• Introduction •
I’ve lived in standard size houses my entire life. Growing up, I knew that I wanted to be successful. The idea of that usually comes with having a degree, a high-paying job, and owning a big house filled with lots of things. It wasn’t until Chase and I moved into our tiny space that I realized it didn’t matter how big the house was or how much stuff we had, because being successful to me meant carving our own way through life–the way we wanted to live it.
The hype of having a lot of stuff, to me, is just a way of relentlessly chasing happiness. My happiness is Chase. It’s sitting in our bed, writing this blog while he is in front of me on his laptop at our desk, playing his game. It’s Sunday mornings, making coffee together, and walking our pups. It’s having my sister and her family live less than twenty feet away from me on one side, and my parents twenty feet away on the other. It’s being able to maintain my space; keeping it clean and organized, because I tend to feel scatter-brained and depressed when I hold onto things that are merely items I can’t even remember where or when I got them. I’ve learned to hold onto more tangible items–like the mason jars of sand above on my bookshelf that we collect each time we make a beach trip, or the ring box that still has a little sand in it from when Chase and I got married.
Who I spend my life with and the adventures we embark on is what means the most to me.
• The Journey of Renovating •
Our project started in the beginning of 2019.
I created several pros and con lists. Chase and I went over them together. We talked about it every day. Came up with plans and ideas. We knew that we wanted to be as minimalist as possible. Basically, we didn’t want to pay to live, we wanted the freedom to travel and not be strapped down by a mortgage or payments.
One dreary afternoon in February, we decided to go look at tiny houses. We toured every single one on the lot and absolutely fell in love. But, unfortunately, being in our lower twenties meant we didn’t have any established credit. AKA: bad credit. There was no way we’d get approved to finance one, and on top of that you had to put down 10%-20%. We just couldn’t swing it. Shortly after, I was talking it out with my mom. I was super bummed it didn’t work out the way that we planned. She suggested us take over her photography studio and turn it into a tiny house. The building was already paid off, so there wouldn’t be a payment. The building was already wired, so that just meant adding a few more outlets and plumbing it. It was literally a no-brainer. (Thank you, Mom <3)
Fast forward through the next few months, we focused on the logistics–painting, plumbing, electric, lighting, and basic essentials to make it liveable. We learned to take everything with small steps, otherwise we’d get super overwhelmed. Once we successfully made it through the utilities, we focused on the layout–kitchen area in the back, bedroom in the center, living room at the front. It was a mental process to place the house together one-by-one. I spent hours researching and comparing prices. Brushing every little detail over with a fine-tooth comb. Renovating is $$$$. All I kept thinking was Omg, this is how much it is for a tiny house. I can’t imagine what it be like for an actual normal size house. Seriously.
We spent every spare moment fixing it up. If we had a day off we were painting the walls, helping my Dad build our kitchen cabinets, or running electric for more outlets. We quickly decided that we didn’t want to go through the hassle of installing a bathroom or laundry room inside of the house. We wanted our 12×40 space just to be a living room, bedroom, kitchen area. So we built on what we like to call, a “bath-house”. It would be our bathroom and laundry room area.
The end of April 2019, we officially moved into our tiny house. We had a fridge and a couch that my parents gave us, kitchen counter, our mattress propped up on cement blocks (b/c we couldn’t afford a bed frame at the time, lol), string lights b/c they were given to us, and a microwave. My bookshelves were hung and my books were officially out of boxes. There was still so much to be done, but it was livable! We had to do all of our laundry at the laundry mat. We didn’t have running water yet, so that was fun figuring out–all the gratitude goes to my sister and brother in law for sharing their bathroom with us. Chase paraphrased this phase of our life as “We are living like Nomads”. To which I’d always reply with: “Wouldn’t want to live this way with anyone else.”
The bath house was finished around the end of July. Every weekend for two months, my family pitched in to finish it. My Uncle Stephen was our savior. He ran the electric and plumbing, installed our sinks, and made sure we were good to go (if you’re reading this, thank you again and again, and we love you so much <3). Once the major renovating was complete, we were able to focus on the miscellaneous stuff–installing a new door knob, putting up our blinds, installing light fixtures, painting pieces of furniture, hanging the curtains, etc. Finally, we were getting to the point where we could decorate.
Since then, we’ve moved everything around about a dozen times. We’ve found what works and what doesn’t. Our home is constantly changing and upgrading. We are finally at a spot in our life where we can go out and buy a new couch or save up for the sink we really wanted, instead of buying what we could only afford at the time. It’s a nice feeling to be able to slowly put together your dream home.
• What Living Small Has Taught Me •
I became more aware of my habits living in a tiny space. If I’m out and about shopping, I am more conscious of our limited space and ask myself: do I have a place to put this? Or do I really want or need this? If it’s not something we need to make our home more accessible, or it doesn’t have meaning to me, I don’t buy it.
I am constantly putting my innovative abilities to use. Sometimes you have no choice but to figure out how to make a situation work. For example, we do not have a stove. While renovating we thought about it, but ultimately decided that it would take up too much space, and we asked ourselves if it was really worth it. A stove would’ve consisted of installing expensive wiring to have a 220 volt outlet to plug the stove in (see, more conscious living). So we explored our options and came across the Breville Smart Air Oven. It operates just like a normal oven–in my opinion, it’s better. It acts as a traditional oven, air fryer, dehydrator, warmer, roaster, etc. You can fit a standard size pan inside of it, bake cookies, roast chicken and veggies, air fry some french fries. Seriously, it’s great. We purchased ours from William-Sonoma. We tend to bake our food more than actually use stove top pans anyways. Don’t get me wrong, though, we needed a way to fry an occasional egg, so I ventured into the world of Amazon Prime and its glory. I discovered a counter-top stove that consisted of two induction-cookware use burners–induction meaning you have to use a pan that a magnet will stick to the bottom of… I really don’t know why, but it works for us!
Honestly, our journey this past year was tough at times, especially not having running water for like three months, but despite that, I had so much fun during that season with Chase. We shared a bunch of laughter and tears, and grew individually and together in that duration of time.
The moment I met Chase, life became an endless adventure. I mean, June 3rd, 2019 we eloped at the beach. It was the best and proudest moment of my life to marry the man that makes me the happiest girl on the planet. After Chase, nothing was ever normal again, and I’m okay with that, because I don’t want to be normal. I want to live a life where moments count more than things. Ask yourself what is more important than things. What would your answer be? Chase and I have this outlook on our daily life we create: We want to live a life that we don’t NEED a vacation from. It takes time to get to where you want to be. It’s not going to happen over night. But when you make the first move, you are heading in the right direction, and that is enough.
It’s January 3rd, 2020. We still need to add another piece of trim on the back wall and around the door, play with the layout of our kitchen, and make a few upgrades–my bookshelves, new flooring, washer and dryer, etc. This past weekend we went furniture shopping. We got pieces that fit more in unison with our small space–thanks to our established, awesome credit scores. Yay for officially being an adult.
My goal is to share our story and progress to 1) document it for my sake, and 2) share my knowledge with everything I’ve learned this far! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to dm me! I’d love to hear about your projects.
Until next time.
Randi Garner 