Tiny Girl Tiny House (1/5)

Maybe it’s a fad, maybe it’s not, but I’m a fan of tiny house living.

Well, okay, I’m a fan of it in theory – I’ve never actually tried it, really. Unless you count condo-dwelling, in which case I’m living in a tiny right now, and have been for 15+ years. That’s how I discovered tiny houses in the first place – I was looking for storage solutions for small bathrooms and kitchens (both of which I have). And yes, I’ve done several home improvement projects that resulted in a good deal of storage.

But it’s not just about awesome storage hacks. There’s something that tickles my fancy about living off-grid to a certain extent, not to mention the financial independence they seem to offer people.

Odds are, I’ll never get to live in it, but even so, a while back I started designing myself a dream tiny. Well, I suppose it’s really somewhere between a “tiny” and a “small” house – it’s 35-feet in length and 12-feet in width. The length is to avoid having to climb in a loft – right now I live on the 4th floor and there are some days when my arthritis (yes, I’ve had it since my early 20’s) flares to the point I just can’t handle them at all. And, (knock on wood), what if I needed another knee surgery? Nope, ground floor is a must, even for my fantasy tiny.

The sketch is just that, a sketch, but I like it. It seemed like a waste to have designed such a nice space only to have it go to waste…what if Moira were to live in my tiny house? Could she? I mean…maybe? No, scratch that: Yes, yes she could. And what’s more perfect than a tiny house for a tiny, playscale person? My brain nearly imploded with the thought.

And that is how my “Tiny Girl, Tiny House” project began; welcome to part one of five.

Step One: Calculations & Conversions

35 feet in length becomes 1066 cm
Yes, I just switched from imperial to metric, it’s easier for me to work in centimeters for smaller projects – it’s the blessing/curse of being an American expat or perhaps my brain is just wired oddly.
For a Barbie scale, which is roughly 1/6th, this becomes 177.66 cm in length.

177.66 cm is pretty long and there aren’t many shelves that can accommodate the width. This is the point at which I decided that I’d be building my own. After measuring the space available to me, though, I realized I’d still have to work within the constraints of my actual condo. It made sense to split things into two levels. Chopping the measurement in half, we’re left with 88.83 cm – rounded off to 90 cm, because who doesn’t like a nice, round number?

I also decided to chop down on the depth a bit – even a place that is 8.5 feet in width (standard for a tiny), post-conversion to cm and playscalified (is that a word?) is 43.18 cm. We’ve already established that I’m a fan of round numbers, so I doubt it will come as a surprise when I say I decided to go with 40 cm, which would give me just enough room for the planned layout.

But where do I go from here?

Step Two: Shopping!

Well, how about some shelves/flooring, carefully selected at my nearest Silvan (the Danish version of Home Depot or Lowes)? Originally, I had planned on going with a wood surface for a more realistic look, but I’m also trying to keep this budget friendly while somehow managing to get something on the thicker side to avoid warping under the weight of the diorama furniture.

MDF isn’t exactly an attractive option, but I’ve got some ideas for giving it a makeover once things are assembled. I got four pieces (90 cm wide, 40 cm deep, and 1.2 cm thick) to make a complete shelving unit, though I’m only intending to use two levels…of course, with three shelves I might just make one into an outdoor scene. We’ll see. The seeds of “oooh, extra space…” have officially been planted.

Apart from the metro ride (during which I was able to sit down), it was only five-city blocks to get home, but each board weighed 7.5 lbs – so 30 lbs total (yes, I just totally switched back to the U.S. system – I’m all over the place). I’m so glad I had help, otherwise I might not have made it.

And, of course, when was the last time you went to a home improvement store and only bought what was on your list? If you can manage that, I’m officially envious. As for yours truly, I picked up some drill bits for my power drill, some 1 cm screws, and some small L-brackets. Thankfully, these fit into my backpack – yes, I’m one of those people.

Lastly, I had these black shelving supports from a unit that was replaced a while back; rather than buying new supports, I thought I’d go ahead and up-cycle these poor, neglected bits, rather than sending them off to a landfill somewhere. They’re 169 cm in height, giving me ample space to work with.

It certainly looked like something was about to happen…though I admit, while excited, I was feeling a little overwhelmed, too. Which brings us to step three…

Step Three: Freak out and question whether or not you can do this or not.

I’ve never made a dollhouse using anything but cardboard and foam board before; unless you count room boxes, which I don’t. Lucky for me, I’ve got my own personal cheerleader that genuinely believes I’m capable of anything; that little boost has gotten me through everything from simple computer chair assembly (I hate putting the wheels on!) to staining furniture (a few pieces of which I actually sold for profit).

A little encouragement goes a long way, especially when that encouragement is given while the would-be do-it-herselfer is in tears and insisting she can’t do this. Trust me, it’s happened more than once. I promise you, if I can make it through this project (and I’m confident I can, post-pep-talk): so can you.

Stay tuned for the next installment of Tiny Girl, Tiny House. See you next time :)