Tiny Fall 2020
PNW Spotlight
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DIY Promaster Camper Conversion Guide – Part I March 23, 2018
This year my husband Joel and I decided to do something crazy and head out on a 2-year long road trip through Central and South America. We were super excited for this trip but we had one problem- no transportation.We recently sold our converted Honda Element camper suv in order to get something bigger for the long trip.With a tiny budget and not a whole lot of money, we couldn’t afford to spend our entire savings on buying a decked out $100k+ camper van so instead we decided to put our own brains and hands to work and do our own awesome DIY custom camper van conversion.We found the perfect, slightly used Ram Promaster van for $20K and over the next 3 months converted the blank cargo van into a fully livable custom built camper for just under $3k in conversion cost.Our guide below covers exactly how we did our DIY camper conversion for anyone inspired to join the van life movement themselves on a low-cost budget.To make this Promaster camper van conversion guide easier to follow, we divided our how to guide into two parts. Part I will cover the conversion planning, layout design ideas and all of the prep work we did that’s not necessarily visible but make
everything work. Part II will cover the construction of the finished product and any extras we added to make our van life travel on the road more comfortable. When we bought the Ram Promaster van it was an empty room on wheels so the first task of our van conversion process was to come up with some campervan conversion ideas. During our research, we couldn’t find any lowcost Ram Promaster conversion kits so we had to create our own customized layout and plan from scratch. After all, one of our main goals was to keep our van conversion cost as low as possible and we also liked the idea to have the freedom to modify anything in our van to make it look amazing and unique instead of using a generic kit. We had a basic idea that we wanted the kitchen to be in the front against the left wall and the bed in the back. Everything else we had to figure out as we built the van.
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Thinking about embarking on the journey to transition into a tiny home? From downsizing advice to design, read on for an intro to what you need to know to get started. Are you drowning in clutter? Instead of walking into your home to decompress, you walk into a hodgepodge of stuff. Countertops covered with mail, dishes on the table, miscellaneous boxes huddled in the corner.
The tiny home lifestyle is all about simplifying and living a more fulfilling life. Not only do many tiny home residents enjoy a more fulfilling lifestyle, but they’re also leading healthier lives too. Scienific studies show that clutter can cause chronic stress and weaken your immune system. Can you imagine what decades of living with clutter could do to your body? Read on to learn a few tips and important considerations about downsizing into a tiny home.
The cutest tiny houses to rent in the Pacific Northwest
Mount Hood Tiny House Village — Mount Hood, Oregon This quaint tiny house village, located about an hour outside of Portland in the shadow of Mount Hood, is home to six different houses, each with a different name (like Atticus or Zoe) and “personality” style, ranging from rustic to Southern Belle. The postage stamp-sized lots and houses are impeccably maintained, and the site has great access to the surrounding wilderness as well as nearby Portland. The houses, which range in size from 175 to 260 square feet, come equipped with a fully functional bathroom and kitchen. Prices start at $139 per night.
Not sure if life on the road is right for you?
According to the Van Clan founder people from all walks of life are jumping on board with this new trend, the only qualification - an adventurous soul. “It’s your typical adventurous human who just wants to live a little, you could be 18 years of age straight out of school, or freshly retired, there’s no real type of person who takes on this lifestyle, but you can bet your money, that each one who does has an adventurous streak in them that wants to discover new places and meet new people,” said Saltalamacchia.
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How to Find the Simple Joys in Downsizing to a Tiny House
by Andra Coberly July 25, 2018
You have too much stuff and a dangerous amount of space begging to be filled with more clutter. Dusty books, never-used gadgets, gear from long-forsaken hobbies, inherited knickknacks and rollerblades litter every corner. You crave simplicity, you crave a more minimal way of living, you crave something tiny.
micro living look enviable and Instagramable. While not yet a trend, fans call it a movement. But it takes more than career aspirations as a lifestyle blogger to survive this drastic transition. Only the truly committed real estate revolutionaries will follow through. Luckily, we’ve culled blogs, articles, expert resources and research to offer up this guide so you don’t end up with a truck full of stuff you can’t unload. It’s gonna be difficult, but true minimalism is in your near future.
Downsizing to a tiny house feels like the little light at the end of your 3,000-square-foot tunnel. It’s a life-changing commitment to minimalism, and it is, well, radical. It’s as nonconformist as someone with a French press can get. 34% of 18- to 34-yearolds said they would definitely live in a tiny house or would seriously consider it. These miniature dwellings—usually between 100 and 400 square feet—have gained popularity with the help of HGTV and social media. Blogs like Tiny House Swoon make
Benefits and Drawbacks of Downsizing to a Tiny House
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Let’s be honest, Americans are not racing to abandon the comforts of big living. The average U.S. home takes up more than 2,500 square feet, and only 1% of homes purchased are 1,000 square feet or less. But if you want to break free from the chains of single-use appliances and the obligations of big house living, tiny houses make life simpler, and even a little less daunting.
Perks of Tiny Home Living
With a tiny house, you’ll save money. Downsizing means less upkeep, fewer repairs, fewer utilities, less cleaning and smaller or no mortgage payments. Big houses cost big money, and when you say goodbye to the square footage, you also say goodbye to the costs that come with filling and maintaining that space. A tiny home has a price tag of anywhere from $20,000 to $80,000, depending on if you go DIY or purchase one outright. (FYI: The median home price in the U.S. is nearly $200,000.) Tiny homes are also kind to the environment. Beyond money, a tiny home can give you a tiny carbon footprint. The average American home has about 45 light bulbs consuming 639 kWh of electricity annually, and the average American tiny home has about 6 light bulbs consuming 85.2 kWh. The average home releases about 28,000 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere per year, while a tiny home releases just 2,000 pounds annually.
the first year as the settling in period) we were able to have the freedom to spend more time doing what we love. During our settling in period—and even now—we live very busy lives despite our life being more simplified,” said one tiny home blogger about the freedom of their lifestyle. “We have been able to focus on the more important things in our lives and give them priority rather than striving after the wind to make money to afford a higher cost of living.”
Be Prepared to Make Sacrifices
However, there are downfalls to extreme downsizing. As the name implies, tiny homes are really, incredibly small and not always doable for families or people who require a lot of space or storage. You have to move past the romanticism of micro living. As one writer put it, “Beware the nostalgie de la boue. Small can be a bad. You can’t have it all. Realize that you’ll have to
Owning a tiny house can be freeing. If that doesn’t sell you, tiny home owners also discover unexpected benefits of owning a tiny home. Take for example, you can move whenever you want, and you “never have to rent a U-Haul.” It comes down to freedom. Freedom from debt, freedom from stuff, freedom from the grind. “Once we settled in (we will refer to
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make serious sacrifices. You may not be able to have a dishwasher or a clothes dryer. You can’t have a king-sized bed or a walk-in closet. You may not have indoor plumbing or personal space. Entertaining will likely be a challenge. Local zoning regulations can throw a wrench in your plans. Xoning regulations have not necessarily caught up with the movement. Many communities are not yet tiny-home friendly, and you are at the whim of local laws. Lastly, as some people point out, tiny homes don’t have as much of a bang for your buck as you may think. According to Forbes, little living can cost between $200 to $400 per square foot. Depending on where you live, that can be hefty. The truth is, sometimes micro apartments, carriage houses, RVs and tiny homes are not a lifestyle choice. They are all that people can afford, especially in expensive communities.
You’re Ready to Downsize to a Tiny Home, Now What?
So you have decided to take the plunge. Be forewarned: It’s not something you just do on a whim. You have to plan for goodness sakes. So give yourself time. Some tiny-home owners say it took them an entire year to downsize their possessions to fit inside a tiny home. “The tiny life doesn’t involve packing 2,000 square feet of stuff into a 200 square foot structure. It is about downsizing your material so you can downsize your requirements,” says Andrew Odom, a tiny liver and writer.
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The most difficult part about downsizing is that it’s an emotional process, according to Alex Lehr, a top-five agent in Redwood City, CA. “The majority of it is sorting, physically and emotionally,” he explains. You’re not just tossing out random stuff but objects with memories attached to them. “That’s what slows down the process,” he says. “Reliving memories.” First off, take stock of what you have. Create an inventory so you can see redundancies and inefficiencies. You can also start making notes on the things you currently don’t use, and things that can be replaced with smaller or multi-use items. With lifestyle obsessions like decluttering, the KonMari Method, Swedish Death Cleaning and hygge (or coziness), minimalism is officially cool. So there is no lack of resources for helping you sort your needs from your wants. Check out the 100 Thing Challenge. The book has become a go-to guide for some tiny-home livers, who take pride in the fact that they live with fewer than 100 things. Fitting your wardrobe into a tiny home is a big challenge for many who have made this transition. If you want to decrease the size of your closet, try Project 333, a minimalist fashion challenge that asks people to wear just 33 items over three months. The stuff you don’t wear? Donate it. Or give yourself a capsule wardrobe, 20 to 40 flexible and timeless items that can be mixed and matched.
Start Finding Efficiencies In Your Daily Life
Downsizing is not just about abandoning your earthly possessions as you abandon the pressures of “keeping up with the Joneses.” It’s also about finding efficiencies in your tiny home, and enjoying the things you love and need within the confines of a converted shipping container.
1. Digitize, digitize, digitize.
Your tiny home will likely not accommodate your library of books. But you love books and you love reading. So digitize and donate your books to a local library. Buy an e-reader or keep a small collection of the books you love. Convert your Blu-rays and DVDs to iTunes. If you haven’t already gotten rid of your CD collection and video games.
2. Make note of what you need to replace with smaller, more efficient items.
Always think in terms of multi-use and find efficiency within your space, like using the floor of your loft space as storage or consider building a Swiss-Army Knife kitchen. Take advantage of all your wall space with hooks and shelves. “In our kitchen, we are building a 3’x2’ seat on wheels that doubles as a comfortable place to sit for guests and can also be moved to the kitchen table for extra seating, all while having storage in the seat,” writes Kendi Castoro & Stennes Austinson of The Minimalist Mansion. They also built their bed frame with drawers underneath. “By incorporating clever storage solutions and multifunctional furniture, your tiny home will feel more organized and less cluttered.”
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Get rid of any single-use items and kitchen tools that are considered redundant or ornamental. No, you don’t need an ice cream maker. Instead of having a handful of coffee-making aparati (grinder, French press, Keurig, cappuccino machine), pick your favorite or find yourself a good ol’ fashioned coffee maker and learn to love the simplicity. Instead of having a whole collection of knives in a massive block on your countertop, invest in a couple Shun chef’s knives and a magnetic knife strip. And while you may not be able to keep your massive washer and dryer, there are small products out there that can help you maintain your sanity. A half-sink/ half-washing machine? A chic mini fridge? An all-in-one breakfast maker? A hand-operated, portable mini washing machine? Yes, those things all exist.
3. Cleverly blend indoor and and outdoor spaces.
Tiny home dwellers also use the outdoors as an extension of their homes. Take the Tiny Canal Cottage, a beautiful, idyllic blog and Instagram account that will inspire jealousy (and probably a little annoyance). The 400-square feet of indoor living space is connected by patios that serve as extensions of their home—all with a Joanna Gaines hipness. Just make sure you decorate your porches, patios, yards and decks with items that are made for the outdoors, like indoor-outdoor rugs, furniture and pillows.
4. Welcome to your new profession—sales!
Lastly, become a salesperson. Not only can you get rid of the stuff that’s weighing you down, you can make some extra cash while doing it. There are a ton of options for selling your stuff online. Here are some considerations to think about when selling your stuff: Learn the finer points of Craigslist. Take notes on what similar items are selling for, and consider using the “or best offer” feature to draw more interest. Try out selling apps like OfferUp or Trove. Note that some apps have specialities; Trove, for instance, is for selling furniture. ThredUp and Poshmark will help you sell your clothes. Price your item to sell. In this Moneyish blog, consumer analyst Julie Ramhold suggests setting the price at about a third of the retail price. Take great photos. They are the most important aspect of selling something online. Consider lighting, background and size. Give your item scale by placing a dollar, a toaster or a car next to it. Opt for simple backgrounds and natural lighting. Before you start selling, find out what fees you will be charged through each app. If you want to avoid fees, consider Facebook. You can easily find local “buy, sell, trade” groups near you with a quick search. Plus, you save on shipping. Or you can rely on a good
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ol’ fashioned garage sale. One tiny-home owner suggests purchasing a Square to help with all the transactions. Remember to donate what you can’t sell. And most importantly, don’t get overwhelmed. Yes, downsizing to a tiny home is a massive undertaking. Yes, you will have to give up some possessions and conveniences that you love and enjoy. But the process shouldn’t take love and joy out of life. Simplicity, downsizing and tiny living don’t have to mean a life of puritanism, austerity and sacrifice. As Rowdy Kittens blogger, Tammy Strobel, says of
her life in a tiny home, “Let’s each take the freedom gained from the purging of too much stuff and too large of spaces and use it to create our true home, one that supports and nurtures us and reminds us of what we value, who we are, who and what we love, how we wish to live our lives, and—just as important—that which we find beautiful and inspiring.”
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