Big Progress on our Tiny Office

 Post by Joe

I'm so excited to say that big progress is being made on the TO!  I have been working every available moment that I have had.  I've been extremely lucky that the daily rain has held off until the afternoon almost every day allowing plenty of time to work.  In the last post I had completed framing on 2 of the walls.  We now have 4 walls framed and sheathed.






At this point you can really start to get a feel for what it is going to be like inside the TO.  Its funny, because it is actually going to be a pretty good sized office, but to imagine living in a space that size is hard to do. 









The corner with the two windows will be where our desk will go (facing the lower one - which is at the proper height to see out when sitting in a desk chair), but in a real tiny house this half of the building would hold the bathroom on the left side and the kitchen on the right. 










After the walls were up I was able to frame up the gables and then put in the main beam that will support the roof. 







I wanted to take a little time now to talk about buying and using reused and salvaged materials because in this past week I experienced both ends of the spectrum.  The goal of this project was to build using 100% reused and salvaged items.  Thus far, I was able to do that.  Unfortunately, that came to end when I was sheathing the walls.  One of the first things I bought for the TO was a bunch of unused, excess plywood off of Craigslist.  Unfortunately, it was not enough.  I needed ten more sheets.  I have spent a lot of time in salvaged building material stores, and I rarely, if ever, see plywood there.  That's because plywood rips apart when you demo buildings.  It is very difficult to salvage in tact, and most of the time it is only being ripped out because it is rotted and unusable.  So I had to make my first trip to Home Depot to buy some new materials, 10 sheets of OSB.  It is important to remember that in a project like this you may not be able to find every single thing that you need used. 

On the other hand, I had one of the biggest wins of the whole project thus far at The Loading Dock earlier this week.  I went to get a bunch of 2x6 lumber for the roof rafters, which I knew they would have, but was also on the lookout for my main beam.  I wanted a single 2x8 that was 18' long.  At any big box store, you will not find any boards over 16'.  I could always special order a board 18' long, but it would be a lot of money, and not salvaged.  When I pulled up to The Loading Dock, sitting right out front was a pile of old salvaged 2x8 beams.  First of all, they were true 2"x8" beams.  Today's 2x8 beams are really 1.5"x7.5".  So these were beefier, which is good for a main beam.  Sitting right on top of that pile was one beam that was longer than the rest.  I measured it, 18'!  It was the perfect length, size, and salvaged.  And it was only $15!  So when shopping for reused and salvaged items,  sometimes you just can't get what you need, and sometimes you'll find something more perfect than you could ever buy at a big box store. 

The next step, the roof!

A note from Bonnie:
This "Tiny" Office is not looking so tiny anymore, huh? I have to admit, I had a bit of a freak out when I saw that the structure would be taller than our house! In all the discussion it never sunk in that we would be building a one story building, plus a loft, on a trailer that is already over two feet off the ground.  Having the structure placed directly next to the house is starting to feel a bit overwhelming, but we will have to wait until it's all done and see how it feels.  Fingers crossed!

Constructing our Tiny Office: Reboot

Post by Joe
 
For months now it's been so difficult watching the work I did last fall and my pile of materials sit, wait, and rot.  I was beginning to wonder if the T.O. was ever going to happen.  Between work, church, and life in general it turns out I just didn't have the time to work on a project of this scale.  I knew if I couldn't get it done this spring/summer, then it wasn't going to happen.  I would sell the trailer and try again another day.  Then one day while working on our work schedule, Bonnie picked a week and declared it the T.O. week.  This is that week! The Tiny Office has been rebooted.

After finishing up some other projects for work Monday morning, I made it to a few reuse stores to look for more materials, The Loading Dock and Second Chance, Inc.  My hope was to find 2x4 studs so I wouldn't have to take all the time to rip down the 2x10s I currently have.  No luck.  I did however get a great deal on a ton of used insulation. 

I finally finished my work for the day and arrived home just in time for dinner.  Then with no time to waste, I went out started working.  Unfortunately, the first step was to demo all the work I did before.  After getting wet all winter, everything was rotted and falling apart.  At least I was working on it though.  

Tuesday's task was to complete the demo and start rebuilding.  I managed to get everything torn apart and cleaned and a new subfloor installed.  Now I was back to where I started, but not rotted, and ready to continue.

 Wednesday I finally got to start framing!  It felt so good to finally start building the actual structure, and now it was really starting to take shape. 

The goal was to get the main framing done, but then the rain came.  I didn't mind though.  I now knew that this was going to happen.  Nothing will stop me from finishing this Tiny Office!












You can follow my progress as I post photos on Instagram as ChestnutPinesContracting. 

Budgeting for a Re-Use Project

Post by Bonnie.

Setting a budget for the T.O. project was very simple.  After Joe shared his grand vision, I simply said "Ok fine, if you can do it all for less than $1,000 then go for it."  Of course, I never dreamed he would actually be able to stick to that, therefore the project would be done before it began.  Little did I know, Joe was very dedicated to making this thing happen!

I could have said $500. I could have said $3,000.  I could have looked at our finances and determined what we could actually afford.  That's all in the past now, and we have rallied around the $1,000 number, making it more than just a budget.  It's a goal.  It's part of the adventure. It's...a challenge.

Planning any sort of project with primarily reclaimed, used, re-purposed materials can be extremely difficult.  You never know what sorts of deals you will find, which items you can find for free, and what you will have to end up purchasing.   

Don't give in. 

It is so easy to run up to Lowes or Home Depot and get brand new lumber, lighting, windows, etc. etc. etc.  But if you are committed to building responsibly and creatively, then take the time to do the research, check back one.last.time. on Craiglist, and wait.

Some of the amazing deals we got because Joe was patient and thorough include:
- A beautiful 15-light glass door w/ jam salvaged from a project just last week
- Over 30 leftover 2x10's from a construction site, found by a good friend
- Free pallets found all around town!

Unfortunately, since we were unable to get the T.O. enclosed for the winter, the progress on the floor has been damaged and will have to be redone.  The good news? Joe didn't spend one penny on those materials. And he doesn't plan to spend a penny on the replacement materials.  Did it cost us in frustration and grumpiness? Perhaps.  (But who can budget for those things...)

Tips for how to stay in budget:
- Barter. Trade your skills, or even something you own, in exchange for what you need for the project.  Joe was able to barter several hours of construction labor for the garage doors we are using for the TO roof.
- Research in advance. You have to be realistic about what you think you can find for free, and what you will have to purchase.  Research how much things cost, don't just guess! For example, in the TO we are purchasing insulation from The Loading Dock.  Instead of thinking it would be "around $__", Joe did the calculations (cost/sq.ft. x sq.ft. needed) so we know exactly how much it will cost.
- Ask. You would be shocked at how much STUFF people have laying around their homes that they are just dying to give a handy, crafty person such as yourself!

Good luck!

4 Months Later...

Post by Bonnie

I absolutely cannot believe it has been 4 months since our last post, and 5 months since our last post about the actual T.O. construction! We have many good excuses.  Here are the three most legitimate:

#1 - This winter was much too cold for Joe to work on the T.O.
#2 - The business has been thriving, leaving little time for Joe to work on the T.O.
#3 - It was winter and we were hibernating.  :)

But with warm weather and summer right around the corner, we are beginning to discuss the plans for resurrecting the T.O. project!  It has been sitting like this for 5 months:

Oy...

Not very exciting, we know. But it will be!

The business continues to be busy, and to be honest Joe will probably not be returning to the T.O. until (gasp) mid-June!  But we are excited to see this through to the end, and we will definitely be better about keeping everyone updated on the progress.

Reclaimed Drawer Front & Knobs Project

(Post by Bonnie)

In some ways, this project feels like a pregnancy.  (Not that I've ever been pregnant, but since 99.99% of my friends either are currently pregnant or have been in the last few years, I feel comfortable using the analogy).  I know the T.O. is coming.  I know it's slowly growing, and that though it feels like it's taking forever, it will be here before we know it.  The last few weeks have seen very little progress on the T.O.  Chestnut Pines has been busy - which is a great thing! Then came the Christmas season, now it's New Years, and then winter continues with freezing weather and various precipitation.  I'm not quite sure when construction will resume, but I know that it will, and then we will have a Tiny Office - and it will need to be decorated!

Everyone I know that's been pregnant has started planning the layout and decoration of their child's nursery WAY before the baby was going to be using it.  So that's where Joe and I are - expecting parents that are planning some of the smaller, cozier details while the labor is on slight pause.

Here is the first completed project for inside the T.O:

A coat hanger made from a drawer front and drawer pulls!

Joe used a reclaimed drawer front for this extremely simple project.  He first filled the holes left by the previous drawer pulls, since they were not in the right positions for our needs. 


He then roughly sanded the entire thing, so that it would more easily take the paint.


After that he applied a light coat of paint with a chip brush.  A chip brush is a really cheap brush, and the bristles are spread out so there isn't complete coverage.  This is great for the antiqued look we were going for.


The color we chose only required one coat of paint, but depending on the color you choose, you might want to add another.  Then he did another rough sanding, which created the weathered, worn look.  Joe has built and refinished several pieces of furniture in this style, so he's gotten quite good at perfecting this look.  (I tried it once though, and it is definitely harder than it looks!)


The final step for the drawer front itself was a coat of stain.  This gave it a glazed look, and made it look more natural. 

We also made additional for Christmas gifts. This picture shows the original drawer, the drawer painted w/ the chip brush, and the drawer with the stain.

For this project, we ended up purchasing new drawer pulls instead of reusing.  This is mostly because I found a few knobs I adored at Hobby Lobby, and thought they would be perfect.  We definitely recommend using knobs you find, though, since they can really add a lot of character.  We chose to have 3 knobs on this, but really could have done 4 if we found smaller options.  Joe simply drilled the holes and screwed the knobs in. 

Adding simply picture hangers on the back completed the project.

This will be used to hang scarves, light jackets, dog leashes, etc. once we hang it in the T.O. 

We have a few more projects on the way while the building is on pause.  Thanks for caring about our project!

Bonnie (& Joe)