Tiny Red - 24' long x 7.5' wide x 8.6' high at peak
East Nashville, TN
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For us, the POD is an escape vehicle. And, in terms of cultural references, as in .... " open the POD bay doors Hal", Dave needed to flee the mother ship. Therefore it makes sense that our POD needs a "mother ship".
Currently our mother ship is brick and mortar, attached to the earth, and approximately 1,000 sq ft. We have been trying to figure out if that is the best fit for us and, if not, what the best might look like.
Part of this road trip was designed to have some time together without distraction to discuss everything we have researched/learned over the past year and to reflect on all options.
We want our mother ship to be small, manageable, little maintenance, and easy to walk away from for months at a time so we can travel..... in the POD.
So - What is this home base? How big is it? Where is it located?
In the effort of exploring all options and trying on all the hats necessary to make this decision over the past few years we have been:
Downsizing. A lot! Having sold or given away countless pieces of furniture, accessories, art, etc - we are now pretty much down to essentials! And if feels great!!
In the past 5 years we have lived in smallish condos and apartments @ 800 - 900 sq ft. and been very comfortable. And happy!
Truthfully, our current base, is really more space than we need. We feel we can go smaller - much smaller.
Which brings us first to tiny houses! And why we are staying in one for a few days. We have been researching them a lot over the last year and Tim attended a Tumbleweed Tiny Home Workshop for a few days last fall. In earnest we began working on layouts and system needs but other than
laying tape on our home floor and imagining what living in 200 sq ft. would be ...... It was hard to get a real sense of the space. We decided we needed to stay in one!
Hence - Tiny Red, an Airbnb offering. Truthfully, this particular one was not our first choice. We actually rented a tiny house in Orlando - which was very modern and cool looking - but that fell through a week before we were to be there. Ugh! (That listing has since been removed from the site). So I scrambled to find us another and Nashville was the closest place with tiny homes on Airbnb and Tiny Red was the only one with open days that fit our schedule.
Tiny Red is located in the back yard of a modest home in East Nashville, a neighborhood that is in the midst of growth and some gentrification.
We were very excited about our stay and were ready to lock ourselves in there - tape measures, pencils and paper in hand - and ready to start dreaming!
Open the door and......
1. Whoa....... It felt so tiny!
2. The wood paneling and dark colors were definitely not our aesthetic and it made the small space even more claustrophobic.
3. It was freezing in Nashville and the 2 small oil space heaters were doing a bang up job with heating the house but they were in the middle of the room leaving @ zero space on either side to move around.
4. There was too much stuff!
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We needed to re-boot. Quickly.
We decided to take a walk and find an oasis of calm, a warm place we could relax and take the 30,000 ft view on the info we had at hand.
Thank God for excellent beer! And a very cool establishment.
The Hop Stop
East Nashville, TN
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We immediately began to feel better! And we started tossing around ideas about the space. Ours wouldn't look like that - we kept reminding ourselves of the ones we saw as we researched!
View from the living area to the bedroom end. Kitchen on left, bathroom on right.
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The Kitchen here was totally non functional - too much stuff, lack of organization, dark tiles. The Bathroom would need to be relocated. The bedroom was ALL bed - we would use a form of a Murphy bed so that the room had use options. Trusses and higher ceiling was a nice effect - but all the heat rose up there and a loft at each end would provide storage.
Tim in the "living" area
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So we settled back in. And truthfully, except for the extremely uncomfortable bed, the minuscule water heater that did not allow a proper shower, the lack of anything useful to cook dinner with ( we ended up cooking and eating our dinner in the POD because it was easier and more comfortable!) and all the other slights mentioned previously...... It wasn't so bad.
Here is the Airbnb listing for Tiny Red.
Here is another tiny house listing, also in Nashville, that was not available on our dates but one whose aesthetic is more along the lines with ours.
Ultimately we realized that it wasn't the size that was the issue - it was the use of the space and the total lack of creativity in making it work efficiently!!!!!
Having done the small space/make it work arrangement before - a 26' yellow GMC motor home that was our residence for 2 years - and we shared it with an infant Tyler and 2 good size dogs! we know we can make this work. Tim rebuilt the entire interior of that coach to accommodate our lifestyle at the time and it worked brilliantly!
Which brings us to our newest option - one which we only began to consider recently. Remember I mentioned a stop in Ocala? 31' of endless possibilities!!
1990 Airstream
Ocala, FL
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The size of the interior space in the Airstream was great! We could imagine creating a very livable floor plan in it.
And, of course, then we had a bit of a detour to Mississippi on our way to Nashville to see another.
1994 Airstream
Meridian, MS
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And so here we are - about to head back to our current "mother ship" and a solid 4 months worth of commitments (for me) - and now two options are on the table.
It's a good place to be actually. We will work it out because ..... We LOVE challenges.
Our aesthetic - simplicity, color, flow, light
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Make it happen.
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