When I was first starting to teach boatbuilding classes and was looking for ways to save time I did something kind of crazy. I brought all my tools up into the loft of my barn and then taught three successive kayak building classes, with instructions to my students to get whatever tools they needed from the loft and when they were done to literally set them down in the closest place that wasn’t directly under foot. Those weren’t the easiest classes, but when we were done we had only the tools that we needed and they were piled in the most convenient possible places. The next thing I did was build shelving for the tools exactly where they were sitting.
The next boatbuilding classes were a revelation in efficiency. Things were easier, less stressful, and we finished earlier than before, which helped people be less tired and more focused the next day.
Probably due to the fact that I live with an illness that gives me only a tiny fraction of the energy that most people have, efficiency has always been a driving theme in my life. I will rebuild things over and over until the object or the space that I’m working on feels like an extension of my body. No superfluous elements, no wasted motion.
Unfortunately you can never tell what really needs to be changed until you interact with it so we are heading into our THIRD remodel of the tiny house. The coffee table I just finished is being replaced by a more conventionally sized end table. The over counter shelf and the somewhat dubious brackets that supported it are being replaced by another pipe and rod unit like the one at the end of the bed, and the counter is getting moved 9 inches back towards the bed and the space that formerly occupied by a 18 inch wide 7 foot tall cabinet is now going to have a 9 inch wide 6 1/2 foot tall cabinet.
Is it nuts to remodel a space that you’ve lived in for less than two months three times? Probably, but I think it’s worth it. We’ve managed to squeeze some pretty amazing livability out of this tiny little box, so it would be like a shame not to nail the dismount!
-Brian
