Well, this is happening almost four months later than originally planned, but this week we’re FINALLY finalizing all our paperwork for the tiny home order. In the end I think the timing worked out okay… we’re able to put more $ down, and we got a great rate for financing. The only bummer is that with covid and all of it’s repercussions, the build time has doubled from 5 weeks to 10 weeks. That takes away basically aaaalll of our “cushion” time that we were hoping to have, which gets my nerves rattling a bit. But it is what it is, so hopefully it’ll work out fine.
We went back up to the builder a couple weekends ago hoping to walk out with everything done, but I didn’t realize that their financing guys didn’t work on the weekends. And of course a few days before we got there they had sold the one we really wanted to see right off the lot. It was kind of irritating at the time, although we did get to see a different version of that model (that they didn’t have last time we were there) and look at all the options again in person. Which… I tweaked one of the standard floor plans a bit and we changed our minds on some colors and appliance options after the fact, so… not a wasted trip. But it does make all the paperwork and back-and-forth take longer since we’re having to do it via email. The dealer is over 3 hours away and the SO can’t get off work during the week for the foreseeable future (apparently luxury car repairs and upgrades are BIG BUSINESS right now for whatever reason, they’re super busy) so another trip up there in person just isn’t in the cards. It is what it is. We submitted all of our final options/floor plan approvals this morning, so now we just await the all the final paperwork. Hopefully we’ll get everything completed and submitted in the next day or two so we can get this show on the road.
In the end we couldn’t get everything we wanted, because it pushed us over the price point I wanted to stay under. We had to prioritize and compromise, but I think we still made something really cool and functional.
This particular house was our “inspiration” I guess you could say. We liked almost everything about it. We changed most of the colors, the style of the front porch, some of the appliances, tile/backsplash/countertop, and a couple of door locations. More specifically, the exterior will be gray and white, like this one (different model, but you get the idea):
We went with a plain galvalume (so “silver”) roof because the color options were crippling and it’s literally the only one we could agree on. That’s kind of the story for all of the colors involved here. SO really likes a white, red, orange color palate and I really like a blue, purple, green color palate. The only thing we both like is gray and black. So, there’s a lot of gray. And we decided to paint the exterior of the front door black. He wanted red, I tried to compromise with burgundy, but the only thing we both liked was black. I have a black horse head door knocker that I think will look really cool on a black door. It’s like… goth farmhouse. (gray house black door. There’s something a little bit Addam’s Family about it and I’m here for it.)
The inside walls are white with gray trim, like in our inspiration house. The flooring is a grayish tone – “Fumed Oak” (again, same as in the inspiration house):
The cabinets are painted gray (again, same as inspiration house)
The countertop is “mercury vesta”. I liked the splotchy rain look.
We went a little bold with the backsplash at the last minute, opting for matte black tile. I wasn’t in love with any of their other options (which were basically gray, cream, and tan) but when I googled “black backsplash” I dunno, I just really liked the look. Plus it ties in with the front door. There’s very little actual backsplash space, between the kitchen and the bathroom, so it’ll just end up being a touch of black. I went through like a billion pics trying to find someone else that has put in the black backsplash option in one of these tiny homes and I couldn’t find one. Had to go with my gut on that one, hopefully I’m right in how I’m picturing it.
The shower tile is Platinum
and the exterior decking is gray (the only options were gray and brown so stop judging all my gray right now).
We “splurged” on the upgraded stainless appliances (dishwasher, full size french door fridge with bottom freezer drawer, microwave, oven) and on the porches. Specifically the back porch, which we opted to fully screen, like our inspiration house. It was the most expensive thing we did, but it gives us a really nice indoor/outdoor space (and a “bonus” 150 sq ft, since porch spaces don’t count as actual square footage). SO got a tv jack out there, it’ll be wired for a ceiling fan, we’ll have space for a table and chairs… basically like a little sunroom. The cats and dogs can both hang out there too.
We also added a little reading nook up in the loft (again, like in our inspiration house). Since it’s only 399 square feet and one bedroom, and we both like having personal space, we tried to give the house as many good usable spaces as possible. The fancy fridge and all the tv jacks were SO’s splurge items, and mine were a fancy deep stainless sink with pimped out faucet (because I love me a good sink), USB ports in one of the kitchen outlets (so I can charge all my shit without having to go find several plug adapters) and a transom window above the front door (so I can put up a stained glass panel).
The things I changed from the layout of the inspiration house were: 1) only 1 bathroom door. Honestly, I’d rather the bathroom be more private and not connect to the bedroom. I don’t really need the toilet to be 8′ away from the bed and separated only by a little pocket door, thanks. Give me a solid wall. 2) I moved the location and style of the closet door. Now it’s a pocket door that opens on the “hallway” side by the back door, rather than a regular door that opens on the bedroom side. This is because we have a California King, and that bed is gonna be TIGHT in that room as it is. It will be much easier, and better flow, to access the closet from the hall side.
Because we did spend so much on the rear porch, we had to sacrifice some little things, like a super fancy front load washer/dryer, upgrades on the tile or countertops, the rain shower head, fancier stair and railing options, etc. Little things that we were okay giving up in order to have that awesome screened porch.
This is the first time either of us have ever built something for ourselves, and it was kinda hard to choose, even with relatively limited options. But in the end I think we’ve made a pretty functional space, and something that will be comfortable to live in despite the small size. We’ll see in a few months I guess! Let the adventure begin…
breedrideevent.com 
As someone who lives in a home with an open floor plan and surprisingly little area for “personal time”, I think you will LOVE having that loft to get away and have personal time. Absolute perfection. And as avid a reader as you are, I’m sure it will be all the more meaningful to have that spot!
When we moved offices (hell, still moving, damn pandemic) we got to design almost everything about the new building. IT WAS SO MUCH. Who knew?! We had lots more brains into it and it still has some horrible color schemes. Y’all did a really outstanding job with yours. I can’t wait to see how it looks finished.
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It’s SO hard for me to picture how things will look, I don’t have the brain for it. I wish they had an online configurator, it would have helped a lot. I thiiiiink what we picked will look good though. It’s relatively safe to do a lot of gray, anyway.
I’m excited about the reading nook and the porch!
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That’s so exciting!! Tiny house! After staying in the LQ trailer for two weeks, I think I could get on board the tiny house train. Everything on our “normal” house seems so far away now. Love the screened in back porch. How are ya’ll handling the septic situation?
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Tanks. A graywater tank that can be drained (hoping to be able to run a sprinkler out of it), and a blackwater tank that will be pumped.
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It looks really pretty. I love that the washer/dryer were included as I hate laundromats with a fiery passion. It makes me want one now. Though I don’t have land and can barely afford my apartment. Congrats on home ownership.
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This is a second home for us, the house in the city will become a rental for the time being. I’m excited for the change of scenery, I hate neighborhood living.
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Who was your tiny home builder?
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So fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m excited for y’all! After having renovated our house and ordering an LQ trailer last week, I feel a kind of kindred spirit. I love how well used the space is in the tiny house and I know you’ll love the porches. I also can’t wait to see where it goes.
And in similar news, my mechanic SO has had about 12 weeks in a row of 80+ hour work weeks. The luxury car business appears to be doing QUITE well through coronapocolypse………………..
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Yeah I dunno who goes in during the apocalypse to get their $1500 hood ornament repaired, but apparently it’s a guy that owns a Bentley…
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How far do you deliver these houses? Like Pennsylvania?
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Try asking the manufacturer
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I am oddly excited about this for someone who will never see this house. I just love the idea of it because big houses mean lots of cleaning which I hate
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I am like you in that I cannot visualize what it’s going to look like when I am trying to pick it, so for all the finishing house touches I got frustrated and finally just started like randomly pointing at things, haha… it turned out mostly okay though! That screened-in porch is going to be great — we did not screen either of ours in during construction (didn’t even cross our minds) and it’s now top of the list for later this year because it is IM-FUCKING-POSSIBLE to enjoy the space currently due to all the bugs. Ugh.
But score for locking in a great financing rate, right? Having winter delay our garage build until this spring probably saved us 2 percentage points on the interest rate. Being an adult means getting SO EXCITED about the weirdest things 🙂
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Congratulations! So exciting and it’ll be amazing once everything is all done and in place.
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I describe my decorating/renovation style as focused around creating as many comfy reading spaces as possible, so of course I loooooove that reading nook.
We’re trying to convince my FIL to put a tiny house overlooking a pond on some land they own in the next state over, your posts about your own tiny house make me twice as desperate to do that.
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Since the SO will be working ALL THe time you will have the tiny house to yourself. Score 🙂 HA…
Glad you guys are finally getting to move forward on this…..good luck!
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Pffft they don’t work long hours in the luxury car business. 8 to 5!
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Congrats! Very exciting to be in the “we ordered” phase! Grey is a safe bet and you can have fun pieces like stained glass or pillows to add more personal touches. You get it make it all yours!
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So exciting! The great thing is the stuff you sacrificed can either be upgraded later (shower heads) or isn’t really worth it (front load washers are evil).
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I agree with Holly i hated ours and unloaded it as soon as we moved in and bought top loaders!
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I didn’t want the front loads (they were like $700 more), but SO wanted top of the line everything. I’m not sad that we had to forego them lol.
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SO wanting the top of the line? NEVER? 🙂 HAHAHAH
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He’s much more bougie than I am
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Hahhaa yeah i met him remember 🙂
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Yes, front load washers are evil–unless you really enjoy mold, mildew, and stink…
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This is so exciting…I can’t wait to see how it looks finished! I think the black backsplash is going to look awesome!
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I think it’s going to be FABULOUS! I like the floor plan modifications you made and noticed you’ve included a dishwasher, unlike the example in the video. I agree that it’s a must-have! Did you have to sacrifice the porch fireplace with built-in TV as well? I think it was worth it, if so, to get the screens. What are going to put up in the loft, besides the reading nook? That also would be mineminemine, for sure. I’ve always wanted a window seat and haven’t even gotten one of those yet!
Having watched a few episodes of tiny home HouseHunters lately, it’s really interesting to see the creative storage spaces and special touches they come up with. Some of these homes have been insanely small… One couple and their four dogs, three cats and child wound up with an RV with slide-outs, despite the wife insisting that 250 s.f. would be PLENTY. *eyeroll* Now, YOUR house I could actually see myself living in! It’s really a HOUSE. Can’t wait to see it!
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Yeah we really didn’t need the fireplace (this is Texas, after all) and it would have cost as much as the screening, plus taken up more space. So it got cut. The loft is going to be mostly storage, aside from the reading nook.
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So exciting!!!! And honestly, the few things you had to compromise on can pretty easily be upgraded in the future if you decide you want to. Great call on the back porch, I think you’ll be out there all the time (when it’s not 110 degrees of course).
Congratulations! I’m so excited for you guys!
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Which railing option did you end up going with?
I’m waiting back to hear about a couple of floorplan modifications on the same model before I can place an order!
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interior or exterior railing?
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Both! 😀
(Also, I lied, the cardinal was our top two and has recently been edged out by the lakeview.)
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Please reply with the builders contact info and if your happy with them and the finished project
Thank you!
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