Making a Tiny House Using a Fiberglass Trailer
The problem with DIY projects is that they can seemingly drag on forever. My tiny house is over a year old and only half done, but that hasn’t stopped us from taking her out on adventures!
The biggest challenge in this project is not having adequate space and tools to get the job done. We’ve been borrowing driveways, garages and backyards, and the tools that come with them. Next weekend Michael and I will be planning a work weekend at Michael’s father’s house to finish the interior walls of the trailer.
You can read here to get a glimpse of all the options we explored, and find out next week what we finally ended up deciding on. Until then, you can catch up with the top 10 the highlights of my trailer project:
- The Christmas present finally arrives [Jan] – I finally bought a trailer. This was written back when I thought a complete renovation would be a cinch…
- Gutted and primed [Feb] – I wasted no time in ripping out the guts of the camper, leaving only a shell behind.
- She’s got color and personality [Feb] – Fearing another rainstorm we reinstalled the windows. Michael meticulously painted the trailer in the color of my choosing and I gave her a name: Calliope.
- We have a floor to stand on [Mar] – We varnished and reinstalled the floor with a beautiful new piece of plywood. We’re both wanting the project to be done. We dilly-dally for the next 3 months…
- Indoor plumbing, yay! [Jul] – Michael, AKA my hero, re-installs the original sink and stove. Here I explain the simple plumbing system we decided on.
- Sizing ourselves for solar [Oct] – Summer vacations out of the way, we get down to business measuring our appliances and planning our ideal photovoltaic power setup.
- Maiden Voyage, continued [Oct] - We knew she was road-ready, and though we didn’t have the interior walls done, Michael and I traveled around Northern California for a month living in this unfinished trailer.
- Our visit with Tumbleweed Tiny House Company [Nov] – During our month-long journey, we visited our friend Jay Shafer, designer and founder of Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, at his home in Sebastopol.
- How our house compares to a Tumbleweed House [Nov] - Michael gets a job offer. We move ourselves back down to San Diego. Surprisingly, the house we rent has a striking similarity to Jay Shafer’s Enesti design.
- Tiny house gets a new roof [Dec] - Our tiny trailer just barely fits in our new garage. Hopefully not for long, as she is itching to do some more traveling!
Hillary lives in a 677 sq. ft. historic home with her partner while renovating a 50 sq. ft. tiny trailer. Her blog is located at thistinyhouse.com. She is a freelance writer and consultant.
