TH 101 in D.C. Recap

It was such fun to team up with the other members of the Tiny House Collaborative to the TH 101 Workshop in D.C. this past weekend for tiny house curious folks! Vina and I arrived in D.C. on Thursday evening and since this is the first time we've pooled our materials to teach a workshop together as the Collaborative, we spent most of Friday ensuring that our curriculum was ready to roll.

Saturday we greeted our participants (most of whom arrived early because they were so eager to get started!) and got started with our sessions. We talked about our inspirations, the benefits of going tiny, big considerations, and regulatory issues as well as exploring design considerations and project planning. On Saturday evening we had a happy hour so people could ask additional questions and share more about their specific situations.

Yesterday we started out with tours of two tiny houses: Lee's Tiny House and Jay's Tiny House. (If you want to see them for yourself, be sure to attend the Tiny House Tours on April 17th!) I'd never visited either tiny house before even though I've known Lee and Jay for a while now. Jay and his sweetie came to visit me and The Lucky Penny in Portland last year so it was great to see them again and swap tiny house tours. I love how creative Lee was with use of her space, including multi-functional furniture, a tuck-away ladder, and pops of color that bring her house to life. Jay's house is a masterpiece of intentionality, with a fabulous map of places he's been, a spot for his bike, a minimalist wardrobe, and even room for a power tool or two! I loved his plastered walls and picked his brain about them. I'm more eager than ever to give plaster a try in T42!

Back at the Thurgood Marshall Center, we recapped our tour topics: trailers, building the box, systems, and building science basics. Then we played with tiny house design and had another round of Q & A before bidding everyone farewell amidst lots of hugs and handshakes. We're honored to have been part of the tiny house journey for this great group of people and we look forward to seeing what they do over the next couple years!

If you'd like to join us for our next Tiny House 101 Workshop in Portland, OR, please mark your calendar for the weekend of July 2-3 and stay tuned. Registration will open soon!

Tiny House 101 & Tiny House Conference

Hooray! Today a new adventure begins!

I'm headed to Washington, D.C. this morning to co-teach a Tiny House 101 Workshop with the other fine folks of the Tiny House Collaborative. We have a nearly full house and it's going to be fun to share our tiny homes and our lessons learned with the workshop attendees as we help them noodle through some of the major considerations for their own tiny homes. We'll be doing sessions about inspiration and aspirations, the tiny house lifestyle, systems (including water, electrical, propane, etc.), trailers, project planning and management, and building basics. I'm especially excited to be doing a design session with Vina Lustado of SolHaus Design!

I've also never been to D.C. before AND it seems it will be peak cherry blossom time, so I've got to say that's pretty exciting as well. I've given myself an extra day in D.C. to explore the city after the workshop.

Then I'm going on a road trip. Most of my East Coast time has been in Vermont since I teach for Yestermorrow Design-Build School. So I'm really looking forward to traveling by car from D.C. to Asheville for the Tiny House Conference. The conference is the first weekend of April and I'm going to be sharing some design tips and tricks as well as leading an open space session. This will be my third year speaking at the Tiny House Conference and it will be great to see Ryan Mitchell and reconnect with these awesome speakers: Laura LaVoie, Matt LaVoie, Andrew Morrison, Lora Higgins, Ethan Waldman, and Zack Jones. (And I'll get to meet Jody Brady & Bill Brady, too!) Will YOU be there? I look forward to meeting you, too!

Let the adventures begin!

Tiny House 101 Workshop in Washington, D.C. in March

I'm thrilled to be teaching a Tiny House Workshop (TH 101) in Washington, D.C. this March through the Tiny House Collaborative. This workshop is geared towards the tiny house curious crowd. (We'll be teaching an intermediate tiny house course (TH 201) in Denver, CO following the Tiny House Jamboree in August, so if you're tiny house serious, just hang tight for more info on that!)

If you'd like to join us for TH 101 in D.C. in March, please register today!

Tiny House 101 includes 2 full days of instruction, interactive activities, and networking covering all the tiny house basics. Learn the basics of how to build a tiny house and decide whether tiny house living is for you.  In this workshop by members of the Tiny House Collaborative, you will have the opportunity to learn from experienced tiny house builders, designers and advocates.

Topics include:

• Intro to tiny houses & the tiny house movement
• Planning your build – budget, construction, DIY
• Tiny House Lifestyle
• Major Decisions
• Trailer or foundation built
• Framing & basic building techniques
• Plumbing, electrical & propane systems
• Toilet & gray water options – composting and more!
• Thermal envelope – insulation and ventilation
• Appliance considerations – recommendations for the best, no-hassle products
• Zoning issues, regulations – how and where to park or build
• Interior design for small spaces

Pricing:

• Standard Price = $399 per person or $700 for two people
• Early Bird Discount = $349 for Single Person or Two People for $600

If you'd like to join us for TH 101 in D.C. in March, please register today!