A year in review

Its been a whole year since my sister and I started a go fund me page for our mom’s tiny house. We didn’t really know where to start, so that seemed like a good idea at the time. When some of our family members donated (right before Christmas!) it was the confirmation and boost we needed to know we were moving in the right direction, and that we would not be alone.

Today we are very close to getting it done! The outside is completely buttoned up, and the inside walls and ceiling on the inside are up.

I wanted to share where we are on the build and give an update on expenses. My husband and I had a lot of decisions about things to do with the house since it would be on our property. We also knew the expenses would soon start becoming our own once the money from moms RV sale ran out. Today the expenses that are left to be paid are the $5k for the trailer, and another $7K for the last couple months supplies. At this point I would guesstimate that the tiny house has ended up costing about $20K.

We hired our good friend  (and most excellent contractor) Matt Mullaney to help us complete the tiny house properly. We had many conversations about the skylight that still had to be flashed and ultimately decided to take it out. The labor to flash it was going to be a bit more than to just take it out, and we really didn’t want to have any problems with it down the road. We also decided to not use the beautiful wood stove that we just bought for the house. It has a small crack that needs welding, the glass door is broken, and it is really much too big of a stove for that tiny space. Those 2 decisions were kind of disappointing, but in the end the tiny house going to be a very energy efficient, easy to maintain living space for a senior citizen.

What’s left to do:

Casing and trim around the windows and walls

Painting

Electrical outlet boxes installed

Sink/countertop purchase and install

Bathroom door hang

Linoleum floor

Appliances connected

Run a gas line

The original house I had in my mind and the actual tiny house are not even close! Here is the actual magazine cover and article that inspired me over a year ago.