Bill and I have been fortunate enough to agree on at least 90 percent of our design and build decisions. We both wanted a light-filled space, a ground-floor bedroom, solar power. energy-efficient appliances, a mix of metal and wood exteriors...and so much more.

One thing we don't always agree on: climate control. Bill appreciates air conditioning; I don't. He would have been happy using a mini-split to heat and cool our house. In the end, we opted out of the mini-split, but made certain we have excellent cross ventilation with 11 windows and screens for our three doors. Plus, we put up three ceiling fans in the tiny house, one directed at each of the kitchen, living room and bedroom areas. 

Compromise—that's what keeps us on the same page. Our latest negotiation was over running electricity to the screen house. My vision was to keep it primitive: candles for lighting, a water tank as the only plumbing, a cooler as the refrigerator, etc. Bill wanted a fan to cool things off on the hottest days, and, as we approached our fifth summer in the screen house, he only wanted the fan more.

Guess what? We now have a fan. It only took one near-100-degree day this summer for me to know Bill should get his fan. So, we ran wiring from the house (just a few yards away), put in a GFI box (rain can come in the porch) and ran wire though metal conduit up to our new fan. Bill found an industrial-inspired, damp-rated model (Plaza) on lampsplus.com. The free shipping and returns came in handy, because we returned our first fan: it was too small for the space and the extension rod too short. Things looked up when we installed the 52-inch model with a foot-long rod.

The difference the fan makes on a hot day is amazing. So amazing, we've decided to install a second fan over the kitchen/dining area. Turns out, adding electricity to the screen house doesn't feel like a compromise to me, after all. 

I have never been known for my patience. In the past, when I wanted something done, I wanted it done yesterday. Building this tiny house has been something of a lesson in patience. Take our new slate, for example.

We built our tiny house about ten feet away from the screen "house" we built first. The screen house is an open air living space for about 8 months of the year. It's part of what makes our tiny house not feel quite so tiny, and we walk between our two living spaces several times a day. In the screen house, we have a primitive kitchen (cooler for a fridge, a sink that empties into a bucket), a table for dining and a much-used lounge area.  But back to the slate...

Two sets of stairs lead down from the tiny house to stairs up to one of the screen house doors. For more than a year, we've had to step down on to dirt or mulch to cross between our living spaces. (Imagine all my dirty feet and socks...) We had a few hundred ideas about what to do in the gap between the houses, and we actually took the time to weigh them. What would each cost? Would they reflect or clash with what's already on site? How much time would be required, time taken away from other projects? We thought long and hard about what we wanted, and we came to this conclusion: we wanted a walkway of slate slabs between the houses.

The next lesson in patience came when we looked at the cost of slate slabs. At local nurseries and hardware stores, we found prices between $200 and $300 to buy enough slabs the size and thickness we wanted. The walkway wasn't enough of a priority to justify the hit to our bank account. That's when Bill turned, once again, to Craigslist.

He kept his eye out for slate (among a few other wish-list items) and, after a few months, he found it. We paid $15 a slab for pieces larger than what we had been looking at. The walkway cost us only $30, once we realized we could make use of a couple pieces of slate we already had on hand.  The 2x3' slabs were so reasonable, we spent another $60 and had enough to put slate at the bottom of another set of stairs off the deck and under a little table and chairs that had previously teetered on dirt.

That's neither our first nor, hopefully, our last Craigslist find. The set of wicker furniture that we lounge on in the screen house cost less for all four pieces than the price of some new chairs. And then there's the beautiful, metal Emu chairs and table on the deck—in great shape and also a fraction of the price if bought new. We've also scored free landscaping stones and lumber. 

Yes, you have to wade through a boatload of ridiculously hideous and/or overpriced items, not to mention scams, on Craigslist—but, with a little patience, Craigslist can be the tiny house builder's best friend.

One of the reasons our house doesn't feel so tiny is that we like to live outside as much as possible. We already have our wonderful screen house, where we often eat and more often sit to take a break and drink a beer (or two). Now, we're started work on our next outdoor "room": the deck.

Eventually, the plan is to have the deck wrap around three sides of the house. At this point, we have one section in place outside our big sliding door. Already, I love it. Stepping out onto the deck instead of mud on a rainy day feels so civilized. 

Time to build a little more decking...

Yes, the day has finally come...we have inhabited the screen house. We decided to go low-tech: no power source and no running water. We use candle lanterns for lighting, a cooler as refrigerator and a Berkey cistern for water. As we gear up for the Tiny House build, the screen house has become our refuge, our socializing spot, our work room—and we even bought cots to try it out as a sleeping porch. 

Just a few more screens to trim, but the floors are in and stained. We've even got furniture: some old pieces (the teak bench), some new finds off Craigslist (the wicker set), and some shipping-pallet creations under construction. More pictures to follow, but here's an idea of the space we're already enjoying! 

In between rain storms, we've finished assembling our metal panels, some of our screens and stained a lot more wood. Next up: finish building the screen windows, install all the doors, lay and stain the floor.... Then, finally, we'll get to start in on that tiny house!

Our little homestead sits in a county where certain accessory buildings under 200 sq. ft. don't require permitting. Acceptable accessory buildings include farm buildings, chicken coops, sheds and playhouses. So, we've decided to flex our building muscles by creating a "playhouse," a.k.a. a screen house, where we'll escape the bugs and rain while working on the tiny house. Also planned for the screen house: a simple outdoor kitchen, bar with kegerator...and who knows what else?