In an effort to simplify and free up our time for more important things, we decided to try living in a “Tiny House”. A couple of years ago, my mom decided to turn my dads  “Motorcycle Shop” into a “She-Shack”. The shop had sat unused since my dads death and she felt it was time to turn the old shop into a space that she could use and enjoy.

This of course came with mixed emotions from the family because my dad had been an avid collector and restorer of old European style bikes. All of our memories of our father centered around him tinkering in his garden and motorcycle shop. The smell of motorcycle grease still makes us kids wax nostalgic for this gentle man with an amalgam of interests. He would search for an old bike on the internet, hunt it down, pick it up and refurbish it. His bikes included Laverda, Motor Morini, Ducati and Triumph. When he died my mom gave each of us kids one of his bikes as an inheritance.

After clearing the shop out, mom and I got to work on remodeling it. Just us two girls would go down to the city and go through the process of permitting, plan check and building requirements. We had no idea how to do it but in the end we succeeded. I would draw it out on paper (my own version of blueprints) what we wanted to do and the city plan checker would patiently point out what was missing from the drawings: electrical drawings, elevations, plumbing, firewalls, zoning and safety regulations. My mom had recently recovered from hip surgery and so would hobble downtown with me to see what we needed to do next. We would walk in to the City Plan Check and wait our turn, me and my silver haired mom hanging on to my arm. What a site we must have been to a city used to dealing with contractors!

After clearing permitting we got busy being our own General Contractor. We called framers, plasterers, builders of stairs, painters, electricians, plumbers and HVAC (heating and air) contractors. One by one we conducted  “walk throughs” of the shop and collected bids. We learned the right construction vocabulary as we went along, we started off clueless but ended up savvy. My mom was an avid follower of “Tiny Houses”,”Flip or Flop”, “Rehab Addict” and “Fixer Upper” so she had definite ideas on what she wanted. This list included a loft with industrial chic railings, stairs with white risers and wood steps, a bathroom with a shower she could step into and a sliding barn door.

I wanted a useable functioning kitchen and good lighting. We got all of this and more. Mom wanted to make good use of the space under the stairs since the stairs had cut greatly into our already meager 300 square feet living space. So the Cabinet Maker (who also happens to be my brother and owner of Brunetti Wood Creations) designed cabinets that would fit under the stairs and a pantry.

Now the tiny top drawer of the cabinet under the stairs is our charging station (fabulous for hiding those ugly but necessary charges and cords). The next two drawers are our “catch all” cabinets and the bottom two drawers are our “office” space. Funny how you can move out of an entire office and end up with only two drawers.

There is a also handy shelf at the foot of the stairs that houses our air printer and baskets that catch all the items that are in constant use. Things like my husbands camel bag for bike riding, gloves and hats during the winter, etc… Just because you live in a tiny house doesn’t mean regular life doesn’t go on and life gets messy! We find that with a place to stow everything you can keep your living space neat, even in 300 square feet.

We even manage to run two businesses from our Tiny House. My husband is a tile contractor complete with a large truck, tow-behind trailer and a mess of tools. I run a stray up internet based businesses from our home. Thankfully my mom has arranged for us to park the trailer on her property and left space for us in her garage where we installed Gorilla Racks stacked high with camping gear, a kayak, 4 bikes, a motorcycle and tools.

I do all of our cooking, DIY projects and gardening right here in our tiny home. I don’t have a regular oven with a cook top but I do have a little confection oven on a rack, two induction cook tops, one electric cook top, a blender, espresso machine, electric hot water kettle, popcorn popper, soda stream, waffle maker and blender! I also have a gas grill outside with a side burner so I can really get things cracking!

My husband and I sold our second house and moved into the Tiny House in October 2016. We wanted to simplify our lives to be freed up for the things we really wanted to do in life. Three months after we moved in we went to Nicaragua for two months, I will be posting some of those articles soon. In three more months we plan on moving to Italy to live for several months so hopefully you will be getting some good stories from that. One week ago I launched this blog. We hope to chronicle our life experiences and travels that living in this tiny house will afford us. Stay tuned and we hope you enjoy the journey with us!

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For More “Homestead” Articles see our Archive stories:

The Beginning of a Blog (Published May 18, 2017)

The Cherry Tree (Published May 20, 2017)

How to Roast Your Own Coffee Beans (Published May 22, 2017)

Successful Square Foot Gardening (Published May 23, 2017)

Yosemite (Published June 7, 2017)

My Tiny House (Published June 15, 2017)

Making Noyaux (French Bitter Almond Extract from Stone fruit pits) Published August 7, 2017)

Sweet & Spicy Pickles (Published July 21, 2017

Classic Canned Peaches (Published August 6, 2018)

Recipe Index:

Desserts:

Buttery Flaky Pie Crust

Cherry Pie (published May 20, 2017)

Homemade Berry Pie (published July 23, 2017)

Almond Roca (published February 22, 2018)

Homemade Banana Cream Pie (published May 10, 2018)

Cannoli (published August 3, 2017)

Easy Authentic Tiramasu (published May 3, 2018)

Ooey Gooey Blonde Brownies (published August 11, 2018)

Old Fashioned Peach Crisp (published August 1, 2018

Classic Canned Peaches (published August 8, 2018)

Noyaux (Almond Extract made from stone fruit pits) Published August 7, 2017

Cherry Cheesecake Ice Cream (Published May 25, 2017

Breakfast:

Whole Wheat Waffles (published August 12, 2017)

Dutch Babies (published May 30, 2018)

Dinner Ideas from Around the World:

Babaganush (Middle Eastern Roasted Eggplant Dip) Published July 29, 2017

Shrimp Spring Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce (Published August 18, 2017)

Saltimbocca (Roman Style Veal Scallopini) (Published February 18, 2018)

Vietnamese Lemongrass Beef Salad (Bun Bo Xoa) Published March 12, 2018)

Spiced Chickpea Salad with Roasted Cauliflower (Published April 22, 2018)

Steamed Mussels and Fettuccine (Cozze e Fettuccine) Published May 4, 2019)

Shrimp Risotto (Risotto alla Gamberi) Published June 2, 2018)

Pasta Carbonara (Published May 12, 2018)

Arancini (Italian Fried Rice Balls) Published June 4, 2018)

Ossobuco alla Milanese (Milan Style Veal Shanks & Saffron Risotto) Published June 20, 2018)

Lasagna Bolognese (Published Aug 3, 2018)

Kung Pao Chicken (Published August 23, 2018)

Eggplant Parmesan (Published August 29, 2018)

Gyoza (Potstickers or Chinese Dumplings) Published August 27,2018)

Cacio e Pepe (Published August 28, 2018)

Southern Fried Chicken (published September 11, 2018)

Side DIshes:

Festive Pineapple Sesame Coleslaw (published September 14, 2018)

Italian Roasted Vegetable Platter (published September 13, 2018)

Canning and Preserving:

Noyaux (French bitter almond extract from stone fruit) (Published Aug 7, 2017)

Sweet & Spicy Pickles (Published July 6, 2017)

Canned Peaches (Published August 23, 2018)

Ricotta from Powdered Milk (Published Aug 5, 2017)

Candied Orange Peel (Published September 12, 2018)

For other great travel articles about living in Italy try one from our Archives:

A Morning Run in Nettuno (Published September 10, 2017)

A Visit to Castelli Romani (Published September 13, 2017)

Dinner for Six (Published October 1, 2017)

Italian Cooking School (Published October 8, 2017)

Culinary Tour of Napoli (Published November 17, 2017)

Changing Seasons in Italy (Published November 25, 2017)

Our Trip to Englands Cotswolds (Published January 12, 2018)

Cooking with Pasquale (Published January 28, 2018)

A Tour of the Garden of Ninfa (Published May 7, 2018)

A Trip to Montefiascone (Published May 17, 2018)

San Gimignano, a visit to a Tuscan Hill Town (Published June 9, 2018)

Tuscan Hot Springs of San Filippo & Saturnia (Published June 13, 2018)

August in Sperlonga (Published August 30, 2018)