Down the Rabbit Hole
I enjoy flea markets, and there’s a great one near Fredrickburg, Texas — about an hour from our Hill Country home. We go almost every month. Last October we came home with vintage cast iron pots and skillets, a UT Longhorn-branded Crockpot and — best of all — an old Stanley No. 5 jack plane for just $8!
At least a dozen years ago, I helped my Dad and his wife clear out their home in Colorado in preparation for a move to a smaller home in Southern California. They had been there about 10 years, and had a lifetime of accumulation that included some things from my Dad’s childhood home in Fontenelle, Nebraska. There were tools I remembered from visiting the family farm that had belonged to Gramps, and others my Dad had collected over the years, I was very pleased when I learned that many of them would be going home with me.
In the course of working on some friends’ Tiny House, we learned that the non-standard nature of it had a big effect on cost. For instance, the Tiny House required a front door that measured 78 inches by 27 inches — very non-standard. We could find one manufacturer that would supply a door that size, only it cost $1400. Not very practical. So, we decided to design and build our own door.