Time Has Flown By & Here is an Update After 6 Months
SIX MONTHS!!!! It has been 6 months since I last updated the progress here for you! and a wild 6 months it has been! There have been tons of changes, forward movements, backward movements, sideways movements, up and down movements and YES …. circular movements. I have, at this point in time, no way to catch you up on the step by step so I am just going to give you a brief summary & then let you know where things are now. (aren’t you relieved that you don’t have to live through the whole saga???? LOL).
The summary of the last 6 months of the work on the home shipping container goes like this:
– Built out the siding on the home shipping container (county requirement)
– Built out the deck
– Covered the electrical box and built a platform for it (county requirement)
– Installed tie downs (county requirement)
– Installed lattice skirting (county requirement)
– Added multiple electrical additions (county requirement)
– Added plumbing additions (county requirement)
– Added roofing
– Began installing interior floors, baseboards, cabinets & painting
– Began painting exterior siding & staining deck & wood trim
So where is everything now you ask? OMG it is finally looking like a home … YES, a Tiny Home for sure … and a HOME! As much as I have hated all that the country has required that I do so that my shipping container looks “residential” and not “industrial”, I think we have continued to make it match my tastes as best as possible.
As of now the exterior painting is complete except for 1/2 of the deck, wood trim staining and the lattice skirt. As for the inside the floors are in throughout (vinyl throughout kitchen, living room and bedroom and stone tiling in bathroom), doors between kitchen and bedroom and bedroom and bathroom, the baseboards are complete, the cabinets are in the kitchen with doors on (just minus the handles)and all the electrical receptacles and circuits for the burners and convection/microwave oven, the tankless water heater and fridge and blinds on all the windows . In the bathroom the vanity and Toto toilet is in and the wall tiling (subway with black grout), the most of the shower hardware.
What’s next? The countertop is being cut … when it is ready then the contractors come back to finish everything up including finish installing the countertop, kitchen sink, stove top burner, microwave/convection oven, fridge, washer dryer, vanity sink, medicine cabinet, toilet with bidet, and shower . The plumber will then attach everything and test and get water running from the well, to the septic and throughout the house. There are a few other small things to do like installing UV film on french doors, etc.
We are literally 2 days of work, max, to be done to match our plans once we get the countertop this coming Friday! Then our Architectural engineer can submit inspection data and photos, of the whole shipping container conversion, to the county and we wait for their approval and for them to give us the Certificate of Occupancy.
Meanwhile, 2 weeks ago, I moved from my friend’s house in Saint Petersburg, Fl (where I have lived for the last 3 years since I left S. Florida) to a rental home belonging to my General Contractor/Friend in Tampa. That has me be a long bridge and about 30 minutes closer to the property until I can live on the property. That slightly shorter drive really does help and Gracie and I are enjoying living alone in this cute little empty house.
I also took all the plants I had been growing in St. Pete to the property so they could start acclimating to the new environment. They are all in grow bags and pots and I have placed them in a mostly shaded space in the garden area. Now when I go each week I water them all really well with the gallons of water I bring in portable containers. The rainwater collection tank is still standing but a lot of it got used by the contractors for various reasons so it is refilling now. The plant babies seem to be happy for now until I am living there and can take care of them daily as I want to.
I have been posting videos every week so if you want to see the week to week progress, please feel free to go to the YouTube channel to check it all out by clicking HERE. There are videos not only of the continuation of the entire external and internal progress but lots of videos of Gracie and the property and my Exciting End of the Day Reports for you to see.
We are now moving into May 2025 and I am in the game to be living on the property by Summer 2025!! Yes, LOL, I have continued to play my ridiculous game of creating finish dates for myself. I just can’t seem to help it. I missed my birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas in 2024. I have missed New Years, Valentines Day and Spring here in 2025. OOOOO what the hell … I just keep playing no matter what. I also continue to grow and learn every week that goes by.
What have I been learning???? Just little things like: Patience, Surrender and Trust. I really keep thinking I have deepened my knowledge of allllll of those things and each week, when I have hit another barrier to completion I am reminded that these are mountains to climb without a top. No matter how much I grow there will always be more growing to do. It is a lifetime journey. What I can tell you is that I am a much calmer person than the person who left the last blog post out here in October 2024. The Universe has given me the appropriate practice time to smooth some of my edges out.
So, STAY TUNED still coz’ no telling what will show up this week! If that countertop is really done by this Friday then those two days of work will commence the following week and I will be once again not only posting videos to the YouTube channel, but also resuming these weekly blog posts again! See you soon, hopefully with great new photos of the outside and inside of a finished container!
As always, I send you FREEDOM and LOVE for YOURSELF & YOUR LIFE!
