When we get our land purchase finished and a well in place, the next thing to look at will be housing. We've already got a tent, but that's only good in nice weather unless you want really whiny kids. We also have the trailer that Steve built and we used to move across the country. It's built on an old travel trailer frame and has a plywood roof and walls with a double wide door at the back, a man sized door on one side and a window. It also has a pop up tent top with some sleeping space. So using that is an option. It would need some insulation, a waterproof membrane and roof covering and possibly we'd replace the canvas walls on the pop-up with insulated wooden panels. Another option is to build a small cabin.
Numerous plans area available for free or low cost on the internet and since many also include engineered drawings you can use them to get a proper building permit and do things legally. For temporary use or movable structures though the options are much more varied. One constant among all the cabins though, is good use of space. There are many creative ways of using your space well but the first thing you'll need to do is pare down your stuff so that you don't have lots of junk cluttering up your small space. Then you'll need to plan for making the most efficient use of your furniture and other fixtures. Here are some great furniture pieces in the video, and you can certainly take the ideas and make them work for you! We don't need to buy all expensive furniture to put in our tiny house, you can build good quality things yourself. Do a good job and you'll surround yourself with things that you love and appreciate. Anyways, here are some ideas:
Anothe place to look is IKEA. Especially in their discount section. You can't always find a deal but you never know what will be there. The nearest Ikea to us is probably in Moncton, there isn't one in Nova Scotia. So we'll be building from scratch. I'll let you know how it goes.
I'm going to feed and water the chicks and then off to the chapel for our weekly craft get together. It's also Steve's birthday today so I'm going to write him a letter. And I'm reading The Hunger Games so I need to finish it and get on to our bookclub selection which is my choice this month. I chose By The Banks Of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
We had a dream, like so many others before us, to live a simple and sustainable life on our own organic farm... so we drove from Vancouver Island, British Columbia to the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia, and we've been here nearly 6 years. We love life, learning, and sharing with others. Follow our adventures as we build a vibrant small family farm and work towards self-sufficiency using a combination of traditional methods, permaculture and original ideas.
Wishful thinking on IKEA being in Moncton...the nearest one is actually Montreal! There are people here in Nova Scotia that arrange shopping trips to IKEA. They often advertise these groups on Kijiji. You sign up with them, they drive, pick up what everyone requests and you pay them a small fee (or perhaps a large one...I'm not sure). Unfortunately this pretty much negates the affordability of IKEA!
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