Welcome to the Gatekeeper's Lodge.

This is a blog about one person's adventure in building a tiny house.  A tiny house, as you might know, is a home in complete opposition to the ubiquitous, modern "monster home" -- a tiny house is, by general definition, a home of under 1,000 square feet (although they seldom exceed 500 sq.ft.).

My home, as I am building it, will be 224 sq. ft.  The Gatekeeper's Lodge is rising on a 20'x8' trailer, and will stand guard on the family home, built in the 1870's.  Nestled on the patio, under the sugar maple tree where we had a tire-swing as kids, the Gatekeeper's Lodge will keep watch on the yard and the driveway, the gardens and the back porch.

I will be sharing my tiny home with my furry roommates, who are rescue Siameses.  I am giving a great deal of thought to making sure *they* have a lot more square footage than I do, with walkways, lofts, hidy-holes and dens.  If my home is a work-in-progress, this is mostly because I want to make sure they're as safe and happy as I am in the place!

It is also being built with an eye to conservation, to green practices, to solar self sufficiency, to recycling greywater in a self-contained fashion.  This blog will have some entries about building, some about planning, and some about research, not necessarily in that order!

It is my hope that visitors here will find food for thought -- if not for their own tiny house, then perhaps for conservation, sustainable energy, and living mindfully.  We all collect and give home space to Too Much Junk over the years, and herein I also intend to catalogue the sometimes-painful process of downsizing my stuff.  It is my hope that there will be luxury in "making do" carefully; peace that flows along with paring down the clutter; and delight and security that come from having my own space, my way.

A plan always starts with a blueprint, even if it evolves -- so let's start here:

The Gatekeeper's Lodge, Spring 2013