New Life Change - Mini House Living....Almost

It has been almost three weeks since my last post. Long time for me, but I have been busy. I Spent a week on the East Coast last week for work, packing my weekends with work to address the little issues that are coming up. I took the week of Thanksgiving off and got 90% of the floor done. I still need to finish the bathroom but the floor came out stunning.

 The Greenhouse became the work area for the pieces that did not fit. The space actually worked great, one of the goals is to get the greenhouse working and get some salad stuff growing.

 After several days of work I realized I need to back off the Coffee. Yikes.

 I laid down flooring foam on the plywood and that really seemed to help in laying out the floor boards. There is no squeak in any of the boards. I used a flooring gun where I could. The biggest pain is that I am no spring chicken any more and I bet my average was I got up twice for each board I put down. I needed a hammer that I could not reach, or needed more nails, or I had to cut a board - oh about 4 times, or none of the boards next to me would fit right, it just never ended. I think my next cottage will have vinyl floors.

 The closed cell foam insulation has been awesome. I have a hard time believing that it is 28 degrees outside and 60 inside and I have had the heat on low low all night. It is really air tight in the cottage as well, the picture above is the Dehumidifier to get the moisture out of the air. I generally am running around 70% and it is something that I will have to monitor. I never installed any of the three fans I have but am ready to do so if need be. We will see.

 I have my kitchen pretty much set up but don't have any way to cook anything. I had a discussion with the local govt. and they were concerned that I was "living" here and you can not have 2 residences on one property in Dundee, OR. Now I did not get into any discussion that there are 9 other RV's or Trailers in the neighborhood that ALL have kitchens. I just have chosen not to install any of that gear. I have a room in my brothers house and use his facilities for the most part and certainly do all my cooking/eating within the house. We will see how this plays out, don't think I will push the issue as I don't have to, knowing soon as things dry out the cottage will move. I still have a fair amount of work to do to tighten up the cottage and get it dialed in but don't plan on having dinner over at my house anytime soon.

 I abandoned my plans for a table runner that I can slide the table back and forth on. I used movable table brackets for a boat so that I can move the table to two different locations. There was just not enough room for it. I have come to the realization that there is a whole different perspective from what I thought about this space to the way it really it is when you are living in it. I will address this more in a later post but let's just say my views are significantly changing my layout plans.

 I was even able to do a little decorating and put up a Timbers Army scarf (I am going to have to buy another one to wear to games). I am big soccer guy and have followed the Portland Timbers since I was in high school in the 70's (RCTID).

 One of my design goals was to be able to take advantage of some off the shelf components for drawers and shelving so I when I built my closet and refrigerator room they were designed to be able to fit in these cabinets (Thanks IKEA). I knew my limitations on my skills and cabinetry is not anything I am skilled enough to do without taking a bunch of time. Which is why the kitchen cabinets are not done. These are functional and will work fine for what I need.

I was even able to get some clothes in the cottage. My project is becoming a home.