Tiny House sold

Hello dear readers, I have great news! Last week I had a week of vacation, and it started great. I have found a buyer for my Tiny House! This means that I can now continue with the planning and construction of my new house in the Olstergaard with full conviction, courage and sense.  I’m sure that the buyer will be very happy in my old house. This is not unimportant to me.

A week’s vacation is actually much too short, but there was not much more in it for me. I was tired. I really had to get out, distance myself, get to some new surroundings. That was fortunately possible because I was allowed to stay in a garden with very nice people in Drenthe in a beautiful nostalgic Tabbert caravan. Overlooking a meadow with horses! I had to give my head a rest, do a little ‘digital detox’ and relax. Well, giving that head a rest became difficult, because the first day of my holiday I received the wonderful news that I had sold my Tiny House. You can imagine that I didn’t sleep very well that night and the nights after. Because now I can move on, and there is so much to arrange!

Sometime in September I must deliver my house; the exact date is not yet final. So, I’m busy arranging storage for my stuff, a place to stay for my chickens, and making a schedule for what needs to be moved and when. I can live in an apartment near my mother’s house for a while, but she is also moving in October, and it is not yet known when I will have to move out again.  Therefore, I’m also looking for alternative living space, from November to March. I am going to see if it is possible to live in a caravan on my lot from about November. There is a chance that we can jointly place a shower and toilet unit in the Olstergaard for the people who have already started building this year. I just need to get permission from the municipality and rent or borrow a caravan. It would also be so nice for my current neighbor Marloes, who is already moving to the Olstergaard this year, if I come and live there soon. However, for someone who gets cold pretty easily like me, to live in a caravan in the winter… brrrr.

During my holiday I made an appointment with my future immediate neighbors from lot 42 and 44. We organized a picnic on my plot and everyone brought something tasty — from chervil soup to a pancake cake. Delicious! And it was so nice, nice to meet each other for the first time in real life and nice to see the Olstergaard again. A lot has already changed, roads have been built and a lot of wild flowers were blooming. Along the way I thought: this is going to be ‘my turf’! I am so looking forward to living there and discovering the beautiful surroundings.

For privacy reasons, here is a photo of the picnic without my future neighbours in it. Thanks for the photo to neighbour Marjolein! Yes, my future neighbor is also called Marjolein. And you know what? She is also going to live in a Sprout with her partner Ruben! :)

Over the past few weeks I’ve had good conversations with suppliers of building materials and installations; I’ll write more about that later. I have submitted a new sketch design of my house and garden (thanks Aart van Buro Ruiter for the cool new drawing of the garden, and Menno van Woonpioniers for the beautiful PDF booklet containing the design drawings of my house!). I have received an answer from the quality team. There are still some small additions to be made, but I can proceed to the submission of a final design. Next Thursday Menno and I will have a Zoom meeting with Patrick, who will help me with the BENG calculation. He spontaneously offered that, because he likes Tiny Houses and wants to do something in return for the Tiny House movement. Isn’t that super sweet? He is also certified, so that should be fine. That BENG requirements are a pain in the butt for Tiny Houses, so I’m anxious to see how it goes. See also the blog of 23 June. After that, it’s hurry hurry onwards to finalize the design and apply for the environmental permit.

Do I have more to report? Oh, so much has happened; I really should blog more often hahaha! I promise to improve on that. Oh yes, my lot has been probed. I had never heard of it, but probing is a test of the soil where they drill holes and see what the composition is like. This is necessary to calculate what kind of foundation you need. The report is a bit too technical for me, but luckily, they know how to handle it at PNL Circular Foundation. I would like to go for a screw foundation. There could possibly be peat layers in the Olstergaard, and that is not so favorable for the foundation, but fortunately that is not an issue on my plot.

Boy, soon I’ll be living in an ordinary stone house with connections again. That will be awkward! ;) Maybe it’s just as well, there’s so much coming at me. The fact that everything (electricity, water, you know) works by itself and I don’t have a garden to maintain and chickens to take care of is a welcome break, I think. Hella will come with me, of course. But I will really miss my old house. Call it crazy, but I recently had a conversation with my house. I explained why I am going to say goodbye. I really love this house. It has been such an inspired home for me for the past five years. It’s going to be an emotional goodbye.