As of yesterday, I have lived in my Tiny House for exactly five years. It seems so much longer since my little house arrived in Alkmaar and I started living in it! It seems like a lifetime ago, and I seem a different person. I have never regretted my decision to build and live in a Tiny House. I still enjoy it. But now I’m going to part with my house in a few months, maybe even in weeks. And the adventure begins again!
It’s bittersweet though. I really love this house. I put so much of myself into it and it fits me so well; it’s so snug and cozy. I’ve never loved a house as much before. It has soul. But I know what I’m doing it for, letting go of this little house. Someone else will surely live happily in it again.
As for me? I am on my way to my next dream house. A house with an attached greenhouse! Oh, that greenhouse…how I love greenhouses. When I was a little girl, we lived in the Spoorstraat in Noord-Scharwoude, where my father had a large glass greenhouse, a tunnel greenhouse, and a large patch of vegetable garden where he grew organic vegetables. We ate from the garden so many times!
But that greenhouse… I loved it back then, except for the spiders that crawled around. But now I have outgrown that fear. Yesterday I also saw such a beautiful greenhouse in the series The Handmaid’s Tale. I immediately got excited again! I thought: “I’m also going to put a side table in my greenhouse with large pots of blooms!” I can already see myself rummaging with punnets of seeds. Heaven.
Two weeks ago, I visited the Woonpioniers and gave Menno my wish list. They have already delivered so many houses, I have every confidence in their abilities. By the way, did you know that my adventure started with the Woonpioniers, all the way back in 2015? I went to see the first Tiny House on wheels that they were building in Olst at that time: the Porta Palace of Jelte:
So now Menno is designing my personal Sprout for me, I will probably receive the first sketches tomorrow. How wonderfully exciting! I’m totally into it. My house will soon be built by Gijs in the workshop where I visited Jelte and Daniel in 2015. Isn’t that comical? The circle is complete! My adventure started in Olst and now I’m going to live there in a locally produced house. As if it was meant to be.
After five years of experience with Tiny living, I know what I like and don’t like, what I’m going to bring back in my new Tiny House and what I want to change. Some things also have to do with the fact that my new house will be built on a (screw) foundation and will never have to leave. Then you can make other choices. Also, because there will be sewage in the Olstergaard, I am planning to opt for a flushing toilet that I will flush with rainwater. I already have a very cool system in mind from JustNimbus, with storage in a large bag. And I will go for a slightly bigger bathtub. :)
I’m also going to try electric cooking and water heating, while still being off-grid in terms of power. Johannes from Victron Energy is going to help me with that puzzle again this time, I’m very excited about that. I will write more about all my choices, don’t worry.
Do you want to know my ‘must haves’ and ‘nice to haves’? Here they come:
Must haves:
- Nature inclusive (meet Olstergaard points), comply with Building Decree new construction, circular and climate-proof, bio-based if possible (insulation/BENG?).
- Self-sufficient in electricity, I will take a water connection.
- The wind must be able to blow through with the doors in the greenhouse open and the windows in the house open.
- Ground floor, downstairs bedroom with space for a bed 1.20m wide and a wardrobe, double bed upstairs where I will sleep at first, but if I want/need to sleep downstairs in the future, this is possible. Then I can make it an office first.
- No more bumping my head while making bed ;)
- Bathroom with a (small) bath, 140/150 x 90/95, flushing toilet with rainwater, washing machine.
- Kitchen: the size I have now is fine. Would like to see outside. Place for fridge/freezer combination
- A workplace that I can work on with a good desk chair can therefore be found in the downstairs bedroom.
- Space for a (sleeping) couch, no built-in.
- Storage space similar to what I have now is fine.
- Light from above
- cat flap
Nice to haves:
- Preference for heating with a wood stove.
- Could the front of the greenhouse also open over the entire length?
- Rainwater storage in ‘crawl space’ by means of water bag
- Planning space for expansion with solar boiler in the future in technical room
- Piece of green roof
- Outside tap for the garden.
- Sliding doors, barn doors
Do you already know what your must-haves are? Until next time!
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