Last weekend, we attended the Little House Construction Workshop in Portland, Oregon. In this article, I’ll talk about our journey to Portland, what we did in the workshop and the good humans we met along the way.
Background
Dee is my tiny house hero. You’ve probably heard about Dee’s tiny house adventures. She’s been interviewed by NPR, Good Morning America, MSNBC, and a variety of other local media outlets about her experiments with voluntary simplicity. She built her tiny house for $10,000 in about 3 months, using mostly recycled building materials.
Katy Anderson rocks. She’s been in the trades for over 20 years and defines her work as “Finish Carpentry”. Katy recently graduated from a two-year program at the School of the Redwoods in Fort Bragg, California. It was great talking with Katy about her experience and her future plans. Right now she’s designing her own Portland green home. The trailer we started construction on at the workshop was a space Katy planned to use as a mobile office.
Logan and I have been pondering building our own tiny home and this was the perfect opportunity to learn from two experienced builders.
Driving and Thoughts to Ponder…
Our drive to Portland was fast and fun. It was long, but well worth the time, energy, and money. Plus, the scenery was fabulous. I still am in awe of Oregon’s greenery.
Our trip to Portland woke me up. Meeting Dee was really a dream come true. I can’t express how much I admire Dee; she is truly kind and generous.
Workshop Fun
The class was held in a local Portland residence and was the perfect location for a small workshop.
I loved the structure of the class; it was all about active learning and contained an incredible amount of valuable information. We learned about general construction techniques, how to stay safe with power tools, discussed building codes and built the foundation of a tiny mobile office.
It was great to see two amazing women leading the workshop. I’ve always been scared to use power tools, but I walked away from the workshop feeling confident. I think Logan and I could build our own tiny home. We still need to do more research, find the time and people to help us. Even if we don’t build the home ourselves, the workshop equipped us with basic knowledge that will help us if we hire a contractor. And I can start scavenging for materials to use in our tiny home.
We didn’t talk a lot about design and that’s okay because I was more interested in learning about construction basic’s. But Dee did mention the importance of design and considering your needs. She recommended Jay Shafer’s workshop for learning about design and material choices.
Logan and I have been bickering about the style of our tiny house. So we both really enjoyed Dee’s analogy of tiny homes to clothing. She mentioned how important it was to “try on” different styles to see if they fit your body type and personal habits. I lean toward a house design similar to Dee’s and Logan is more partial toward the Naked Galapagos.
Dee’s main message was to start talking about these things now rather than waiting until the building starts.
Dee’s House
The house Dee built is absolutely beautiful. The home’s details and clever space adaptations were breathtaking. Dee is an amazing, energetic, and beyond generous person. She let us stay the night in her little home on Saturday and it was perfect. Her home was comfortable and cozy.
Now that we’ve actually stayed in such a small space, I know we could live in one. It was a great experience to try on the little house to see if we actually fit! We definitely want to incorporate sky lights, similar to Dee’s, in our tiny home. The skylights opened up the space tremendously and allowed the morning light to wake us.
Sunday Walking and Talking…
Sunday morning we woke up to a beautiful cool, crisp day. We glanced at twitter on our phones to see that our friends in Sacramento were talking about a record breaking heat wave and we felt even luckier to be in Portland. Before we drove back home we took a walk through the neighborhood and down to a local coffee shop. When we returned we got to talk with Dee and finish up our coffee. I wish we could have stayed longer. Portland is an incredible city and we met some really amazing people.
Future Workshops?
I don’t know if Dee and Katy are planning on hosting more workshops. I’m hoping they do because the workshop was informative and empowering. If you have the money and time, I highly recommend signing up for their next class. Learning about construction techniques, tool use, and connecting with fellow tiny house enthusiasts was incredible.
Thank you Dee and Katy!
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
That looks like a fun time. Glad you got to go. I didn’t realize you’d even get to try one on for size! That is awesome!
Thanks so much for the beautiful pictures and informative post! Glad you both had a great time. Being able to try out the tiny house and knowing for sure that you will both fit must be such a relief. Thanks again!
Thanks everyone for your sweet comments! And thank you so much for reading the blog.
I really appreciate it. Hugs…
Thanks for sharing about your experience! I’m so glad that you were able to go and even spend a night in a tiny home. How exciting! Can’t wait to hear more about it.
Really nice entry and great photos. It looks like a lot of fun. I’m so glad you guys were able to go!
RE: Future workshops:
Via email Dee told me she and KT are planning more workshops and plan to make little improvements to the format based on feedback. I suspect they will get better and better over time.
I suggested setting up a website to post her workshop info but I suspect she’ll just email me again and all of us tiny house bloggers will be her marketing engine. Really happy to help spread knowledge and advertise workshops. So (everyone) just keep your eyes on all our blogs (like Rowdy Kittens) for news of the next workshop.
RE Building:
It’s exciting to hear how the experience helps you and Logan feel more empowered to build your home yourself. Building a small house can be done by most anyone especially if you take it slow and find experienced help. It is not out of most people’s reach and a ton of money can be saved. The real cost is time. Storing the collected scavenged building material can be tricky too.
RE Oregon vs. Sacramento:
The main problem with Sacramento is that it gets very hot in the summer and so staying cool in a tiny house may be a challenge… although see the little evaporative cooler John Wells build from of odds and ends at The Field Lab.
The main problem with Portland is that the wet overcast weather tends to take some getting used too. I liked in Eugene, OR for a year and it was rough on me having just come from the Southwest. But other than that Portland seems like an ideal place to live in a tiny house. Lots of rain too and if climate warming continues should just have nicer and nicer weather.
…and finally if pry into my paranoid future prediction mind I’d have to say that both cities should be fairly OK after peak oil since they are near farmland (food source). If peak oil predictions are correct people living in cities like Los Angeles are going to have a much different experience getting things they need, like food and water.
RE Location:
The best part of a tiny house though is that they can be mounted on a trailer. If you need to move with the flow you can take your house with you. But ideally choosing a place to settle and buy land seems ideal.
Hey Michael – thanks for commenting.
I’m glad to hear Dee and KT are planning on hosting more workshops. I’d love to take a few more. Since we feel empowered to build our own place, we are going to start doing more research on building. I’d like to start scavenging for stuff as well. Right now we have some space to store building materials. But we can always store extra stuff at my parents place too.
RE Location – I agree with your comments about Sac and Oregon. I love the rain and cool weather in Oregon, versus the blazing hot Sacramento summers. Although the spring and winters in California are lovely.
Peak oil is something we think about frequently and will factor into our decision to either stay in CA or move out of state. But like you said, the beauty of a tiny home is that you can toe it anywhere you want.
Now we just need to build one!
I am SO envious that you got to spend the night in Dee’s home! Wish I could have been there with you. Thanks for the great write-up.
It was a fantastic time. I wish you could have attended! Maybe next time?
Hugs…
Evaporative coolers only work in the desert (low humidity environments).
Use one of those in your house in the South and you’d have water running down the walls … maybe even your own indoor rain storm.
Thx for a little more in-depth coverage of the workshop.
We really wanted to have more of an idea of what went on, but Tiny House Design didn’t say much or show much about it.
awsome! im glad to see the work shops getting popular. I believe in this movement as one of the answers to our economic situation. if anyone has been listening to the experts on the subject of the future of our economy they know the out look is grim. any job your lucky enough find will not be paying much and the cost for living in one of todays average homes is rising and will continue to rise.
people need to understand that this very thing is what will save us. the reinventing of America and the turning within for answers and solutions. WE ARE THE Answer! in some towns in America they have there own currency $$$. one thing we all need to keep in mind is we cannot let this new/old idea get into the hands of the big money people who are responsible for the problems we have to day. that will push this last hope of survival away from the average person.
dee spent only $10,000 to build her home, using some high quality materials…we need to keep the cost down so every one can afford to build one. eventually more countries will have to set aside land zoned for tiny homes because of the overwhelming demand…with out making the property too expensive for people to afford. the idea is to have your house and your property paid off in a short amount of time to have REAL economic freedom. life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I’ve herd that somewhere before…..
It was great to have a peek at the workshop experience. I’ve got to make a trip to attend something like that or find a way to learn hands on down here in Florida. Portland sounds so fun.
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