Life in the Little House

These photos are by my sister Alyssa, who is visiting this weekend.













There is a certain type of quiet in this house that I have never experienced before. Maybe it's because it has earthen walls and floors, but we seem to be surrounded by this force field of peace when we enter and shut the door. It feels cozy and sheltering, but open, bright and cheery as well.

With no bathroom and no kitchen, it feels a bit stressful in the way that camping can feel. You are out in the woods and it's dark and it's cold, and you realize something very important/convenient is very far away. But as soon as you relax a little and find a proper substitute, you realize you might never have needed that item to begin with. This unraveling of necessity can be a bit unnerving.

First night in the house!

Greg and Mike came out for one last day and finished the floor. They also did some staining of the exterior siding.





The floor had 4 coats, with time to dry in between.

Coat 1: 100% linseed oil
Coat 2: 75% linseed, 25% mineral spirits
Coat 3: 50% linseed, 50% mineral spirits
Coat 4: 25% linseed, 75% mineral spirits


Apparently some people do it with just the linseed oil, but the mineral spirits help thin the oil so it really soaks in deep. We heated the linseed oil (NOT to a boil, you could have let it sit in the sun on a hot day), removed it from the heat, and then stirred in the mineral spirits.

Even though the floor wasn't quite dry yet, it was fine to walk on so we moved in more of our stuff. Then we decided to just go for it, set up the bed, and spend the night!

Lucky for us, a major rain storm blew through just as we were falling asleep, so we were lulled into slumber by the sounds of rain on the tin roof.







We had a too-small space heater, but were plenty comfortable under our two comforters. Downstairs was quite chilly but upstairs was quite cozy (duh, heat rises). The super-long extension cord was having a hard time running the space heater. I'm thinking next winter, we will upgrade to solar power and a more energy efficient thermal mass heater. It's going to be bellow freezing every night this week so we're not sure if we're staying out there again.





We had a bucket with a lid at the bottom of the ladder for middle of the night pees, which actually worked fine despite the rustic (and maybe disgusting) imagery. This morning we mixed water in with the pee, and then poured it over our compost pile.

We're moving in on Monday!

The interior floor and walls are done! (Except for a layer of linseed oil.) We can start moving in our stuff.