Lindy Peterson, formerly of Stettler, has been thinking outside the box for some time as to how one can fundamentally alter one's residential quarters in a way that is a lot more environment friendly, less costly and more personal.
And to turn the idea into reality, Stettler's Dan Hebert built a tiny, portable home for Peterson, who now resides in Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The 'tiny home' was shipped out on Wednesday, Dec. 16 to the west coast.
Convinced of the possibility of realizing her dream after doing a lot of research, all Peterson wanted was a space of her own.
"At first, I wasn't sure about the idea but the more research I did, the more excited I became, because all I was really interested in was having my own space that I could design the way that I wanted and use high quality materials without the large investment and carbon footprint of most houses," said Peterson. "This allows me to have a home of my own, but forces me to really think about what personal belongings are really important to me."
A few months back Peterson was quite surprised at the amount of things she had collected over the years.
"My space felt cluttered and none of it added any happiness to my life, so a tiny house allows me to have all the basic things I need, and yet save my disposable income for experiences such as traveling and spending time with all the people who are most important to me," added Peterson. "My mom is the one who convinced me, so both her and I came up with a design that we thought would fit my lifestyle quite well."
Building a tiny home isn't easy, and has to take into consideration a lot of factors, including weight, height, width and length, especially since the house would be making the trip all the way to Vancouver Island, including a trip on the ferry.
"My tiny house is built much like a mobile home which simplifies things when hooking up to water and power and it is pretty much as easy as just plugging it in," said Peterson. "Sewer is the part that complicates things a little but I am lucky that the spot I have rented for my house has these things all readily available."
One of Peterson's biggest challenges with the house is storage.
"Since they have a limited amount of space it forces you to be creative when designing and making use of vertical space," continued Peterson. "Each piece of furniture has a dual purpose as well, for instance the couch will become a bed, but also with storage underneath."
Other limitations include when looking to live in or close to a town or city there are zoning restrictions that exclude tiny houses as part of the community.
"They usually look for a minimum size of 700 sq. ft which defeats the purpose of a tiny house, but luckily I have found space to rent on a piece of property outside of town with services and a spot for a nice deck and garden for myself," added Peterson.
Lindy's mother, Robbie Peterson was very closely involved in the building, right from the start till the end.
"Ultimately we very much trusted and relied on the skill and knowledge of our builders and other tradesmen," said Robbie Peterson. "At the end of the day this was very much a group effort, we had some terrific people who were involved in one way or another."
The tiny house is now affectionately known as 'Lindy's Lair'.