hey guys we're back in Portland Oregon
at simply home community this time we're
going to take you on a tour of Karen's
tiny house serenity
you
hey disability thank you
tell me about the size of your tiny
house so she's 20 feet by 8 I like you
know the standard width I always knew I
wanted to do a 20 by 8 although now that
I lived in her for a while I probably
could have gone a little smaller on one
person I never planned to build this for
me and someone else to live in and
frankly you know I've got a little
ballroom here all right yeah you got
plenty of space it feels like because
you actually built out over the wheel
wells right I did yep I moved to
Portland to go to medical school
and I sold my house in North Carolina
and I had about $50,000 from the sale of
my house and I knew I wanted to put that
toward house someday and then when it
got time to put that down at the down
payment I was like you know $50,000 on
the house is nothing in Portland my
mortgage would've been out the roof and
I just decided that wasn't the route for
me and started thinking what will I do
will I leave Portland I really didn't
want to leave and then one day you know
here's the famous story that everybody
says I turned on the television and they
are tore open my computer and there was
Jay Shafer Yahoo interview and I was
like that's it that's what I want to do
so I started in September of 2012 and I
fin it I called it finished in September
of 2013 no tiny house has ever really
finished yeah and mine certainly isn't
there's lots of things that I still
haven't done so I just can't quite
figure out what I want to do with them
this is my my living room I really
wanted it to be as comfortable as
possible I've seen and been in tiny
houses that have a little bench with a
window and I find them really
uncomfortable
I bought this couch probably a year
before I started building it was for the
fence --all design yeah so the hope that
my door was going to be here this was
going to be that little bump out and I
measured my cut octagon don't you sure
you're sure it's the right fit yes it'll
fit and I didn't build that design um
but I knew I wanted something really
comfortable and I also knew I wanted
something that I could have a guest on
so this is a futon I keep my spare
pillow over here and so it folds out and
that pillow goes on the end
to bed this is something I made one
evening when I was feeling I don't know
creative I had some batting I'd made
some pillows and I had some extra and I
made this little support here lightning
bolt shaped and so I stuck a little land
light up under there like one of those
little flickering candle liquor candle
yeah and so at night when I go to bed
it's up there and it just flickers away
it looks like a little lightning cloud I
love it this one no I got at the
rebuilding Center for twelve dollars it
was one of those amazing finds I had a
tiny little window planned for there and
found it and just took it home and cut
all of my framing out and put a new
window framing and that was when I
started thinking wow I kind of been
figuring this out you can design as you
go yeah great allows your closet is my
closet yep I don't I've never been much
of a clothes person really so this is
more than enough space for me I have all
my season but our season is in there and
I store the other season up on top of in
the loft so it works really well for me
most people come in especially women
come in here and go what how do you
possibly have all your clothes in there
for me everybody seems to love my stairs
it was the last thing I built so I felt
like by the time I built in my new what
much more about what I was doing the
thing I love most about them is that
they are not solid so I get a lot of
light through and I don't have a lot of
tchotchkes but the ones that I do have I
love a lot and I want to be able to look
at them so I see them every day when I
get up and when I go to bed I was
running out of money by the time I got
to the kitchen for big things like
cabinets I knew I didn't want to build
cabinets because so much work so I
couldn't find what I loved that I could
afford so I went to Ikea and got the
cheapest cabinets I could find with the
intention of eventually replacing them
and you know they served the function
they're not very attractive but they
hold everything I need and I actually
have more space than I need worked out
to have my little stove underneath is
that a toaster oven or it is yet a
little little tub convection oven mm-hmm
and it cooks almost everything being in
the community
have the big kitchen if I want to cook
something big but I almost always cook
down here I don't have a lot of stuff
frankly I really pared down to just
exactly what I needed as you can see I
have one hook too many because I broke a
cup here is my shower to be it is
totally plumbed and the only thing it
hasn't been done is the drain hasn't
been put through I have a shower at my
clinic which is about a mile and a half
down the road there's a shower in the
big house
I just don't I've never felt like I
really needed it and then my loo is mine
and jujubee's we split it purple her
litter box is on the left and my litter
box is on the right I must say it's a
beautiful loo here's my work my dining
room table and my big house really yeah
like I really like that table how can I
use it so I built that thing I did a 10
12 pitch on my roof so that I could have
slightly more room in my loft gives me
about a 6 8 inch knee wall on the side
and as you can see you know and I'm
sitting here in the middle I have quite
a bit of room that I can sit up here I
never feel like I'm crowded out up here
I think you have more skylights than any
other tiny house we've seen 3 yeah
3 2 3 skylights is too many right yes
first of all they're really hard to put
in and putting the flashing around him
was I thought I was going to die it was
such a pain and I cut myself so many
done and secondly I put two of them on
my south roof which was just the
opposite of what I wanted to do I don't
know how I got so confused I wanted to
put this one on this side on my north
side and if I'd had just one on that
side it would been okay but to the Sun
pours in in the summertime and it gets
hot that's probably the only mistake
that I really regret the rest of them
I'm like well whatever I can live with
it but this one I wish I could do over I
have to round to half domed windows that
face out so the domes like go out into
the outside they look like
libels oh cool they're called pet peeks
I'm gonna say I bet your cat loves bash
she does yeah she's every morning when I
wake up she's lying and they're looking
at the birds and they're not at all
designed to be in a house they're meant
to go in a fence at dog level so dogs
can look out of the fence and see what's
going on outside but I knew I wanted
little round porthole like windows and
and porthole windows are incredibly
expensive like thousands of dollars so I
found needs which were you know like I
don't know I think I paid $100 for both
of them probably less and put them in it
took a lot of reverse engineering to
make it all work with insulation and
they're totally not at all
insulating I mean it's a thin sheet of
plastic right but I don't care I love
them yes hey that's the beauty of
building your own houses bend the rules
Yeah right so I noticed that it's a
different color than the last time yes
yeah that was them you know I had a so
funny
that's who can love I had a radio
interview way back when I was just
starting my kitchen wasn't even close to
finish and the girl the very first thing
that they had me saying was yes I'm
gonna paint my house periwinkle and that
was three years ago you can see that on
the gable wall there that golden yellow
that was the first color when I lived
down the street because it matched the
house there and then when we moved here
I painted it yellow because it's the
same yellow as the big house and I
didn't want to do that either time you
suggested to me but both of the people
where I live now
like whatever we're not blending yeah
and so I finally get the painter
periwinkle you name the house serenity
you tell me a little bit about why you
named it that way I'd be happy to I'm
completely addicted to Firefly it's a
television series put on by Joss Whedon
and the starship in that film in this
show is called serenity and I love the
dual meaning of it because it does I'm
totally a geek from the get-go and it
was raised on Star Trek but it's also of
course the concept that I'm coming home
to serenity it's like it couldn't be any
more perfect when I first started to
build I was going through a really
really rough time in my life I'm feeling
completely not empowered by what the
circumstances that I was in and feeling
like a pretty much a failure in relation
to my medicine that I was learning and
my partner who's very very sick it was
just a really debilitating debilitating
time for me
and as I was building I was consciously
trying to reimpose act of building my
house and being creating exactly the
space I wanted for myself so it really
is I mean the space is exactly the way I
want it in every way I think I can't
know there's a little trim I still have
to do but other than that it's perfect
you know I know that when I'm at home I
can feel completely at ease and in
myself my bills are minut living here in
this community where we created this in
such a way that none of us would be
financially burdened and it's been a
such a wonderful experience and in that
way - my favorite part of living here
really is that I have my doors open
almost all the time my role in the
community is taking care of the garden
with me for the most part which for me
is all of the outdoors and you know
so I totally consider this part of my
house yeah definitely what a beautiful
garden it is yes we actually have a full
tour of simply home community and we
have another tour with Linna another
tiny house here on the property so if
you're interested in learning more about
this tiny home community there's plenty
of resources and thank you so much for
taking us through it it was beautiful to
see serenity thank you and maybe next
time when we come in another six months
she'll be rainbow or could make yeah
you