Portland ADU Tour

the word is apparently out...  We had blocked out a week without guests in the garage so that we could wrap up some last minute items before the Portland ADU tour came through on sunday.  It was actually a good chance to test out that whole balance issue we talked about in the last post.

  Normally I use these deadlines as a chance to finish old projects but also seem to slip a few new ideas and projects onto the list accidentally.  Historically that means the last night is always without sleep, we are still blasting out projects when the first few guests arrive and are exhausted from the beginning.

This time was far better.  I gave a up a few large projects right after our weekend away so that the list simply felt more manageable (namely, the concrete countertop for our kitchen island).  I still wish it was finished for the people touring our space...but I'm glad we pushed it off until later.  Instead, we focused on finishing out the landscaping we started a few weeks ago.  Filled the planter boxes with soil and added a few plants, laid the pavers we always intended to mark the pathway to the front door and installed the wood that was always intended to finish out the steel pergola.      

It was great fun watching the project finally look as it was designed (though still a ways from "complete" and it was even better to do so without the usual stress and impossible timeline I seem to force on every stage.  One small step for man...

We also finally got the handdrawn globe on the wall...another detail that was in initial design sketches of our space but we just never found the time to finish.  We still have plenty of tacks to add...but at least the globe is there to prompt us!

We took the chance to get some photos of the space once (closer to) done, and then opened our doors sunday morning for the tour.  In short- madness ensued.

We had a slow trickle that felt manageable for about half an hour...and then the floodgates opened.  The volunteers out front did a great job of controlling the "flow", but our tiny home was shoulder to shoulder almost all day. 

It quickly became clear we couldn't effectively talk to people individually, so we would talk to groups of 5-10 and than when the place seemed packed to the gills we would grab everyone's attention, give a quick 3-5minute elevator speech to hope it answered the majority of questions and then go back to shaking hands.

All in, by the end of the day the volunteers had clicked off 690 people in about four hours; my voice was hoarse and almost non-existant and we were completely spent.  It was an amazing day of meeting people, hearing their stories and plans for downsizing, flexible living and financial gain; but we could have probably spread all those conversations out over the next year and a half and still been tired.

Now the real fun begins.  Calls and emails have started coming in to arrange more detailed discussions and look at projects on-site.  We'll see what we learn in the coming weeks but are excited to keep testing our balance boundaries. [youtube width="650" height="340"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEx0PIly_B8[/youtube]