For a dozen years, small-space dwellers have had a daily dose of inspiration–Apartment Therapy. The website lists its mission (helping people make their homes more "beautiful, organized and healthy") and its goal (improving homes while reducing "reliance on stuff"), plus a "What We Believe" section, where the website lists four tenants to which I'll add my humble belief vote:

• A calm, healthy, beautiful home is a necessary foundation for happiness and success in the world.
• Creating this home doesn't require large amounts of money or space. It requires inspiration, connection to resources and motivation to do something about it.
• The basic elements of good home design can be learned and achieved by all.
• Simplicity and luxury are not mutually exclusive.

Since my daughter introduced me to the site, I've been hooked. Apartment Therapy advocates nothing more passionately than intentional living. What makes you feel good? What suits the way you want to live in the world? I love the pieces on color, the tips for organizing, the DIY features and, naturally, the small space highlights. And did I mention the photography? Wide-angle, light-splashed, perfectly framed images of a thousand places I'd happily live. 

After countless hours of drifting and clicking my way through the site over the past year, one day I noticed the "submit a story" link on the site. So, maybe, just maybe, if I could interest Apartment Therapy in our tiny house, they'd send a photographer out to our wee abode to take "real" pictures of the space. Late one night, I jotted down a few thoughts, attached a few pictures and submitted my "story."

I didn't hear anything for a couple weeks. Then I got an email that our story would be published a few days later. What? I couldn't remember what I'd written. I didn't know what pictures I'd attached. That Saturday a piece came out, and I was relieved to follow the link to see that what I'd written made sense and the pictures I'd sent did justice to the house. The piece was headlined "A Small, Solar-Powered House in the Blue Ridge Mountains." (That made me wish I'd included a picture of our solar panels!)

I'd still love to have an Apartment Therapy photographer show up on our doorstep to take professional shots of our little place. That hasn't happened, but I have enjoyed communicating with the people who have asked questions in the comment section. They've helped me think about our tiny house with new perspective. (I try not to focus on the double responses that show up from me; when my first responses didn't load for a few days, I wrote a second round of replies—only to have both rounds of comments post the next day!)

So, thanks, Apartment Therapy, for all the inspiration...and for including us in your intentional-living discussion.

I just learned about a sustainability blog, Made, that's kept me here in front of the computer for hours this morning. 

CustomMade, a web-based company, connects artisans with customers looking for unique, hand-crafted furniture, jewelry and other items. I spent some time clicking through project requests and "maker" profiles, but the real draw for me is the company-sponsored blog. Well-written articles with great graphics cover many of the topics we've been pondering as we build our tiny house—from rainwater collection to up-cycling and chicken raising to renewable energy. I've bookmarked the Made site for regular reading.

Here's one example: an article by Ken Gagnon that offers insight on why one would live in a yurt, along with how-to details that have broader application. 

Around the time Bill and I decided to build a tiny house, we heard about The Tiny House Conference being held in Charlotte, NC. We signed on as volunteers and drove down to meet Ryan Mitchell, organizer of the conference as well as creator of The Tiny Life blog, author of several tiny house tomes and, most recently, cohost of the Tiny House Chat podcast. 

We toured our first tiny houses at the conference, took pages of notes on all sorts of practical considerations we hadn't even been aware of, and got excited alongside other tiny house wannabes. By the time we returned to Virginia, we felt ready to get started. I can't thank Ryan enough for being a big part of that process. Check out some of his tiny house resources below.

An interview with Ryan Mitchell:
What was your introduction to the tiny house movement? One day in 2008, I found myself standing on a curb with my co-workers, holding a box with all the things from my desk and reeling from the sudden announcement our company was closing. Luckily, I was able to find a job quickly, but that feeling of being exposed and vulnerable never really left me. I started looking at my budget and realized housing costs were about half my expenditures every month. I asked myself a crazy question: How could I shrink that? I did some research and discovered tiny houses. After four years of saving money, I began building my own tiny house.

How has your own tiny house build gone? It's been going great, I've moved into my tiny house a while ago and have been enjoying the tiny life!  It of course took longer than I thought to build it and it ended up costing a little more than expected, but all in all I'm very happy with it.  

What's something you'd do differently? I might have considered purchasing a shell, rather than building from scratch, and I think I would have chosen casement windows over awning windows.  

You're hosting your second tiny house conference in Portland this April. What can a prospect tiny houser expect to glean from it? I think people will gain real understanding of the process of building a tiny house.  Two big benefits of attending are connecting with others and getting to ask your questions. Not to mention that you get to see a lot of tiny houses of different styles in one place.  Nothing beats standing in a tiny house.

Any other new ventures you'd like to mention? I recently launched a podcast called Tiny House Chat. We've gotten a lot of positive feedback, and it's been a lot of fun.  

Resources from Ryan Mitchell
The Tiny Life: Features Q&A from Ryan, guest columnists, tiny house ideas and inspirations, practical building advice and more
Books by Ryan: Shockingly Simple Electrical, The New Retirement, Cracking the Code (building codes),  Tiny House Floor Plans
Tiny House Conference: April 18-19, 2015, Portland, OR
Ask the Tiny Life: New Q&A video