I haven’t posted about the progress of the Vardo in a long time. (Though if you’re observant you might have spotted a preview of it in the header drawing.) While I would like to start calling it by it’s official, inwardly-hilarious misnomer the “Merle-Lynn Mansion” (Merle being my sweetie’s middle name, Lynn being mine, and the whole thing being homo-phonic to a certain artist-musician chuckle inducing…) so far “The Vardo” is really all it gets referred to as. Perhaps when it is actually finished we will officially dub it.
At any rate, we’ve come quite a ways on the thing since my last post about it, and we’ve been living in it for about six months now. That is not to say that it is_ finished_, just that it is very much livable. The outside is probably about 85% done, and the inside…maybe about 40%. I don’t have photographs of the inside currently, because it is just not all that photoworthy at the moment. I’ll definitely take some time in the future to photograph the flooring, the insulation, and other aspects of the interior before we continue with installing things like shelving, cabinets, walls, etcetera, though
The biggest update is that we decided to put cedar shakes up as siding! We got offered a great deal on some used cedar shakes from a friend, and since we both love the witch-tooth look and natural graying cedar color it was a no brainer. We both still liked the idea of having the blue we got for the Vardo, so we decided to use it for the window trim. I love the way it looks, with the cedar shakes, board on board, and a touch of brightness in the trim.
We also finished the deck on the back porch, and have the kitchen partially installed.
Unfortunately our current location, along with the current weather, doesn’t lend to a whole lot of wood working, painting, and installation being completed in the immediate future, as we don’t have a nice interior space for power tools and it’s just too dang cold and rainy to do it outside. However, within the next few months we will be back on track and things will be rolling once again.
In the meantime we’re focused on installing this neat little wood stove that Cramps snagged from Lummi Fishing Supply to create delectable, dry warmth. We have been relying on space heaters, which are great for simply keeping us warm, but haven’t been so helpful on moisture related issues which abound in the Pacific Northwest. I love everything about living in Washington, but I’m not going to pretend that the battles I’ve had with everything, everything, being wet nine months out of the year hasn’t been a little trying at times.
This problem doesn’t limit itself to living in hand made alternative spaces (such as vardos and shipping containers), though these spaces do come with their unique set of challenges. Certain things become more difficult in these spaces, such as wetness being tracked in being all over your 76 sq feet of available floor space. However, the fact that they are so tiny makes things like mold and condensation somewhat more manageable (Though our ceiling choice has, as expected, proven to be quite a condensation battle maker.)
On the other hand, the last few places I lived up here, including a large house and a well insulated apartment, both had horrific mold issues that were almost impossible to battle. Living in a small space isolates those issues a lot and makes them at least a little bit more manageable.
Wood stoves make a lot of sense in this climate because they put out a lot of dryness along with heat. I am really looking forward to having it, I think it will make a huge difference in the overall comfort of our little space. It’s been good enough so far, but I’m excited to have it be superbly warm, especially as temperatures continue to drop outside!
Well that is all for this update, I’m excited to keep sharing more as this project comes closer and closer to completion!