Big Girl. Tiny House.

7/28/17 Friday Pics Bill got both of the garden windows made and installed. Since Tropical Depression Greg was aiming for us this weekend, we covered the windows on the windward side. Here is from the inside.. kitchen area.  This is both sides of the kitchen. ( Bill says this garden window has an ocean view.)     The front end of the house..  We are going to be sanding and staining the t & g [tongue and groove] for the roof sheathing on monday. Bill will be running the electric boxes and wires.  Hard to believe it is just the beginning of the second week.. nice.. Hope all are well! ☀☀☀

7/27/17 Bingo...a house! Bill is amazing. he and JC put both the long sides on the Akamai today. JC was a painting fiend. as soon as Bill nailed on a piece of siding, he was leaning up a board to prime it.  So... just the ends to do now. Great team! JC got the mahogany prepped for varathane.. which will happen tomorrow.  These are the window jambs for the fat  sills. you will be happy that Bill mistakenly did the end wall 2’ windows as fat sills.. so they all are the same now.  [We wanted wider window sills for...say...resting drinks since the table surfaces are minimal. Johanna designed what she is calling "fat sills" and is adding them to all her future designs. Our contribution to the Tiny House Movement. :-)] This is tongue and groove (from Ke Umi). it is on the ceiling and Jim is thinking he would like the same look for the loft floor. as seen from below laying on the comfy benches.  Bill and I seem to think this would work just fine for you all..

I love that Johanna always signs off her reports with "Sleep well."  She clearly knows how important these updates are, and we are completely grateful that she takes the time each night - after surely what are long days - to drop us a note and send pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep well last night. Don't feel sorry for me though! While she and Jim are dividing and conquering on behalf of Lanikaimakani, I'm making the long and red-eyed journey to Eleuthera. My life doesn't suck. Besides, reposting Johanna's hard work here is contributing, right? 7/26/17 Great work today! Bill got the roof rafters cut and installed. very nice. and the loft is in. here is the height for you.. and a view of the roof from up top.. straight as an arrow. What do you want to do under the loft floor?   JC went into power painting late this afternoon.. he got 2 more pieces done after these.  He got all the walls bolted to the trailer and the 2 x 2 bolte

Johanna and her team are hard at work, as reflected in her most recent report below. Jim, too, has been forging ahead with the land prep. Concrete guy comes this weekend to suss out the 6 ton bridge and to determine the best way to handle the driveway pour. Framing for it should begin then, too.  In the meantime, our conversations have been consumed by fencing a gate locations. The plan is for the half of our 8.5 acres that is above the house to be farmed by a local ginger and sweet potato entrepreneur. The lower half we'd like to leave for cows. Currently we lease the whole thing to Darcey and his bovines, and we're hoping he'll leave the cuties to help with the mowing. The fencing is all about cordoning off the house pad and protecting potential crops from the herbivores. Busy, busy. Everybody's busy. 7/25/17 Today's journey Bill was able to finish the rest of the framing. All the windows and fat sills are installed.. see how the windows stick out a l

We stopped by Johanna's building site to check out Ka Umi's loft, and we're really glad we did. We gave it a test drive and now are confident that we need to sacrifice some height below in order to eek out a little more space above. With a low-profile box spring and regular mattress, it's going to be tight, and we definitely want to avoid having our faces pressed up against the ceiling like in an MRI machine...claustrophobia at its very best (or worst?). The other good news is that we really got to see and feel the quality of the work. Johanna wasn't there so we were able to pull, push, open, and close to our hearts' content. And it's really quite stunning. I can't tell you how many people have said, "Oh, I could build what she does for half the price." Easy there, big fella! Seeing the materials selection and the top-shelf craftsmanship, we now feel absolutely comfortable that Johanna is our girl and that we will be getting every penny's

Ke umi means "the ten" in Hawaiian. The green house is Johanna's tenth tiny house, thus the name. She calls our the "akamai," which means "expert." Of course the northeasterner in me assumes she named it that because of how sure we have been about the things we want. Akin to "bossypants." Maybe, however, she really means something complimentary. The Better Me chooses to see it that way. Anyhoo... here's the latest report, including some pictures of Ke Umi, the house of the client ahead of us. I'm not sure where someone would hang out inside of it (couches figure prominently in our design), but the kitchen is practically full size. Impressive. 7-21-17 The subfloor went on... and all four walls got built and are laying on top of the trailer... Monday...we will raise the walls... Here is the Ke Umi... I got most of the doors on... Some are not completely finished...but you can see the quality of the workmanship. Got the pul

And we 're off! Johanna is so good at staying in touch and keeping us up to date, so I want to share her daily messages and photos when we receive them. This could become a daily blog! Yikes! I'll leave her words in Courier to distinguish that it's her writing to us, though I'm certain you would have figured that out on your own. :-) 7/21/17 -  Out with the old... ...and in with the new! We were able to place your trailer.. and Bill brought a load of wood and subfloor with him.. what a guy..  We placed 2 pieces on the top after leveling and blocking the frame.. as Bill will get started in the am. here is the pile so far.. we covered the plywood... IN CASE it rains... we so need the rain.  the long pieces of wood are the top and bottom plates. we build the walls all one time for each side... makes it sturdier. So... my favorite thing to say now is... just add sweat. I will be bringing another load of 2 x 4 studs tomorrow... would not