Hannah Doss 0:00

Here, at least in Vegas, have a lot of rules about your rig has to be 10 years old or newer, or else they won't let you in. I thought anything would go in Vegas, right, but apparently they have a lot of RV rules.

Ethan Waldman 0:20

Welcome to the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast. I'm your host, Ethan Waldman, and this is episode 148 with Hannah Doss. If it has wheels, chances are someone has made a movable tiny house out of it. On today's show, the "it" I'm referring to is a 1985 railroad camp car. My guest is Hannah Doss, who converted said railroad car into a gorgeous movable tiny house in just three months for less than $9,000. She's going to tell us how she did it for so little money and how she did it so fast. So stick around.

Is this the year that you're finally going to embark on your dream of living tiny? If you're serious about building or buying a tiny house in 2021 then I'd like to personally invite you to my online community where you can connect with other tiny housers, get your specific questions answered, and get support on your journey. Tiny House Engage brings together tiny house hopefuls and DIYers to share plans and resources, learn from each other's challenges and mistakes, and celebrate our successes, so that we can feel less alone while we build faster, safer, smarter, cheaper homes and embrace the tiny house lifestyle. Whether you're a tiny house dreamer, who is still figuring out all the systems plans and everything you need to go into your tiny house or if you're actively building, Tiny House Engage has the resources for you. There are professional contractors in the community here to answer your questions about plumbing, electricity, ventilation, carpentry. And there's also plenty of interaction between members. If you need some encouragement, or just need to know how someone else solved a particular problem. And you'll get those answers in Tiny House Engage. I'm also very active in the community answering questions and keeping an eye on things. So if you want to interact with me on a daily basis, this is a great place to do it. To learn more and register for Tiny House Engage, go to thetinyhouse.net/engage. Registration is open Tuesday, February 9, and it'll be open through the following Tuesday. or whenever we get 20 new members, whichever comes first. I can't wait to meet you in Tiny House Engage. And I know you'll love your new tiny house community.

Right I am here with Hannah Doss. Hannah renovated a 1985 railroad camp car into a tiny house in only three months and for less than $9,000. Then she wrote and illustrated a children's book about the renovation. She's been living tiny, full time for three and a half years in Las Vegas. Hannah Doss, welcome to the show.

Hannah Doss 3:07

Thank you. Thank you very much for having me.

Ethan Waldman 3:09

Yeah, you're very welcome. I'm excited that you're here. When you when you emailed about the children's book, I was just so I mean, the book looks beautiful, but I was also really blown away by your tiny house. So I was hoping that we could start there and just start with, you know, what is a railway trailer? Like what was this used for?

Hannah Doss 3:33

Yeah, so these rail cars, some are on the rails, and some are always on tires, this one was always on road tires, that they would take these trailers and park them next to the rail or on the rail, for railroad men to sleep in, in remote locations. So you know, logistically, it's a lot easier to just have folks there next to the rail site. And, you know, when you're really really far away from the nearest hotel, and they would be outfitted with six beds, this one in particular has six bunk beds, and a a kitchenette and a shower. And then they gutted a lot of them and turn them into meeting like meeting rooms that they could turn around. So this one was gutted into a meeting room when I got it, luckily.

Ethan Waldman 4:32

And so, how what's the like length, width and height of this thing?

Hannah Doss 4:37

29 feet long, eight feet wide and eight feet, tall ceilings., okay. So

Ethan Waldman 4:44

Okay. So on the larger and lengthwise for a tiny house or about average but but you don't have a loft or a second floor at all correct?

Hannah Doss 4:53

Right.

Ethan Waldman 4:54

So what was the process like for you or actually, maybe can you tell us about like, how you found this was this. Were you like looking for a rail car? Or did this kind of happen serendipitously? Maybe you can tell the story of how you found it.

Hannah Doss 5:12

Yeah, so I knew that I wanted to live either in a fifth wheel or some sort of tiny house. But I had less than I had like less than $10,000 to my name. So I didn't think that building a tiny house was in my budget. So I had totally set my mind up on fifth wheel trailer. And I was going to renovate it and make it really cute, like a tiny house on the inside. But my parents kept talking, trying to talk me out of that, especially my mom. She kept saying that they weren't insulated well, or their slideouts might leak and that I just needed to keep my mind open. And so my dad worked for the railroad and knew about this auction that they had coming up. And he said that they might be the he had heard they were going to have some of these railroad camp cars, and that they can make a really good tiny house. The auctions are open to the public. So you know, anybody can go to these auctions, road surplus auctions. And so we went I looked, they had like, maybe 15 of them. I they were all in various different shape. Some of them were missing doors and all that. And I noticed one was on the list, but they didn't have the condition of it listed, which all the other ones they did. And so I think a lot of people must have thought it was dilapidated, but it ended up being like the best one there. And luckily, a lot of people weren't there for bidding. So I ended up getting it for $300. And the the trailer that just like it that went right before it was in worse shape and went for 1500. So I got really lucky. Wow.

Ethan Waldman 7:04

Yeah, that's amazing. So it's $300 for a an existing structure on a trailer ready to tow away.

Hannah Doss 7:13

Yes.

Ethan Waldman 7:14

That's amazing. Congratulations.

Hannah Doss 7:18

I scored the jackpot for sure.

Ethan Waldman 7:19

Yeah, I mean, for people who are trying to build tiny on a budget, like the trailer is the usually the one biggest expense, and they're buying a trailer with nothing on it. So did you have much time to inspect it? Or did you just kind of take a leap and you know, hope that axles were okay. And like all that kind of stuff?

Hannah Doss 7:43

Yeah, it was a leap. I mean, my dad has a lot of knowledge. He's a hand just a general handyman. So he was able to, you know, like visually inspect it and say, "I think it'll be fine." But yeah, we just had to take a leap of faith that it would actually roll nicely and that the tires hopefully would make it to the next state over - well from Alabama, Tennessee. And they did. I had no idea that Heating and Air would work. It did have those units but they ended up I'm still using those same original units today. The heat and air. I did get a mini split for Christmas. We'll see how that install goes. But yeah, it was a lot of faith and a lot of luck.

Ethan Waldman 8:28

Amazing. Well, again, congratulations. How are they constructed? Are they are they like sip panels? Are they framed? Are they Yeah, how are they made?

Hannah Doss 8:39

Um, they are framed aluminum and so the outside was in great shape. It's gotten a few dients but I'm worried about that it doesn't have any rust. And so it was framed on the inside with wood. And so we gutted some of that wood out because we when we did remove the plasticky paneling on the inside, we did find some carpenter ants. So we replaced that wood and then reinsulated it with housing insulation.

Ethan Waldman 9:09

Nice and so you left the outside - the outside walls are original.

Hannah Doss 9:17

Yes.

Ethan Waldman 9:17

Nice. And then what about like windows and doors were you able to use what was there or did you did you replace?

Hannah Doss 9:26

The doors or original the door behind me has a nice window in it. So does the one in the back. They had to screen doors luckily too. So I got really lucky there. The windows were the single pane, not great insulated type of windows. So we did knock those out and then put in double-paned house Windows as well as I cut in some huge picture windows. What my dad did with this big fancy saw, so that I can have a lot of natural light in here. So we did make several windows bigger.

Ethan Waldman 10:02

Awesome. And then you had mentioned that that some of them had kitchenettes. But yours had been gutted. So, you know, how did you do the kitchen?

Hannah Doss 10:13

Yeah, so the to lay out my house. It was my mom and I, we drew, she drew up a house plan to like a box, a rectangle to scale on graph paper. And then she cut out all of my furniture to scale like how big a toilet would be how big my dryer would be even she even had like the little door on the dryer swing open so that we would make sure there was enough clearance on the door. And then we played around with the layout that way, so I ended up putting my kitchen in the center of the trailer. I got all of my cabinets off of Craigslist $100 for all my cabinets. I refinished them and then didn't use all of them. So I sold the remaining cabinets for $100. So basically free cabinets, right?

Ethan Waldman 11:05

Wow.

Hannah Doss 11:06

Yeah, my counter kitchen countertop was donated to me as well as my sink faucet from a neighbor who was redoing their kitchen. So I was able to have Lowe's mix me up a countertop paint. And so I painted it a nice color that matched my kitchen. And so my kitchen is I do wish I had a little bit more counterspace I've been thinking lately about how you know you can make this hinged countertops that come up and just have like one leg that just swing out when you need them. So I'm thinking that that might be after I put my mini split in. It'll free the I have a huge big column next to my kitchen. That heater is in the original heater. So once that is gone, and I have a mini split, I really can use that for a lot more storage and maybe some swing out countertops.

Ethan Waldman 12:00

Awesome. So what was the one biggest expense? in the in the whole $9,000 house?

Hannah Doss 12:11

Oh, gosh, um, my toilet, but it didn't have to be that expensive. My dad got me a fancy toilet that I really didn't need. But the perk of it is is it doesn't have a tank so that I don't have to worry about water sloshing around when we drive it anywhere.

Ethan Waldman 12:29

Interesting. so it's a flush toilet but it's tankless?

Hannah Doss 12:33

Yes. But other than that, I would say it was probably the windows or the insulation.

Ethan Waldman 12:39

And how did you insulate it?

Hannah Doss 12:41

With our 13 I believe is the number housing insulation just from Lowe's.

Ethan Waldman 12:47

Okay, so probably like fiberglass.

Hannah Doss 12:50

Yeah. Yeah. Mm hmm.

Ethan Waldman 12:53

I love this story, because I think that it, it just goes to show that you have to get creative. You know, if you want to live tiny, and you have a budget. You You have to get creative about how you do it. Because, you know, starting with a $7,000 tiny house trailer, you know, you're never going to hit your number of $9,000 if you start with a $7,000 trailer, so right, you know, right, finding a different platform, these railway trailers, for example. That's your creative idea and just gets you started. gets you in the door for such a lower price. I mean, even if you had paid 1500 for it, that still would be a deal in my opinion.

Hannah Doss 13:42

Right? Yeah. And they came in different sizes. My dad actually bought one that's about 10 foot longer and has, I think 10 foot ceilings. It is at the max capacity of what his dually could could tow though it did actually break an axle on his truck. And that's completely unfurnished. So I would this this trailer after it's fully furnished, weighs 11,000 pounds, so it's not a lightweight situation.

Ethan Waldman 14:12

Well, I mean, also, I think what's what's cool about this is that these railway trailers were clearly built to last. You know, from the outside, you see these driving around, you'll see like a job site trailer. And they look, I mean, they look pretty cheaply built, they look like RVs. But like, clearly this railway trailer was built to last and it reminds me of an interview that I that I did a couple months ago with this gentleman who used an ambulance to convert into a van. And he kind of mentioned the same thing about how much better built the ambulances are than RV's because they're really built their work vehicles. They're built to last and so I think that's that's another kind of interesting hint to kind of like, look for a platform that it was built for for work. Very true.

Hannah Doss 15:06

Another thing I will say too, is like RV parks here, here, at least in Vegas, have a lot of rules about your rig has to be 10 years old or newer, or else they won't let you in. Oh, I know - I thought anything would go in Vegas, right, but apparently they do have a lot of RV rules, RV park rules. And so when I would call and I'd be like, "Hey, I saw that you had this rule about the 10 year, year old or younger rig. My rig is technically the outsides from the 80s. But it's completely renovated. Everything's brand new. Is that okay?" And they would I had a lot of people just go, "No, no, no, no, no." And so that was a hard realization. Because I came to Vegas not even having a confirmed place to park this thing. And so that was nerve wracking. I had a migraine for like three days coming across the country with this because I had nowhere to park it. So I did end up finding a privately owned RV park that makes their own rules. They still had that rule, but they said that, you know, with the the owner's permission on a case by case basis that they would let me in. And so they looked at it and like, "Oh, yeah, this is great. Come on in." So that was scary for a little while.

Ethan Waldman 16:30

So with the flush toilet, that's all plumbed in, at the RV park where you are?

Hannah Doss 16:37

Yes.

Ethan Waldman 16:37

Nice. Nice.

Hannah Doss 16:39

Yeah, it did have holding tanks underneath that came with it. But they did need a little bit of welding work to them. And I had just planned to come and park this thing in an RV park and commute to work every day. So I didn't worry about restoring those tanks when I you know, I was fresh out of my master's degree and spent every cent on this trailer. That wasn't a priority for me.

Ethan Waldman 17:04

So other than then you and your family. Did you have any other help on this project?

Hannah Doss 17:11

We had my one of my dad's friends come and do the electricity. And we bought all the supplies for him and then paid him like $400 to stay some days. And we traded him like you know, we'll babysit your grandkids and entertain them while you do this. And then we did have some really great neighbors who came in stuffed in some insulation. And just the goodness of their hearts. So we did have a little bit of help there as well.

Ethan Waldman 17:45

That's awesome. Well, one one more thing I want to ask about the house before we kind of turn to the to the book is the mural, the paint job on the outside. Can you tell us the story of that?

I'd like to tell you a little more about Tiny House Engage. Tiny House Engage members are also able to listen live as I record these podcasts and interviews and ask questions of our guests. So if you're a big fan of the show, Tiny House Engage is a great way to get an inside look at the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast, and get access to episodes weeks or even months before they go live on the feed. To learn more and register for Tiny House Engage, go to thetinyhouse.net/engage and registration will open Tuesday, February 9. And it'll be open until we get 20 new members or for one week, whichever comes first. I can't wait to meet you in Tiny House Engage. And I know you'll love your new tiny house community.

Hannah Doss 18:42

Yeah, I would love to. So my friend. His name is Scott Muir. Toobz Muir his like handle name. But he lives in Roanoke, Virginia, and he's a spray paint artist. He's super, super funky and great at what he does. And we actually met because we were both being represented in the same gallery and I ended up really loving his art. And he really, really loved my art and we did an art trade. And so that's basically what we did here with this mural. I had a big sculpture I had done. And so we basically traded this mural outside of my trailer for that big sculpture. And so he came up for like three days and worked on it. I told him I just wanted like a man, he had done a image that kind of inspired me but it was like a it was a mountain range with a man space in it. And I was like that's kind of what I want. And so I found an interesting old man space on the internet was like, "Can you kind of work this into a mountain range? And I want him to have a waterfall beard." And he was like, "Okay." So Yeah, he did it in about three days. And we did leave the back of the trailer mostly blank, because I wasn't sure how well the mural would be received in conservative RV parks either.

Ethan Waldman 20:11

Mm hmm.

Hannah Doss 20:12

So that I could turn it if they had a problem with it, you know, so people couldn't see.

Ethan Waldman 20:16

And how has it been received?

Hannah Doss 20:19

Oh, people love it. They keep asking me. Who? Who's that man on the mountain? Is it from the Lord of the Rings? No, it's just a mountain man. But that's the beauty of art is up to people's interpretations, though.

Ethan Waldman 20:35

Yeah, yeah. And some some folks in the chat who are watching are asking, asking if they can see the mural. And I actually I can, I can show it. I think I can show it. Yeah, let's work, maybe. Hopefully, people are seeing that, you know, members of of my online community, Tiny House Engage, get to kind of listen in and ask questions as we do this live. So hopefully, they're seeing the mural. And, and I know that maybe your family is also listening.

Hannah Doss 21:12

Yeah, I know, my mom's probably out there. Hi mom!

Ethan Waldman 21:17

When did you decide? or How did you decide to kind of turn this experience into a children's book.

Hannah Doss 21:28

Um, so on the three days drive out here from Tennessee where we've renovated that tiny house, I was in the car with my mom. And I drove up my Volkswagen bug I had at the time, and my dad was driving by himself in the truck pull in the tiny house, just me and my mom. And we were talking about how it would make a cool children's book. And I had about three hours where I wasn't driving. And I started just kind of jotting something down and it just ended up rhyming. There was a rail card named 858. And that was her. The number she had on her was 8558 when I first got her, so she used to haul all kinds of freight from apples to horses and coconuts to she'd be right behind the engine shouting, "Choo, choo." So that was that just came out of me. And I was like, whoa. Okay, so let me see how far I can take this. So I had it all written in less than three hours. So it's 13 pages of stanzas. And then on the flip side is illustration. So 13 illustrations as well. And I illustrated it and water colored every single image and then self published it on Amazon. It's going like for $14.99. And, but I think it's really great. And in the back also it has where some pictures of my actual renovation, and then also has a seek and find activity so that they can go through the book and try to find little creatures that are hidden throughout every image. So it keeps them engaged as well.

Ethan Waldman 23:17

Nice. So are you planning any sequels? Any any sequel children's books?

Hannah Doss 23:24

Yes. So I actually wrote my second book, over a Halloween weekend, we took a road trip to Arizona. And I was also again, trapped in the car for several hours. So that seems to be when I write best when I can be inspired, inspired by the landscape that's passing me. And I'm an outdoor educator and in real life. So this next book is way more focused on outdoor education. It's still all rhymes. But I teach about the state bird, the Cactus Wren, about how it doesn't fly very well. And what it eats and talk about the saguaro cactus, and how it can drink up to like 200 gallons in one rainfall. And then Journey, Hannah, Hannah and Banjo, which is my little dog in real life, he's a weenie dog. But we go to the Petrified National Forest with the tiny house, the Grand Canyon and Saguaro National Park. So I highlight all of those areas and the geology behind those as well. And I just am about to start painting all of the illustrations, I have all the illustrations done. So we'll see at this one, I'm planning to do like a book for every state nice in that in that kind of same format, where educate on the floor on the fauna and the geology of that state, as well as the national parks.

Ethan Waldman 24:57

Nice and I guess Journey the tiny house makes an appearance in all of them?

Hannah Doss 25:03

Yes, she's the main transportation. And all of the books that are going to be the characters will be inside Journey and she'll take them there. And she's in all the national parks like illustrations she's getting to see. So the second book on word won't necessarily be based on 100% truth. Like the first book pretty much was but yeah, just continue that kind of RV, tiny house life for kids and road trips.

Ethan Waldman 25:36

So in in the first book is the is the plot of the book, essentially just kind of telling the story of renovating the house?

Hannah Doss 25:45

Yeah, so it's talking about how Journey used to be a really excited, happy working rail car. And then one day she was abandoned, and she found stuff at auction and she was really scared because she didn't know if she was going to turn into scrap metal or what and then this girl named Hannah and her dog, Banjo, come to her rescue and ended up saying, "I had this really great plan for you. And I've always wanted a tiny house." And so then it goes through me renovating it with my parents and how all of the supplies came secondhand but it didn't keep her from becoming quite grand, which is true in real life. And then it also trapped goes from Tennessee to Nevada. So it goes on talks about the road trip we took there with Journey as well.

Ethan Waldman 26:45

That's awesome. Well, I'm I'm looking forward to getting a copy. I'm going to order it and actually one of our one of our listeners, one of our live listeners in the chat said that he already purchased a copy. So

Hannah Doss 26:56

The title of it is Jow Journey Came To Be A Tiny House For Me.

Ethan Waldman 27:02

Nice. And that's on Amazon. Awesome. Well, I will definitely link to the book in the show notes for this episode for sure. Um, who's the who's the dog in the mural? Is that Banjo?

Hannah Doss 27:16

That's actually a wind chime.

Ethan Waldman 27:18

Oh!

Hannah Doss 27:20

Yeah, it looks like it's part of mural but it's not.

Ethan Waldman 27:23

Oh, okay. Okay, now that I'm looking closer, and I can see that okay. Yeah, it's in the perfect spot. It looks like the dog is kind of climbing the mountain.

Hannah Doss 27:33

I know. Yeah.

Ethan Waldman 27:37

So as an outdoor educator, you know, how has living tiny? You know, has it helped you in your career? Has it helped with your lifestyle? Like how does that fit in with with your work life?

Hannah Doss 27:52

Um, I would say keeps me like thinking minimal when I'm when I'm out backpacking or whatever, for my job, or for personal fun, you can only take with you what you need. And that's definitely what's it's been tiny house living. I have a ton of hobbies. I've just made them a priority for storage in my house. So I've got a kayak beneath my house. Nice. All of my extra storage is dedicated to rock climbing equipment, camping, backpacking equipment, and art supplies because I love to paint make jewelry and stuff in my free time. But yeah, it just minimalism is a part of the outdoor industry, too. Yeah. And I think that those that time living just goes hand in hand.

Ethan Waldman 28:46

Yeah, no, definitely the people who are just super into climbing or mountain biking or just all these things, just trying to live as simply as they can and live as close to those activities as they can. So do you do you have plans for you know, any any moves? Or you know, any any more building plans? Are you are you sticking with Germany for the time for the foreseeable future?

Hannah Doss 29:15

Oh, yeah, Journey for definitely for the foreseeable future. I don't really see me moving away from tiny house life until I take the place where I maybe want to buy a house and settle down. You know, I do have some improvements I want to do on Journey like the mini split. And with the cost of that I feel like I have to live in here now for a few more years. But then, uh, you know, I'm thinking like after I am through living in Journey, either turning it into an Airbnb or an art studio.

Ethan Waldman 29:53

Nice

Hannah Doss 29:53

Yeah.

Ethan Waldman 29:54

I'm curious if you could go back and give yourself advice as you were starting on Journey and on this project, what advice would you give to Hannah from from the past?

Hannah Doss 30:09

Oh, um, one thing that I wish I would have paid better attention to is where my electrical outlets are. Okay. I really would have loved a few more in my kitchen. And the there's one by my bed that I love to plug my phone into. But I wish I would have split it up because the cord of my phone is laying on me when I sleep. So I would I would look at the electrical outlets a little bit better. And you know it, it was really hard when we were building it, you know, people glamorize that "Oh, it's so great." And it is after the fact. During it, it's really hard to hear, you know, you're arguing, things are stressful. Things aren't, you make a cut, and it's the wrong cut, you have to run to Lowe's for the fourth time for the day. So it can be super frustrating. And there were days that I knew that if I didn't just go with the flow that I might have my my dad had quit. My dad quit on me. You know, because I was working my parents pretty hard. But yeah, I think that, you know, also like a word of encouragement to anybody who's listening is that you can do it, it is going to be hard work. Not all rainbows and butterflies, like maybe some, you know, reality TV shows, make it look, but you can get through it. And it's so worth it after you're living in it and you have your own walls, your own, you don't have to have a roommate if you don't want to. And so that's really brings you a lot of peace.

Ethan Waldman 32:01

Yeah, that's awesome. If you don't mind what what are your living expenses now.

Hannah Doss 32:07

So I live in an RV park that is more expensive than some other ones in the area. But you get what you pay for it 650 a month here. And that does include all my electricity and water. And includes the have a community pool and a hot tub. And they have really nice bathrooms. Like if your tiny house doesn't have a bathroom. They have really nice bathrooms and showers. And very safe superduper safe, which is great. And there were some RV parks closer to where I work. I didn't have like a 35 minute 40 minute commute to work every day. One way, there was some places that were closer, but they were only about $200 cheaper and they were really sketchy. Oh, yeah.

Ethan Waldman 33:00

Are there any other tiny houses in your RV park? Or are you the only one?

Hannah Doss 33:05

I'm the only one that's permanent. We have a few that come and go and it's always super exciting when there's another one in the park. But yeah, and people people walk by. There's a lot of people that own dogs here. So they're walking by a lot and and there was they'll comment, "Oh, I love your I love your paint job or I love your house." And I always am like, "Do you want to come inside?" Because, you know, I, I know how excited I am when another tiny house pulls in, like I want to see the inside. So I've given several impromptu tours. But I love to sharing the possibilities that are out there with folks nice.

Ethan Waldman 33:47

Well, one thing that I like to ask all of my guests is what are two or three resources. So it could be like books or even like YouTube channels or websites, some things that were really helpful for you when you were figuring this all out that you could share with our listeners?

Hannah Doss 34:06

My honestly, my biggest resource was my dad, I got super lucky. I didn't have to Google a thing. My dad was a contractor. So he built houses. And he had every single tool with the exception of I think we went out and bought one tool the entire time. And he he knew all he had all the tools already and knew how to use them all. But I also used Pinterest a lot to be able to pin my style and kind of that way I can visually communicate to my parents what I was looking for. Yeah, and and give that kind of direction so that they could help me. I could help. I can help them help me basically. So I would say Pinterest. And my dad, no one knows no one, somebody who knows what they're doing will save you so much time.

Ethan Waldman 34:59

That is for sure. So we'll be putting Hannah's dad's phone number in the show notes right? Just kidding.

Hannah Doss 35:04

He's retired and he knows what he's doing.

Ethan Waldman 35:12

Well do you have maybe out to make this fair because like the mural is pretty amazing. Do you have a favorite feature of the house that it besides the mural?

Hannah Doss 35:22

I really love how we did my bed. So this is super cool. But my bed is on wheels. And it stores under about a it's like a foot and a half tall. I call it my loft, but it's a foot and a half off the ground. And on top of on top of that is my foot and a half riser is my living room. So my bed rolls out from underneath my living room at night into those into my kitchen. And it's a full size bed, I could've fit a queen but I decided to go just a few inches, you know skinnier so that I could kind of walk around my bed if I needed to. I was hoping it would be easier to make the bed..

Ethan Waldman 36:08

Cool.

Hannah Doss 36:09

But the rat, the rack is from a Pier One that was going out of business. It was a rug display rack. So it's like this big metal rectangle with a grid pattern in it. And we just drilled some holes and put casters on it. And then the fancy rug display hardware where you can pull the rug out, you know, on the rack. It's like barn door sliding hardware, which is crazy expensive for what it is. So we were able to buy that with the rug display rack and then turn that into what my pocket door on my bathroom operates on. So I think all for $45.

Ethan Waldman 36:59

I mean, you have all these these kind of stories about finding these these perfect these items that seemed like perfectly repurposed? How long did the whole process take with with all of this, you know, looking for materials?

Hannah Doss 37:16

Um, gosh, I - maybe five months, because I bought the tiny house at auction just I'd say no more than a month before I graduated, and then was able to start working on a four to five months, we were looking for stuff. Also, the three months included in that and that we were building.

Ethan Waldman 37:45

Amazing. Well, now you must have worked tirelessly to get it done that quickly and find all those materials.

Hannah Doss 37:53

Yeah, yeah, I was I had graduated and didn't have a job yet. I was about to start the one in Las Vegas. And then my mom wasn't working at the time either. So basically, you had two people working full time on it. And then my dad, working from 6pm to 9-10pm at night, and then every weekend for three months.

Ethan Waldman 38:17

Well, it's a very inspiring story. And I thank you so much for for coming on the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast and sharing it with our listeners. Thank you so much, Hannah.

Hannah Doss 38:27

Thank you so much for having me. And I appreciate all of your time and for listening.

Ethan Waldman 38:34

Thank you so much to Hannah Doss for being a guest on the show today. You can find the show notes, including a full transcript of this episode and lots of photos of Hannah's amazing tiny home at thetinyhouse.net/148. Again, that's thetinyhouse.net/148. Also, don't forget to go to thetinyhouse.net/engage. To learn more about the Tiny House Engage online community. I am welcoming new members starting on Tuesday and I hope one of them is you. Alright, that's all for our show. I'm your host, Ethan Waldman. And I'll be back next week with another episode of the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast.