Friday, April 1, 2016

Tiny House Conference 2016

We arrived safely in Asheville and are super stoked about the Tiny House Conference taking place this weekend! If you are visiting this page because you saw us at the conference, welcome! We documented our build in this blog and although we don't post as much now we plan to continue to keep it updated so subscribe by putting your email in the "Follow by email" link on the sidebar. ---->


You can learn more about us, Chris and Kelly, by checking out the page "About Chris and Kelly".


If you have a question, it may already have an answer! Check out the page "Frequently Asked Questions" page. If your answer isn't there, feel free to use the "search" function on this blog to see if it was discussed in a post. If you still can't find it, feel free to post the question in the comments OR


Follow us on Facebook! This is where we post most often and are quickest to respond.


If you want to buy one of those super cool bus magnets that you saw your friend with, you can do that at Kelly's Etsy Shop .


We hope to have a full update about our trip to Asheville, which was far more adventurous than we expected, and an update on our plan for our epic summer roadtrip in the next few weeks!




Kelly and Chris





Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Bus update, 2016!


It has been quite a while since I gave an update on the bus so I thought I'd share some of our latest and greatest news. We celebrated living in the bus for two full years last October. That means that Chris and I have lived in the bus together longer than *any* other house/apartment/shack/cardboard box, which is quite the milestone. We are still incredibly happy, making improvements all the time and love the freedom that comes with a such a mobile home. Sadly, our days living in the bus full time are numbered as we will be relocating for Chris' medical residency next June and it's unlikely it will be to a place where full time bus living (at least in our bus) is possible. We still plan to keep the bus as an RV and have a LOT of stuff planned between now and then, including an epic bus road trip! (more on that below)

Where are we going? I don't know! Ask me on March 18th, the mystical "match day" that medical schools force upon young almost-doctors. It's a day where they open an envelope that determines their future training location for the next 3-4 years. So where are we going? Please don't ask me, when I know, you'll know.

Upgrades!

To prepare for the epic road trip mentioned above, we got hitched! According to Chris, who did all hitch related research, we have a Curt 10k GWR with a 1000lb tongue weight, 1404 8 Class 4 receiver. It cost us about $200 and is held on by 6 enormous bolts. We'll use it to tow our a car for our upcoming road trip and to hold our bike rack for future trips. No more having to load bikes into the bus every time we move and we will be able to explore a little more easily when we get to our location, thanks to our "toad".





We added an additional shelf to the bedroom area over the windows on Chris' side of the bed. He put all his foldable clothes up there to make some room in the closet. It's much too messy right now for me to share a picture of the finished product, but I promise I will in the future.





In the bathroom we added two shelves to help contain our toiletries while we're driving. This way, when we take off they don't all go flying. Part of the bottom shelf still needs to be painted and mounted in place.




We also moved the couch to the driver side area of the front of the bus and mounted the bookshelf to the passenger side. I don't have any great pictures of that right now but plan to take some good ones once we're picked up and packed up for our big move. Which brings me to our next bit of news, we're moving! (yes, I know i said that earlier, no I don't know where we are ultimately moving to yet). Next weekend, we're relocating the bus back to my parent's yard for a month,where we did the initial conversion process. This is to do a really deep clean and finish up a lot of little projects so we can hit the road the last week of March for the Tiny House Conference!

Maintenance and Repairs

We had some minor issues with some of our appliances this year. The hot water heater got frogged up (as in, a frog got stuck in it and clogged it up pretty bad). We had to back flush it and it started working again. While putting it back together Chris tried to tighten a screw that controls the amount of gas that flows and it broke off, meaning we had to replace the entire gas/water valve. Even though our eccotemp L10 is still working, I'd never get another eccotemp product in the future. (see my past blog post on that here ).

Replacement gas/water valve


Also, our mini split AC stopped working last week. Luckily, we have an amazing HVAC company that we've worked with before and they came out and fixed a leak in the copper piping in the outdoor unit. Our HVAC guy, Richard, said this can sometime happen due to vibration between the pipes. He secured them in such a way to stop them from hitting each other and doesn't think we'll have any issues again for a while. He said our bus was the first he'd worked on and was impressed with our set up.

Fortunately our hot water heater stopped working when it was warm and our AC stopped working when it was cool out so we didn't suffer much. If anything, it made us more appreciative of these luxuries that many live happily without and also aware that we would survive without them (especially in Florida) as well.

Future Plans

After the Tiny House Conference we have to head back to Tampa for Chris' graduation at the end of April and then we're hitting the road for the aforementioned "epic road trip" for a month or two ultimately ending in our new city, NO I don't know where that is yet! March 18th people!

So, to recap. Lots of fun new stuff going on in our lives. The bus project will never be "done". Chris is nearly done with school, we're moving in June, we're not sure where yet and you should come see us at the Tiny House Conference or perhaps you'll see us on the road this summer!

UPDATE!

We're super happy to announce that Chris matched to his number 1 residency pick, University of Minnesota's Broadway Family Medicine in Minneapolis! We will be moving up to Minnesota in a few short weeks and are super excited for our next adventure!

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Tiny House Conference, Take 2!

We are super excited to announce that we will be bringing the bus to the third annual Tiny Bus House Conference in Asheville, North Carolina! It will be on April 2 & 3rd and will be loads of fun. If you missed seeing us at the first Tiny House Conference two years ago then now is your chance!

You can save $50 on admission if you buy your ticket before November 1st!

Monday, May 18, 2015

Tiny BUS Magazine!



This month's issue of Tiny House Magazine is here and man is it a special one! With 74 awesome pages, this month's edition is all about bus conversions and the people that live in them! We had a great time collaborating with some of our very best bus friends like Ditch LifeRotten RideLive Love Travel Dream, and Outside Found and a few others to make this issue simply bus-tacular. 


Our Just Right Bus is featured on the cover, in an article about painting the bus and in my monthly cooking column, "The Cozy Kitchen" where even my recipe is bus themed, "Grilled Pineapple Short 'Bus' Cake".

To get this month's issue visit here: http://goo.gl/OBHMO3


Monday, March 16, 2015

Small is Beautiful- A Tiny House Documentary Review



Last week we had a wonderful opportunity to watch a new tiny house documentary, Small is Beautiful. Directed by Jeremy Beasley out of Melbourne, Australia, the film takes place in Portland, Oregon, which has become something of a mecca of tiny homes. The movie follows the lives of four tiny house people at different stages of their dreams.

Ben, a quirky 20 something, builds his dream using an inheritance on the side of a road in an alarmingly steep parking lot. Karen, 50, has been living in her tiny home for several years, yet faces many of the tiny house issues that those who haven’t taken the tiny home plunge fear.

We made the biggest connection to Nikki and Mitchell, as their story is very similar to ours; a young couple with two dogs that aren’t interested in living a life filled with stuff and debt. Like Nikki and Mitchell, we moved in with our parents while we built our bus conversion home, and frequently used their big house to figure out what was “normal”, including countertop height, couch width, or how tall something has to be for us to bang our heads on it.

Though the storyline flowed well and left us satisfied with where everyone stood in their builds and lives, it really hit the nail on the head in regards to Tiny Homes not always being perfect. We made many stupid mistakes along the way, like Ben cutting a board too short at the start of the documentary. It was nice to see real moments like that throughout the film. 

Small is Beautiful also explored deeper into the lives of the tiny house people in ways that we haven’t seen in other documentaries. With overly ambitious timelines to build, loss of family members, questioning of self and purpose, and community support and involvement, this film really covers the docket of emotions that accompanies building a tiny home.

We had plenty of moments during our build where it just sucked and you didn't want people asking you how amazing it was. There's a big pressure to be happy and perfect when you're trying something new, this movie will help others realize that it's not always perfect, things don't always go exactly as you planned, and that's ok.

The feature length documentary runs for 68 minutes and will be released worldwide in March/April 2015. Stay up to date on the film’s release at http://smallbeautifulmovie.com

Check out the trailer and a preview of the lovely soundtrack below:


Small is Beautiful - A Tiny House Documentary from Jeremy Beasley on Vimeo.









Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Tiny House Magazine Issue 26

Ready for a snack? This month's recipe from "The Cozy Kitchen" in our Just Right Bus is Avocado Jalapeno Hummus. A classic favorite with a new twist without the hassle of a stove or oven. Get this month's recipe and lots more tiny house goodness in issue 26 of Tiny House Magazine here! http://goo.gl/OBHMO3



Monday, February 2, 2015

Tiny House Survey!

Calling all tiny house enthusiasts!

A new Tiny House Survey has been created to get a better understanding of who makes up the Tiny House Movement. The data will be used to run statistical analysis such as average square foot, number of tiny houses, percent of various demographics, etc. All data collected is anonymous from point of collection and is not sold, rented, or used in any marketing or commercial purposes.
To take the survey visit:

http://goo.gl/forms/35jQker6HT