Creating a home in an old chicken house in the forest, basically for free!

in #homesteading5 years ago (edited)

So I am still very much out of reach and not much possibility to update - but I want to share my new (temporary) home with you!

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As you may know, I am creating an eco village from scratch in a forest on Bornholm, but I needed somewhere to stay while building!

BEFORE
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AFTER
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So this is not really suited for winter, as it is not insulated or anything, but instead of buying a caravan while I renovate one of the old houses in the forest, I decided that I might as well move into the old chicken house!

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It was a brick building with a close roof and no funky fungus growing around! Just a lot of dirt, stuff and graffitti..

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So I cleaned out all the old stuff and leaves and dirt from the floor and started taking off the old paint from the walls

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We cut down all the trees growing up the side of the walls, apart from the big birch in the front, which needs a bit more expertise!

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Roberto with the scythe

Painted the walls and got some carpets for the floor!

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(still under construction)

4 of the windows were broken and we got a glass cutter and experimented cutting glass and putting up! It didn't go smooth every time, but we managed to get glass (from old windows on the recycling station) in all the windows!
I also had to clean off a lot of old graffiti from the remaining glass!

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Roberto helping me with the windows

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I left a few "windows" to the old graffiti wall, for memory ;P

Pretty much everything, apart from the paint, in this project, are things that I got for free!

The bunk bed was from a hostel that had to get new beds, mattresses, pillows and covers, because they are no longer a part of "DanHostel", which was written on the mattresses and duvets..!
The couch and the bookcase was on the property already. The round table I got from a friend who moved into a furnished house, but had to make space for their own furniture!

The rest of the furniture and carpets are all from the recycling station (it's legal to take anything from the recycling station here on Bornholm, which is amazing! A true treasure mine!) I also found all the cups and plates there, together with children's books and even light chains!

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90% of the plants are also saved from the bins of the supermarkets!

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evening time with candlelights and light chains is the best, but hard to photograph..!

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One of the light chains from the recycling station over my little kitchen

I realised that I don't have any good photos of my "kitchen", but I want to share this post, so you'll get the nicest after photos later..!

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picture taken from the back side

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I put some wallpaper on the pole in the middle

I have been considering insulating the floor and the roof and get a fire stove in there, but I just really needed a fast place to stay, so I just moved in quickly to start with and hope to be somewhere else in winter (still don't know where, but we'll see!).
It could be a possibility, still, to insulate this house and make it more livable, but for a quick summer house, I am pretty happy about it.

I don't have water and electricity, but have some glass bottles with taps that I fill up from our main tap, and it works just as well. I have a little solar charger for my phone.
For now I just cook with a trangia kitchen - but cook bigger meals in our communal kitchen with gas or fire. And for toilet I use our simple compost toilets.

Now I have a base from where I can start creating my real home!

Thank you for reading and visit my patreon if you want to read more about what I am doing in this forest!

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Wow. You did good, what a big change. Looks awesome. Upvoted and followed. Cant wait to see updates on your progress.

I saw your post (months ago?) when you first got there and were not sure how everything would go. Now you have a beautiful home in a green paradise that your kids will have amazing memories of. I am hoping you find a way to winterize it and just stay there. It looks so peaceful, light, open, and welcoming. I hope good things turn up at the recycling center so you can enjoy this lovely space full time.

Thank you! Well yes it is still very primitive, but we will get there one day and enjoy the simple things!

This is awesome!!! And so wonderful! You are an amazing person to be doing all this and helping to build an eco village. The world loves you!

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thank you! 🤗❤❤❤

Do you know how big you are? Seeing how you build your future is valuable to many, to your loved ones and i think that the progress of a person is exciting. Really, congratulations with this project and I hope you continue growing as a man! Greetings and blessings ♡

Hehe, would be fun if I grew into a man, but I plan to stay as a woman ;D but yes, I am definitely growing in many ways with this project <3 Thank you

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it's a wonderful project !! many talk about ecology and saving nature but you are really trying it !! beautiful your home recycled, original and welcoming !! and all the details you found for free make us understand that you don't need much for nice things !! congratulation .-))

Thank you! Yes we really live in abundance, there is enough for everyone - people fight over small things while they throw away with the other hand..!

yes, I really don't understand what certain people are looking for in excess of luxury and futile things. I really admire you for your simplicity and creativity! keep on :-))

WOW!! Thats awesome! :) :) :)

Wow.; honestly saying I would like to come and visit there and stay for few days. Full marks to your project from the introduction itself when it is mentioned that it is eco friendly. That is great way of making an example to others. And if it was just a blog it was hard to believe or no one could realize how much harwork you might had put there to make it but the photographs are self explanatory to understand it..

I loved that candle light picture ambience and it is your own property how can you make it as business start up by making few more huts like this and offeering for tourists though I dont know much about the place and location. It is just a suggetion.

Making such a home in a really interior village to stay few days in a year is my dream to...

Thank you, Cheers

Thank you!
You are more than welcome to come by anytime :D And the island is a popular tourist destination, so that is definitely not a bad idea (and one we thought about too)

Thanks for the invitation and I will keep this in my bucket list of places that I am planning to visit, Hahaha... And good to hear that it is already a tourist destination and go ahead with your plans, it would be a success for sure..

Damn - I am totally loving your courage and energy, woman! Such an amazing space. Your Temporary" kitchen looks like many permanent Thai kitchens, with the added improvement of being inside.

The not insulated thing gonna bite when it's cold, but there are so many temporary ways of doing that with recycled materials. It's exciting to be somewhere temporarily while you create and manifest your ecovillage vision.

Have you been following @eco-alex with his AMAZING earthship series? It's truly incredible what he's doing in terms of alternative building - the man has KNOWLEDGE and EXPERIENCE on this like no other!

Hoping to see oyu back in the @naturalmedicine zone sometime soon. :)

Best regards, as always, from Northern Thailand.

Thank you! I actually wanted to make an outside kitchen, but ended up making it inside, since I am outside almost all the time 😂
Oh yes, I haven't read enough of @eco-alex's wisdom, I should take a longer look in there, cause I really want to learn and build these things myself! This is just a temporary base!
But I have very limited internet connection so it's hard to be everywhere, but I hope I can participate more in near future

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