The Kiwi Builder and I have been spending a lot of time arranging and rearranging walls and condensing, decanting and extending ideas.
The pea hens watch us at work from the verandah. 
In fact yesterday the doors were left wide open, because it was another beautiful day and Pania and Kupa, being the opportunist peafowl that they are, just walked inside, through the kitchen and up to the table to inspect the drawings themselves. The matriarch is still calling it the Chicken Coupe and, as you can read, I have changed the spelling of the Chicken Coop to ‘Coupe.’ For my own amusement of course. And hopefully to discourage any birds from thinking it is THEIR new house.
I have taken these little preliminary images from the computer screen. Next time I shall consult with my IT team and come up with better versions for you.
I am especially thrilled with the rooflines. The little box on the side will join to the house and have a bathroom in it with a glass corridor as an inside entrance to the Coupe. 
This View (from the West ) shows you the Verandah on the left (North side) that will run around in an L shape and join the existing porch on the front of our house. Giving another entrance. The raised area you see will be a screened porch, and french doors into the Tiny House. This will extend the living areas.
This next view is from the South side. The ridge at the top of the roofline is designed to let in winter sun, there will be windows across that top eave, and the eave will shade the summer sun. My builder has read of a man in Chicago who has designed a little house that is entirely warmed and cooled through its design, using the environment (and a lot of mathematics) not electricity, and we are aiming at a similar concept, though the floor will be heated for really cold periods. 
Next we will draw in the windows and doors. As usual I have too many doors. I hope this is not too confusing the next drawings will be even more exciting. Plus we will have the final floor plan soon.
The cladding on the Coupe will be vertical white wooden barn timbers, which will sit well with the house which has horizontal cladding and match the out buildings which have the vertical. The windows and doors will all be trimmed in recycled barn timbers. I have found an old wooden floor stored in someone’s shed. I do look forward to showing you the pictures of the Coupe with its doors and tall church style windows.
On the grass you can see a screen from one of the top windows; it was blown down in the big winds the other day. It is on it’s way to the rat house where I store things I might have a use for but don’t yet know what that use may be. 
Good morning. It got even warmer than this yesterday. And I believe we still have a few more days of glorious weather. Do you think it might last until the Third of December, when you and I fly out to California on the first stage of our International Wanderings?
The Writing has reached and surpassed the goal of 50, 000 words. Nanowrimo was an excellent challenge. (I am ready to hand in my manuscript for counting on the first date – 25th of November). I know now that I can create the draft for a book in 18 days. And that knowledge is very powerful. I am starting at the beginning again now, going through to make it more coherent, adding all the new passages here and there. So far it is very one dimensional and way too linear. Then I will print it and chop it up into chapters, using good old fashioned scissors and pen and sticky tape. Then back to the computer screen to begin the real work of editing, extending and magicking.
I am working on an excerpt for you. Just a tiny taste for your perusal.
I hope you all have a lovely day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
51 responses to “The Tiny House – First Drawings”
Excellent, and how wonderfully exciting! We’re going to bash out a few walls starting in January … unless the weatherman is correct – in which case we’ll have the worst winter in 100-years. If that happens we might freeze to death because we’re also knocking down the dining room exterior wall and putting in a long length of folding glass doors to the patio. And I’ll be without a kitchen for a month! A month! OMG, a month! (panic).
Bon courage, Misky
(breathe … breathe … ) Thank you, Viv. I keep telling myself it will all be worth it.
Oh I love that you were getting expert opinions from the peafowls! The design looks fabulous – can’t wait to see it with the windows and doors.
Have a lovely farmy day.
🙂 Mandy xo
The Matriarch and you will love that little house. You must be so excited! It is simply elegant. We built our passive solar house 27 years ago and it absolutely does work and has saved us a ton of money in heating costs all these years. It is situated south with lots of windows and a heat sink in the form of a large brick hearth and and an insulated tile floor. On the coldest days of winter, we don’t light the wood stove until dark on a sunny or even partly cloudy day. In summer, the angle of the sun is shallower and there’s a row of oak trees in front that shade, making it very cool. We have always wished we had installed heat between the tile and the insulated slab but the technology was too new in 2005. Last summer our son renovated the upstairs bath and installed a heated mat under the tiles. We love having warm feet! On another note, our sons are experimenting with building a Cob, or rocket stove for our new starts greenhouse. Google these terms and check it out. It is an ancient technology using masonry to create a large heat sink which only requires a small fire once a day to heat a whole house (or greenhouse overnight, we are hoping, stay tuned…) The cob is made from mud and straw or other materials and is very strong. You can incorporate benches to sit on as part of the heat sink. Comparable to warm feet, warm sit! …and congratulations on achieving over 50,000 words — an amazing accomplishment!
Wonderful news all around! Love that your house plans are coming along. And so impressed that you’ve already completed the first draft of your novel! Congratulations, Celi! Looking forward to reading a bit of oft when you’re ready. Still working on mine. Nowhere near ready though! Thanks for your encouragement 🙂
Did you have a good lie-in? Hubby likes your Coupe. Beautiful weather here also. We’ll be mid to upper 50’s for the next week! A good week for Thanksgiving break. Have a great day.
Exciting! I’ve enjoyed watching your word count…and thinking maybe some day… 🙂
Oh Cecilia well done, I knew from your blog that you would do it easily… you have such a free flowing, readability about your writing, I love it… I look forward to our travels to NZ and the excerpt from the book… now you know it is easy and 50 000 doesn’t sound so daunting…
for the pictures on the screen I use “screenshot” which I think comes free with windows it gives a very good clear shot which you can save and then paste into your blog… look forward to seeing the “coupe” when the design is finished…
Bravo, Celie, and happy editing.
It is always wonderful to start my day with you C! Especially today with wonderful designs of a wonderful home. Congratulations on the book!! You are truly inspiring!
Very exciting that you’re so close and have made so much with your month. Love the birds.
How I wish more people would use mathematics and the environment to heat and cool their houses. I am able to keep our house cool enough in summer but do resort to a heater in the main room in winter. I’m looking forward to reading your excerpt.
Good morning C! Passing through southern IL today. The morning light is beautiful. Reminds me of many of your pictures. I like the designs for the coupe! It’s fun to build from scratch.
Congrats on completing the novel challenge. What an accomplishment. And the coupe is coming along nicely also. Well done. You have been busy, I mean busier than usual.
Well done on meeting the challenge! (Not that I ever doubted that you could and would do it). Your new name for the house got the song Little Deuce Coupe stuck in my head. 🙂
Love your little coupe! It would be a wonderful place to live. Congrats on meeting the 50,000 word goal. I can’t wait for your little taste of the book. Hope you have a lovely day.