Hey Reader,

his week I had the pleasure of giving a guest lecture at the Yestermorrow Design Build School in Waitsfield, Vermont. The students there are immersed in a four-week tiny house design build course, where they not only design their own tiny houses but also work on constructing a movable one. My presentation focused on tiny house systems, drawing heavily from my flagship guide, Tiny House Decisions, to help steer them through their choices.

Going into the presentation, self-doubt gnawed at me. I couldn't shake the feeling that everything I was about to share was glaringly obvious and unnecessary. Surely, they already knew it all. But as the questions rolled in, I was pleasantly surprised. It served as a gentle reminder that I do possess a wealth of knowledge about tiny house systems.

Types of Decisions

I structured the talk around the significant decisions you'll face when building a tiny house, breaking them down into three categories: trade-off decisions, snowballing decisions, and financial decisions.

Trade-off decisions involve choosing one option at the expense of another. Since tiny houses are all about limits, many of your decisions will be trade-offs. For example, you could choose to use 2 x 6 construction in your floors to get more insulation down there, except that you’d have to subtract two inches of headroom from your loft to keep your house within the road-legal height!

Financial decisions hinge on cost differences between materials.

Snowballing decisions have long-term effects, like determining the size of your tiny house and what can fit where. Each decision gets buried in layer upon layer of new construction, making it hard to undo. Even more important is the fact that in a tiny house, where space is at a premium, once you locate one thing in your house (like where the couch will be), the rest of the layout becomes infinitely less flexible.

I'm proud to say that Tiny House Decisions remains an invaluable resource, even as tiny house designs and trends change.

Side note: If you're interested in snagging a discounted copy, just reply to this email with "I'm interested" and I'll send you a coupon code.

After my presentation, the students eagerly showed me their ongoing tiny house project, rekindling that Yestermorrow magic within me. It also reminded me how much I enjoy teaching and sparked thoughts about launching another round of Tiny House Considerations.

This week on THLP, we're revisiting a favorite interview with Chris Schapdick on building tiny houses that are easily towable. And if you haven't been listening to the show over the last month, now's a great time to catch up on past episodes. My interview with MJ Boyle was one of my favorites this year, and last week's guest Kaylee truly inspired me with her perseverance and determination to complete her tiny house project.

As always, I'd love to hear from you, so feel free to respond to this email.

Talk soon,

Ethan

This Week on THLP

The Allure of the Roadtrip: Building Towable Tiny Houses

Interview with Chris Schapdick

Lil Wing is a metal triangle on wheels with a putting green grass landing, and it was the most unique tiny house I saw at Big Mass Festival. The builder, Chris Schapdick of Tiny Industrial, specializes in smaller tiny homes that are easy to tow. In addition, he is the author of two books about tiny house living. In this conversation, we’ll cover the ins and outs of building towable tiny houses, why Chris decided to share his process on Instructables, and what we can look forward to in his book release.

In This Episode:

• From NYC suburbia to living tiny in upstate New York: Chris’s tiny house journey
• How Chris started building other tiny houses
• The challenge of sealing plywood
• Tiny House Industrial has offerings for every budget level
• Lil Wing design inspiration
• Why are the smaller tiny houses so appealing?
• The Oculus North tiny house
• Why Chris wrote The Joy of Tiny House Living

Don't forget to Follow the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Wherever you listen!​

She’s Building Her Tiny House Dream Against All Odds with Kaylee

Kaylee is a passionate advocate for the tiny house movement and a biology teacher with a deep interest in sustainable living. In this episode, Kaylee shares the inspiring saga of her journey building her own tiny house and how it reshaped her perspective on simple, ecological living. We'll dig into the challenges she faced from zoning laws to financial hurdles and how these experiences fueled her advocacy for tiny house legalization. Kaylee's story is not just about building a small home, but about building a life aligned with values of minimalism and sustainability. Join us as we explore the highs and lows of tiny house living and learn from Kaylee’s relentless pursuit of her dreams against all odds.

Listen At: https://www.thetinyhouse.net/kaylee​

Tiny House Decisions is my best selling guide to Plan, Build, and Live tiny. If you're concerned about the systems that need to go in your home, this guide will pay for itself very quickly becuase I lay everything out for you and make the decision making process easy!

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Learn More and Download Tiny House Decisions

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Talk soon,

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