What an awesome week it’s been at Yestermorrow, teaching and learning through the Tiny House Design-Build Certification! A big snow storm came through last night, so we’ve got about a foot on the ground and more still falling. This is a pretty darn cozy place to be snowed in! I’ve got some sweet rolls rising in the Yestermorrow kitchenette, so it seems like a good time to catch up on this past week.
So many amazing and funky houses on Prickly Mountain! Fun to see them on our field trip!
Although the students and my co-instructor Jussi had been at it for two weeks already, I found myself Jumping into Tiny House Design-Build Certificate 2025 at the beginning of week 3. On Tuesday morning we went up to the airport hanger, where we’ve got an enclosed spot to build through the winter. It was fun to see how far the team had already gotten the tiny house (framing done and sheathing started).
Here’s how far along the tiny house was when we showed up on Tuesday: floor, walls, and roof framed up and some sheathing started.
We picked up with sheathing and focused on that throughout the next couple of days. Along the way we also added blocking, cut out windows, taped the seams of our sheathing, and did some quality control (replacing nails that didn’t land in our studs and making sure we were following our nailing schedule). In the evenings some folks worked on their designs in the studio and some took advantage of down time.
Violeta (@thetinyvioleta) learned how to cut out windows with a reciprocating saw on Wednesday!
On Thursday the roads were icy enough that we decided to make it a studio day. I did a couple of presentations and people hunkered over their drafting tables, got crafty at the modeling station, or explored digital design tools. Thursday evening several of us and some folks from the Woodworking Cert headed to the sauna at Savu Madbush. Seeing others do it, I braved up for the cold plunge in the nearby river. How refreshing! After dinner we headed to Canteen for maple creemees. A couple people had never had a creemee before and introducing people to them is always a (literally) sweet experience!
Thursday night, after the sauna, we went to get maple creemees. Yum!
Friday we went on a field trip to see a couple of the units at the Dimetrodon. For those not acquainted, it’s a set of about 10 condos on Prickly Mountain that took advantage of some of the most interesting contemporary building materials of half a century ago (think plywood and plexiglass) to experiment with design and building strategies. They’re some of the funkiest, most fascinating spaces I’ve ever been in!
So fun to see two new-to-me units in the Dimetrodon!
What an awesome kiddo bedroom: up an alternating tread stair, through a trap door, with a sleeping nook up another ladder, and with portholes overlooking the area below!
The loop was too slick to drive, so we walked it, talking about the various houses along the way. The rest of Friday was a design day. We took a break to enjoy the perfect snow, make a snow person, and have a snowball fight.
We took a break to build a snow person and have a snowball fight. The snow is perfect for it!
I loved that since everyone is working on a different part of their project I was able to noodle through stairs with one person, talk about the entry sequence with another, consider what happens with circulation in another house if half of it flip-flops to the other side, and explore European tiny house trailer options.
Nick was noodling away on his ADU design in the studio this week!
Yesterday was a lovely, quiet, snowy Saturday so I did some bookkeeping catch up for 2024 and visited with the folks who were on campus this weekend. I look forward to seeing just how much it cost to turn my tiny house on wheels into an official ADU.
We are getting a big snow storm this weekend at Yestermorrow, so we’re staying cozy!
I’m also looking forward to our team moving along both the tangible house we’re building in the hanger and each of the individual projects they’re dreaming up over the next week. But right now it’s time for those sweet rolls!
I think it’s safe to say this week’s batch of sweet rolls (apple cinnamon with a drizzle of Vermont maple syrup) turned out pretty well!