Violeta adds lap siding to the window sills so they slope away from the house
This past week of the Tiny House Design-Build Certificate at Yestermorrow flew by. We got so much snow over the weekend that we made Monday a studio day and everyone worked on their own designs. I shared information about small space appliances and fixtures and we discussed small space design tricks to make a small space more functional and appealing.
It’s always exciting to have the first piece of sheathing go on the roof because it makes the house feel ever more “real”!
This week we spent most mornings in the studio and most afternoons in the hangar, working on the tiny house. It was fun to see progress on both fronts. In the studio section drawings and little study models helped people visualize their spaces in all three dimensions. Elevations started appearing as people funneled their imaginations onto the page. Each tiny house took on more and more character.
How many people does it take to install a window? Well, when there’s learning involved, hopefully it’s everyone! Here we’re using a stretchy window flashing tape for the bottom of each window opening.
Meanwhile, in the hangar, we cut out the rest of the window openings and added sheathing to the roof. Taping continued on the Zip panels. The windows arrived earlier than anticipated, which was a happy surprise! Window lead times can be soooo long! So we added a little slope on the sill of each window and taped our window openings.
Everyone was pretty stoked on the day we got the first few windows in. It’s feeling ever more like a “real” house (wheels and all!)
Jussi demonstrated how to install and tape in a window and everyone had a chance to practice window installation. By Thursday, our final build day, all the windows were in and we had finished the detailing. Other than a temp door our tiny house was dried in, which was a great place for the project to be at the end of our certificate program.
The exterior of the tiny house will be finished by our incredible teacher’s assistant, Ezrie, and another Yestermorrow instructor who lives nearby. And it’s available for sale, so if you’re interested, reach out to Yestermorrow!
Violeta shared drawings, models, and context imagery for her tiny dream home on wheels, which she intends to build in Greece.
Presentation Day is always like a holiday for me. I wake up giddy and excited, eager to see what everyone has come up with. Trish, the co-instructor I’d tag-teamed the course with, came back for our reviews and we were joined by a couple of other Yestermorrow instructors and staff members, who provided feedback and ideas as students shared their models and drawings.
Adina showing off the colorful model she created to bring to life the the expressive drawings she’d created for her wee house.
After presentations we parted ways, with students promising to keep us posted about their progress. I’m guessing that by this time next year half of these projects will be spaces one could walk into!
Nick is eager to start his ADU project this spring and we’re all rooting for him!
I’m jotting this from the airport as I wait for my flight back to the west coast. Looking forward to being home again, but so delighted that I got to be at Yestermorrow to teach the second half of the 2025 Tiny House Design-Build Cert.
I’m also looking forward to my upcoming Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Design course, which is an online course, also through Yestermorrow. If you’re ADU-curious, please consider joining us!