Closet and Shelves!

Wahoo! A shelf and a closet (with more shelves) are now complete.

Well, also a ladder.
Everything is pine.
Note the lack of fasteners on the visible side of the shelf.  This made us (every so slightly and probably a bit too) proud.

Converting the Bench Seat into a Desk

Removed top shelf and tested out options for desk angle

 Today we finished the modification of the bench seat -- transmogrifying it into a transformable desk/bench/shelf system! 

 There's not much room in the Weebee until you MAKE MORE ROOM via clever means (well, we hope this was clever -- perhaps it's in the eye of the beholder).  The idea here is that perhaps everything in the house should serve at least two purposes.  This may be more of an ideal than a working reality but, for now, the bench/desk/shelf embodies the ideal.

Is that a skull and crossbones?

 To make the appropriately crazy curved desk edge we used aluminum.

 We then made an equally crazy frame to support the crazy edge.

Here's the system in Bench Mode -- add pillows for enhanced comfort.

And, now: the system is seen in Desk Mode!  Note shelf in lower right.

Chop Wood, Carry Water: a new shelf and more siding

A number of small edges and corners still needed to be filled with siding when we started the day.
We began to chase down these loose ends.
Additionally, we dreamed of a bookshelf that would be located above the door. Why waste precious space? Most books won't fit vertically but a few could assuredly be stacked. And so a bookshelf vision was born.
Lots of tiny house work actually occurs after sunset (who knew?) lit by halogen worklights. For these upper corners it's great to do the layout on a table first and then nail things in place.
Voila! Still needs some trim around and above the door and in the uppermost triangle. But, aside from these things, we're inching up on having the exterior all zipped up.

Finally, while resting on our laurels at the end of the day, we tested out the bookshelf. It works! Huzzah!

Exterior Siding Nooks and Crannies

"Hey, farmer, when you gonna fix that leakin' roof?"
"Well, stranger, when it rains it's too wet to fix it and when it's dry it's as good as any man's house."

Indeed, we may have felt the same way about the small triangle of siding which was missing from the octagon window area of the front of the house... until today! Tiny house gnomes again emerged from the backyard (where DO they all live?!) and completed the job with time to spare against the backdrop of a gorgeous 70-degree day.

Long live the cedar siding.

Framing the Bathroom Walls

Thought about framing the bathroom walls in 1x3 or 2x3 but if this house is located in a cold climate and hot showers with *real live running water* are desired the wall may need to contain plumbing. Hence, 2x4s continued their monopoly in the tiny house framing market.
Pre-drilled down through the loft floor into the studs at the corners (countersinking bit so that no screw heads stick up through the loft floor). At the bottom, angle brackets are used to connect the vertical joists to the stud plate. Not bad for an evening work session which included a dangit-we-ran-out-of-2x4s run to the local lumberyard. Next step here is to build out a closet from this wall into the main room of the house. Upcoming presidential candidate debate topics: will the tiny house contain a kitchen sink?

Only time will tell.

Bench Seat and Storage Shelves

Today we framed in a bench seat (w/ enhanced levels of storage! aka a shelf below it) using whatever wood was available in the rafters of the garage (owing to the holiday it is apparent that no hardware stores are open). In the infinite future an additional joist will be added for the top shelf since it may need to support the weight of a couple of people sitting along the bench.

While the intent here is to store file boxes and books, it could potentially make a nice chicken coop. (joking)