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!