailer Delivery Guy that we were good to go.  The Trailer Delivery Guy Scheduler informs Wombat that Trailer Delivery Guy actually had to go do something else for the afternoon, but maybe he'd be back in time to take care of it.  Or maybe it will be tomorrow.  (It turned out it would be the next day - much later than they said it would be).

The two hour estimate for delivery, set up, and walk through, actually turned out to need several days to get it done.  This is just the pre-game.  I can't wait to see how the actual construction will go.

Trailer Walk Through

With the tiny house movement in full swing, I know many people who are excited (or at least morbidly curious) about how one goes from a full size house down to an oversized garden shed with a bathroom.  Wonder no more, my friends. While the better part of this blog will be about the fun and excitement of construction, I am sure that the experience of trailer living will come up on occasion.

Before we move in and make a mess of things, let's explore our trailer, shall we?

We selected a 2017 Keystone Retreat Loft Destination Trailer. The trailer measures 40ft 8inches in length and is a little over 13 feet tall on the outside.  Interior ceiling height is 8ft.  Wombat is 6' 4", so this was a big selling point for him.  It features a master bedroom with a king size bed and a loft that can sleep two.  It also has a huge (by trailer standards) open living space with kitchen, dining area, and living room.  Price wise, this was a mid-range trailer.  Cheaper trailers were smaller with lower ceilings.  The kitchens and furniture were not as nice/comfortable either.

The trailer has 2 propane tanks for heat, cooking, and hot water.  Water can also be heated electrically.  It has a small back-up battery that can run the lights and expand the bump outs.  (We have 3 of those).

Welcome to the trailer!  This is the view as you come into the sliding door.

The kitchen has plenty of storage space, a full sized fridge, an island, and a 3 burner stove.  The stove is really the only thing that makes the trailer kitchen any different from a regular small kitchen.  The oven is tiny, so I won't be doing much baking.

The living and dining area has a pull-out sleeper love seat and side-by-side recliners with center console.  Unlike most other trailers we looked at, this one has a table and chairs.  Most trailers have something that looks like a restaurant booth.  We also have a full entertainment system and gas log fireplace, which will be nice come the fall.

The master bedroom.  The really big closet will be used for clothes right now, but can hold a top & bottom washer and dryer.  The bed platform lifts up for additional storage.

The loft will be the Peanut's domain.  She plans on keeping the two foam mattresses stacked for extra sleepy cushioning.  The open side is big enough to accommodate her IKEA drawers, so she's all set for clothing space.  The platform in the front corner of the room can hold a small TV, but she plans to use it as a workspace.  

And finally the bathroom.  It's positively palatial compared to other trailer bathrooms.  You cannot sit on the potty and brush your teeth in our bathroom.  We do need to work out where we can hang up hooks for wet towels because they failed to include those with the final product.

Plans are afoot to create an outdoor living space, but we need to work with the contractors so we aren't in their way.  

Also, all the post-it notes you see in the above pictures are a function of my OCD.  I have begun planning what will go where.  I was pleasantly surprised that after going through the first pass with mostly kitchen, homeschool stuff, and linen storage, I still have some space to spare.