Craftsman Tiny House

The new Creatin' Contest kit is kind of awesome, I've got to admit.  I've gone to sleep thinking of all the things I could do with it.  And I think I've settled on my 'theme'.

I love tiny houses. The storage and use of space is something I really like.  I'm a sucker for built ins.  But this isn't quite a tiny house on wheels is it?  It's small but there's no way you could haul this across country like a modern nomad.

The name of the kit was suggestive, Craftsman Cottage, and got me thinking of all those gorgeous architectural details of a Craftsman Bungalow.  The stone porch supports, tapered columns, artistic windows... I really love how they look.

I mean look at this, isn't it gorgeous?

I love that front door.  And those windows!  The stacked stone!

I need to do a Craftsman bungalow...I really do.

And so I thought why not do a Craftsman Tiny House.  The kit is small enough that I wouldn't end up killing myself over the details.  And I could indulge in all those gorgeous finishes I love.

So... I bought some plaster flagstone from Miniatures.com in all three colors.  I really like how light they are.  I'm going to do a flagstone wainscoting up to the bottom of the windows all the way around the house, and then siding above it.

I fell in love with a door and ordered it when I wasn't sure if I could fix the one that came with the kit, just in case.  Of course Fran from Miniatures.com was awesome and got the broken parts replaced so now I have two doors.  This is what I ordered.  The picture is lousy but I love the two toned wood and it's similar in style to one of the house pictures I found.

I think I can get some very slender strip wood and do mullions on the windows, like this:

I don't want to do shingle siding like the picture above,  Just clapboard.  With a dark wood tone for the wood trim around the windows and a paler color for the mullions and inner trim.  Like the second picture only reversed.

The inside will be trickier.  But I want it to look like a Craftsman too.  The built ins Craftsman bungalows have really lend themselves well to tiny houses and the built in storage needed.

So the back wall that has no windows is going to get jazzed up. I hope.  With something like this:

I like the idea of a fireplace. Mostly because it would provide a source of heat.  And I could add some windows on either side of it.  Also with a chimney on top of the roof I could hide the battery for any ceiling lights inside of it.  See? Smarter than the average bear.

I'm not sure about doing a bench next to the fireplace or not.  Mostly because I'm leaning towards something like this for below the picture window on the front wall.

If I build out a seat, with shelves on either side, I could put storage under it.  Some pillows and then I don't have to find space for a sofa, it's built into the room.  Then just add a chair and a side table.

I also like the idea of a slightly defined entryway.  With the tapered columns from outdoors carried in, but asymmetrically.

I like the idea of a pony wall/built in dividing the front door from the living space.  Not a long one, just enough for some visual interest.  It'll make some extra storage too.

The tricky part of this whole thing?  It's gonna be building the stairs to the loft.  I want narrow stairs with storage cabinets built under them.  No wasted space.  Which means building lots of tiny boxes and fitting them with drawers or doors.

All of these are full sized stairs but you get the idea.

Flooring...I'm thinking simple hardwood.  I'd love to do an inlay like this:

Just around the edge of the room.  But I'm not sure if I really want to get that detailed.  It's a small house.  Too much of a good thing could be overwhelming.

Tile for the bathroom floor.  And a shower wall of glass brick.  I'm thinking of doing a sliding door like Fran did for the kit.  She posted a tutorial here.  It looks really cool.  But I want to be able to remove the whole wall so I can fiddle with the bathroom if I need to.  Maybe I could use the broken door and insert 'pebbled' glass so the bathroom gets more light?  That could be a fun look.

Adding three inches to the walls will give me a six foot loft at its highest point.  I'm thinking just over the kitchen, not the living room.

I'm not sure what to put around the edges of the loft. I don't want my homeowner to fall off, but I don't want to block the view too much either.  Maybe a short open railing?  Still working on that.

Also working on the kitchen layout.  No dishwasher, so we'll need a larger sink. Maybe a farm sink with an apron front? A small stove and an old fridge?  I love this for island seating.  Very space saving.

For lighting... well I'm working on it. I've ordered a lamp and a ceiling light and I might just have to make some more lights of my own.  Craftsman lights look something like this:

Gorgeous but not easy to find right?  Maybe I could find some 'stained glass' window inserts on Ebay and make a panel light out of one of them for the kitchen.  Lanterns might work for the other types... have to work on that a bit more in my head.

So those are my thoughts.  There sure are a lot of them!

What are your plans for the kit?

Look What I Found!

So I was trying to get some ideas for the new Creatin' Contest kit and did a search for a 320 square foot tiny house.

You will never guess what I found.

The kit is listed on Miniatures.com now which is cool.  And it's on its way to me, which is even cooler. 



 I like the big picture window and the little porch.  I'd love to do stone half columns for the porch and a stone wainscoting around the house.  Give it a craftsman look.

 I'm thinking I might raise the roof a bit (woot woot - yes I'm a dork).  So I can add a true loft for the bedroom.

 I'm guessing that this is the wall they talked about bashing so it's not enclosed if you don't want that.  It says the roof is lift off, which is great.  I'd like to hinge this wall. 

 I'd love to be able to hinge this wall somehow too.  Not sure if its feasible.  It's mostly because I want to be able to take pictures from every angle. 

Some stone wainscoting will jazz this up. 

So I was thinking of all this stuff and looking on the internet.  And my search turned up this:

Looks familiar doesn't it?

Especially given the little hint picture from the blog.

I can't find any pictures of the inside.  Though the site the picture comes from is for Tiny Houses so that offers some hints but no real information.  The picture is the thirteenth entry down.  Unfortunately the link in the entry is no help.  But look how pretty the wood trim is!  And the little wooden eaves along the flat roof.

I'd love to find out how they did the inside but beggars can't be choosers can they?

I'm thinking of trying to do something a bit retro inside.  Still debating about a full kitchen or not.   I've got a couple of Kris's kits for a couch and chairs and they'd be really cute because they're not cookie cutter and neither is the house. 

I stole the picture from Miniatures.com since I bought the kits from them.

It's the same couch Nancy made last year, it's so cute and I think the couch and chairs would be really cute.  Not sure of my colors though. I'm thinking earth tones with turquoise maybe.  I'm also thinking of doing a potbelly stove for heat rather than heat vents like the house has central HVAC.

And I'm not sure about stairs with cabinets built under them or a little ladder.  I really need the kit to arrive so I can do a dry fit and play around with my ideas.  Sadly, the mail just came without the kit so it won't be arriving today.

Edited 1:40PM

I spoke too soon!  The kit arrived.  Not by my regular mailman which was a bit of a surprise but fine by me.  So I spent a little time putting it together.

It's not complicated.  Altering it might end up being a little difficult but it shouldn't really be too hard, as far as I can see.  Hinging any wall with a window in it won't work though because the flat roof slots into the windowed walls.  It's good support but it puts the kibosh on one of my ideas.

See what I mean?

That little ledge is the edge of the flat roof.  It's not a bad thing, but I can't easily hinge one of the walls.  At least not in the way I thought to. 

And there are a few issues with the kit that have to do with how it was packaged.  Check your trim and window pieces carefully.  This is what I ended up with for a skylight.

And the two larger windows were broken as well.

As well as the door.

They're all things I can fix with glue and some wood putty to fill the cracks but I shouldn't have to. 

Oh well.  Work with what we've got right?

Hope everyone else's kit did not arrive with broken parts and you enjoy success with your builds as we all begin!

Not a Ton of Progress

I don't know if I've mentioned it but I work in an accounting department.  The end of the year is always crazy at any company but more so if you're one of the folks responsible for producing the numbers that drive budgets and tax returns.

Add to that with the time off I had around Christmas and the time for the holidays, I was super behind on my work.  So when I got home at night this past week I haven't had a lot of energy to do much.  I'm also trying to not get sick like half of the office. 

I've been gluing the addition walls together a bit.  And while they were drying I worked on the front door.

Miniatures.com had a great little tutorial on how to make a modern door.  I needed a few things for it which arrived this week so I had everything conveniently to hand over the weekend.  I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Having something turn out nicely softened the disappointment I was feeling over the lack of windows arriving.  I had ordered four windows from Superior Dollhouse Miniatures and only one arrived.  Apparently despite them being in stock when I ordered them, they did not have four and changed my packing slip accordingly.  I'm irritated but figure I can use the one I do have as a template for making three others.

And it'll give me some practice making windows so I can do the skylights and smaller square windows required by the kit.

Other than that...life has been cruising along.  Lots of folks I know are sick with the flu and I hope you're all feeling better soon.

See you next weekend!

First Post of 2017

So I haven't done much this past week, mostly trying to get caught up at work since no one is cross trained on the time consuming portion of my job.  I've decided I'm not having another vacation until someone else knows how to do my stuff.  Especially not in December, since the last two months of the year are the busiest for me.

But yesterday, after sleeping in, I decided to play around with the new project. I'd hinged the two back walls together last week but that was as far as I got.  So I put everything back together with tape and looked at it.

I'm still debating about that backdoor.  Not sure if I want to patch it or not.  Have to think about it a bit.  No rush.

I dug through a bunch of my furniture and put pieces in to get a general idea of a layout.  My biggest thing is wiring and where I want to put the lights and how to do the wiring for them.

I'm thinking of a railing for the loft. 

But for the bathroom, to block it off (somewhat) from the open space, I thought about a wall, but then decided to try this.

Maybe push it back a bit from the edge of the floor, since there's some space at the end of the tub. 

None of the furniture is finalized, its mostly to get an idea of how things will fit in the space.  The kitchen set in particular is too much for the space.   The kitchen should be a bit smaller I think. 

I've got a few modern lights, some ceiling fans, and a few other things to make my own lights, which could be a lot of fun.  I love the look of these type lights.

So I thought I could use them to light the bathroom or part of the kitchen.  Despite the furniture I used for spacing I want a modern sort of industrial look.

I'm thinking of brick for the outside and maybe some whitewashed exposed brick for some of the interior.  With I beams on the ceiling maybe?  Like this.

No idea whose picture this is.  I absolutely love it though.

I don't want a huge glass roof like this one but maybe opening up the skylights a bit more than the narrow ones that are standard. Since I have to make windows for them anyway might as well.

I'm excited about this.  Just need to decide how to start.  If I glue the walls together that'll make it hard to put trim, paper or anything on them.  So, like Nola House, this is going to be a flat project for a while.  But that's okay.

Hope everyone's New Year is starting off on the right foot! 

Talk to you soon.

1/1/17 9:53PM Edit:

Brae just commented and put a link in to the creator of the gorgeous loft space pictured above.  Mark Turpin is a genius. I highly recommend checking out his site.