We loved last year's Tiny House Conference in Asheville. This year, the Portland conference was another home run. Beautiful houses to tour (see below), tiny house enthusiasts and experts to chat with, great vendors sharing their wares and receptive audiences for our talks. New this year: I was on a panel of tiny house dwellers dishing on lessons learned living in compact spaces. Ryan Mitchell of The Tiny Life knows how to throw a conference. (Thanks, Ryan, for including us!)

One of the highlights for me is still touring the houses on site at the conference. The artistry as well as the practical solutions, the tried-and-true approaches and well as the creative takes on small living—I love it all.

At this year's conference, Covo Tiny House Co. blew me away with their technology. Bluetooth controls for just about everything in the house (lighting, heating and security included) aren't just convenient and cool, they're space savers. The Mio model we toured would make an amazing live/work space with its sit/stand work desk, built-in monitor and a slew of USB charging ports.

Two other on-site builders underscored the importance of a good foundation. For a THOW, that's the trailer its built on. Tiny Mountain Houses (TMH) and Seattle Tiny Homes (STH) offer trailers specifically designed and engineered for tiny homes. STH says their trailers offer DIY builders 18" more buildable space (which is huge when you're talking tiny). The company also sells complete plans, including materials lists and step-by-step guides. TMH trailer design allows the company to maximize interior height, so their lofts didn't feel like crawl spaces. TMH also made the case for RV certification (which their houses have) for insurance and parking accessibility.

When it came to sheer beauty, a few DIY houses on site were a joy to tour, including the Gypsy Caravan, Sanden House and Patrick's Tiny House. Here are a few photos from my tiny house touring.

Tiny house builder and dweller, writer, photographer and editor, Andrew Odom is a pioneer in the tiny house movement. In addition to living in small spaces with his family, Andrew blogs about the movement and edits Tiny House Magazine. He is the author of Your Message Here: Gaining Corporate Sponsors for Your Tiny House Project (2014) and How to Decorate the Tiny House (2013), as well as a contributor to the Turning Tiny (2016) anthology. Though in the midst of planning the first Tiny House NC Street Festival, Andrew generously took time to answer a few questions.

What brought you to the tiny house movement?

The short answer is that in 2009 my wife and I were looking for affordable housing. We were victim to the “American Dream” ethos. We found a home and were approved to buy it. However, I was working a dead-end job and she was working a seasonal position; we didn’t have anywhere near enough money for this little home. To combat our trepidation we started looking at non-traditional homes. That led us to everything from an igloo to an RV, a cabin kit to a tiny house on wheels. 

Your family has lived in more than one tiny dwelling. Can you tell us about your first tiny house? Did you design/build it yourselves? How long was the build and how long did you live in it?

Our first tiny house was 30’ long and was single level. We designed it as a napkin sketch based on what we needed to live. It was built on a salvaged Shasta RV trailer and took us nearly 14 months to build. We did all the labor except the metal roof. We had professionals install that. We lived in it for 2 years. 

You sold your tiny house a few years ago and bought a travel trailer. Was it a hard decision to let go of the house? How did life compare in a travel trailer? 

It was bittersweet, yes, because we put so much of “us” into our tiny house on wheels. However, we were ready to move on to the next adventure. We lived on the road for two years. I can’t possibly sum up in just one answer how life compares. I encourage folks to visit my Tiny r(E)volution website to read all about the similarities and differences.

Living "tiny" is about more than square footage, but your current 860-square-foot house wouldn't be considered "tiny" by purists. Still, you appear committed to the movement. Before we talk about the street festival, can you tell us about other projects you're involved with?

I am the Managing Editor for Tiny House Magazine. I blog weekly on Tiny House Listings and Tiny House Blog. I have two self-published books on tiny house sponsorship. I have been a keynote speaker or a featured speaker at a dozen tiny house festivals. I do about one workshop every two months or so. Plus, I am mentoring a local school system on building their own tiny house on wheels. I am all over the place!

Now, for the 2017 Tiny House NC Street Festival...what was the inspiration for this event? 

Passion for non-traditional houses and passion for the great state of North Carolina. 

Since this isn't being called a conference or a workshop like many other tiny house events, what can attendees expect to hear and see at the street fest?

Builders will have houses on hand. We will have a wealth of speakers. Vendors will be set up. It is truly  a celebration of tiny houses in North Carolina. 

Any unique features of the festival you'd like to point out? 

Perch & Nest Tiny Homes will be showcasing a Feature House, which means we will be putting their unique home on a city lot complete with landscaping, etc. We want to show what a tiny house on wheels would look like in a more traditional neighborhood setting. 

The festival is being held in Pink Hill, NC. It seems that North Carolina has become one of the nation's tiny house "hot spots." Can you talk a little about that?

I can talk a lot about that. *laughs* Our state is so dynamic. The western part is full of beautiful mountains. The central has some dynamic metro areas like Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham. The east coast is on the Atlantic Ocean. All between are beautiful farms. We are into agriculture as well as industry and technology. 

Visit the Tiny House NC Street Festival website for more information about the April 2017 event.

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Before we built our house with boards and nails, we built it over and over again in our dreams. I would literally go to sleep wondering about where to put the sink and wake up the next morning with a new idea for the kitchen layout. So when I met tiny house builder Robin Hayes and she gave me one of her construction pencils, I loved—and identified with—the words printed on it: "Dream big, build tiny."

That's Robin Hayes' motto. With more than 30 years of construction experience she can build the tiny house of your dreams...but what she enjoys more is teaching people to construct their own tiny dream houses. I've written before about Robin's workshops. She's holding the next one October 7-9, 2016, in Berryville, Virginia. Participants work on at least two tiny houses in different phases of construction, learning about framing, roofing, wiring, plumbing and more. Construction novices can arrive a day early for a Beginner's Tool Workshop. I don't know of a better way to learn the ropes.

We'll be stopping by the workshop to talk about our build and life in a tiny house. Get more information about the workshop at Build Tiny. And even if you can't make it to the workshop, keep dreaming big.

Photos by Thom Stanton, courtesy of Build Tiny.

Launched just last October, Driftwood Homes USA has already garnered attention for their sharp design and beautiful finishes. Simply Enough was fortunate enough to tour two Driftwood models at the 2016 Tiny House Conference in Asheville, NC. We loved their builds and knew we wanted to stay in touch. We asked Susan Gunyou, head of sales and marketing for Driftwood, to tell us a little more about their work.

Why build tiny?
There are so many reasons for people to consider building tiny from the economics to the freedom it allows. People are looking for ways that they can make their lives less complicated so that they have more time to enjoy life.
 
How many tiny homes have you built at this point?
We are in the process of building our third tiny home with several more in the design phase. Driftwood is a relatively new tiny home company since we just started building last October. Our parent company, Brighton Builders, is a custom home building company and serves as an inspiration for some of our tiny home ideas.   
 
Who's buying your builds? Couples? Families?
Our primary interest has been from couples, followed by singles and then small families. The age range has varied from early 20s up to 70s.
 
Have your clients asked for any particularly challenging custom design elements?
We haven't run in to too much that's exceptionally challenging yet. There is a plan we are working on that will have a rooftop porch accessible from the loft and the exterior. On our Indigo plan, we needed to work in the wheel well in the bathroom. It worked out great, though, because we ended up putting a shelf in the ceramic tile shower.
 
What are some space savers you've worked into your homes?
Some of the ways we have maximized the space have been to add recessed wall niches for storage, drop leaf tables, stair storage and a murphy bed that converts to a desk. Utilization of pocket doors and barn doors has also been helpful in conserving space.

Are there things you're doing differently now that you've built more tiny homes?
We learn something new with each plan that we build and design to make it more functional and efficient.  One area that we are adjusting is maximizing the best use of headroom for the loft and the area underneath.  We also continue to look for ways to take full advantage of any ways to provide extra storage.  

You can learn more about Driftwood Homes on their website, or by following them on Facebook. On the fence about going tiny? Ask for their free guide, "10 Reasons to Go Tiny."

Robin Hayes of Build Tiny doesn't just build tiny homes; she teaches people how to build their own. And everything in between. 

Hayes has been in the construction business for more than 30 years, building big and small structures. She's a Green-Advantage Certified General Contractor, Master Plumber and Master Gas Pipe Fitter. Just outside Berryville, Va., on her Two Filly Farm, she rents construction sites where people can build their own tiny homes, paying for as much help and consultation from Hayes as they want.

At semi-annual workshops, she leads attendees through the process of building tiny. Not just how-to lectures, these are hands-on affairs with instruction on everything from tool safety to design to construction principles. The next workshop's just around the corner: June 24-26, 2016.

At the workshop, participants will work on at least two tiny homes in progress. One, a 26' gooseneck-trailer model, has its framing in place; so, it's an opportunity to see the bare bones of a house and learn about  wiring, plumbing, roofing and siding a tiny house. Another house, further along in the construction process, will get a bathroom installed during the workshop. Time permitting, participants may help with construction of a subfloor on a third project.

We've had the pleasure of touring Robin's build space and talking to the participants at one of her workshops to answer questions about our own build. I can't think of a better way to learn the ropes of tiny house construction than at one of Robin's workshops. Get more information at the Build Tiny website.

Pictures courtesy of Build Tiny.

Ours has been a gradual downsize. From a house, to an apartment, to a studio. When we decided last year to build our own right-sized home, we toured a couple tiny houses, read articles, searched the Web and doodled countless designs on graph paper—but what really got us started was attending the 2014 Tiny House Conference in Charlotte, NC.

Ryan Mitchell of The Tiny Life has put on an annual conference for several years now. Last year's conference was in Portland, Oregon; this year's is in Asheville, NC. At his conferences, attendees can tour tiny houses, learn from experienced builders and glean invaluable information on products and techniques. We ordered our trailer from one of the conference presenters. We saw an alcohol-burning stove in action—and came home and ordered the same one. We learned framing options and talked about sustainability. Etc., etc., etc. We came home with the ideas and inspiration we needed to put our plan into action.

I'm happy to report that we'll be speakers at this year's Tiny House Conference. If you're thinking about making the move to a tiny house, I hope you'll join us in Asheville April 2-3. Bill and I will be discussing how to budget for and finance a tiny house as well as addressing the not-so-glamorous-but-very-necessary topic of composting toilets.

I've posted a few pictures from the 2014 conference below. If you have any questions about this year's conference, please send us a comment. Registration is open now; hope to see you in Asheville.