Tiny House Podcast

Roger is on a mission literally from God. He’s going to heat every Tiny House with what he believes is the best heating source possible: wood. But he’s not stopping there. Roger dreams of Tiny House systems - heating, hot water, electricity and cooking - all centered around his invention The Kimberly wood stove. This week it’s hot in here, and it’s not menopause!

When Jewel Pearson designed her tiny house, she was committed to getting everything she wanted. The result is one of the most unique tiny houses you’re going to find. Not only does it have a walk-in closet, screened porch and Juliet Terrace, Jewel’s tiny house stands as a cultural icon of the movement. As one of the few African Americans living in a tiny house, Jewel continues her living her life on her terms, while doing what she can to give back to the community.

Tiny House Podcast hosts visit with Kim Kasl and her “family of four”. They live in a 267 square foot Tiny House in Minnesota. Rare in this world, Kim met her Husband Ryan in high school and has been with him ever since. Over their 10-year relationship, they lived in a variety of housing arrangements before focusing on being parents. Homeschooling, jobs, college debt and desires to spend more time living instead of “doing” lead to a wonderful solution: living in a tiny house. Today they lead lives of freedom, choice, adventure and experience. Be sure to check out the Tiny House website for show notes pics and more.

This week we visit with Jeff Wilson, aka Professor Dumpster. It all began when Jeff Wilson, a legit university professor in Texas, decided to simplify his life. Some may think he went too far, ending up living in a typical garbage dumpster. Not homeless, not jobless. By choice. That experience made Jeff a star of sorts. It also may wind up making him rich. For his experienced spawned what may be the first truly disruptive innovation in US housing.

We visit this week with Lee Pera, co-founder of one of the most famous tiny house communities, Boneyard Studios. The community was an iconic representation of building community with Tiny Houses right up until its transformation into something different than what it originally ways. In this episode, Lee waxes poetically on her own journey, the genesis of Boneyard, Leather and her latest joint endeavor the new Tiny House Collaborative.

Tiny House star and builder Derin Williams has been building Tiny Houses for some time. Famous for his super-high-end design and construction, Derin recently has been host of Tiny House Hunting and featured in nearly every tiny Tiny House publication. His company Shelterwise, a specialty Design-Build firm helping people create energy-saving and simplified living spaces, is famous for building custom tiny homes. Shelterwise is undergoing a transformation. Derin joined us to talk about his and his company’s future, his grandma and traveling to Africa to reset himself.

An extra crazy episode this week. Kristie Wolfe is on fire to explore all expressions of Tiny Houses. Beginning with her first tiny house in Idaho, she then built a Tiny Tree House in Hawaii even Thurston Howell, III would love. Next Kristie built a Hobbit Hole in Washington State. Happy with that work, she now plans to build an entire Hobbit community in the same location. An entrepreneur, proud Idahoan, and quite the builder, Kristie began her life poor with six siblings. Today, she’s living richly. Her income from her Tiny House enterprises are all she needs for a comfortable living she loves.

Lester Walker was into tiny houses before they were even called that. While humans were being blasted into space in tiny capsules, he wondered about similar spaces on land for living in. Then, 20 years later, Lester won a competition to design a 1500 square foot house. From there his passion caught fire. He wondered “why we can’t build smaller?”...for all kinds of reasons. He wrote a book, then another. Lester, who could be considered the grandfather of tiny houses, today runs his successful architecture firm with his son Jess. On this episode we blast through Lester’s love of tiny houses and how for a time they captivated his attention.

This week Tiny House Podcast interviews Brittany Yunker, owner of the Bayside Bungalow. Brittany’s tiny house was one of the first available for rent in the early years of the tiny house movement. As a result, many people ended up trying out Brittany’s tiny house to see if such a lifestyle would be right for them. Today, Brittany lives in a 900 square foot house with her boyfriend and enjoys sharing her tiny house with her renters. We take you behind the scenes of one of the first commercial tiny houses.

Owner of the nonprofit Lilypad Homes, Rachel is on a mission. An anthropologist, building contractor and designer, Rachel is pioneering at both the policy level and on the ground, empowering homeowners with more income by turning their spare rooms into separate rental units. Whether you call them Accessory Dwelling Units, Junior Units or Junior Mints, Rachel is on the move. And her moves are making serious waves, in Marin county for now and soon around the US.

Owners and designers of arguably the most recognized tiny house in the world, Andrew and his wife of 18 years Gabriella have built a tiny house niche for themselves. Having licensed their hOMe design to a commercial builder, the couple spends their lives on their five acre tiny house compound debt-free planning tiny house workshops and enjoying their debt-free life in a tiny house, a cabin for their daughter, a cabin for their son and a treehouse all on five acres in Ashland, Oregon. Eat your heart out Thoreau!

This week Tiny House Podcast visits Don Neimeyer and his company Story Coffee Company, likely the only coffee company in a Tiny House. Don has a passion for people that flows through another passion he has for coffee. Unlike many souls on the planet, Don has found a unique way of marrying his passions - serving people delicious, top flight coffee, and tiny houses. This is the story of Story Coffee Company, a story of a family inspired to live their dream, their way, in style, in tiny spaces.

This week our guest is Derek “Deek” Diedricksen creator of Relax Shacks, author, crazy man and self-admitted addict for building everything tiny. A successful icon of the tiny house movement, you could say Deek is the OG (Original Gansta) of the tiny house movement: he’s been building his creations since the early 80s! Derek’s a true artist. Not content to constrain what he does to tiny houses, his self-acknowledged ADD has kept him in the flow, building all kinds of creations, from small shacks, to full-on tree houses. Like all our shows, you’re going to love this one. Stick with us and hear “Deek” throw out a few rap lyrics too. Then, check out our show notes at tinyhousepodcast.com!

Former Parole Officer turned Program Manager Rahul Salazar runs Quixote Village, a unique permanent resident facility for the homeless. What makes the village unique is residents live in 30 tiny houses. Quixote Village grew from the vision of a self-governing community of homeless adults in Olympia, Washington. In addition to the 30 tiny houses, Quixote village comprises a large vegetable garden and a community building that contains showers, laundry facilities, a communal kitchen and living and dining space. Village residents moved into the Tiny House community from "Camp Quixote” a tent community nearby.

Ever considered living in a sewer pipe? After this episode you will. In this episode we speak with the creator behind the word’s first hotel where the rooms are fashioned from nine-ton (brand new) city sewer pipes. Affectionately called dasparkhotel, the hotel began as an hospitality experimental brainstorm of Andreas Strauss our guest on this show. An industrial designer and iconoclast, Andreas’ unique ideas and values fit perfectly with the Tiny House movement. Fast forward 12 years later, his unlikely experiment today draws people from all over Europe to see - and stay in - these tiny marvels. Would you spend three days living in a sewer pipe? We didn’t think so either. That is, not until we feasted our eyes on dasparkhotel. Tiny House Podcast goes international in this episode! Take a listen.

The Firebird not your ordinary tiny house. Eric Bohne is not your ordinary tiny house builder. More of an engineering artist, tinkerer and vastly skilled builder, Eric has created an unusual but highly functional design for a tiny house. We’re on the road (really just 10 miles from the THP studio) visiting the Firebird and broadcasting...or podcasting...from it’s creative innards. Awesome pics in the show notes. Take a listen

Today Tiny House Podcast hosts Michelle, Mark and Perry chat with Trevor Gay and Mary Benasutti from Heart Of It All. They live in a tiny house located in a unique situation: on a rescued animal farm. With monkeys, raccoons, peacock, horses, opossum and a menagerie of cats, the show goes off the rails….fast!

Carpenter, nerd, savant and maker of unquestionably the most beautiful and artistic tiny houses in the world, Abel Zimmerman and his crew at Zyl Vardos are the cream of the tiny house builder crop. Abel’s tiny houses look like blends of fortune cookies, boats and artistic flair, as unforgettable as they are eclectic. We snagged Abel for an hour to talk about where his inspiration comes from, how he became a tiny house builder and why, what does the future hold and what his family really thinks about making a living building art with his bare hands. Join us.

Unassuming and talented, Lina Menard is best known for workshops and consulting she offers people bitten by the tiny house bug. But enough of that! In this episode we break a secret Lina’s been hiding while we plumb the sexy depths of tiny house commune living. If you ever met Lina in person, here’s the side of her you never thought you’d see. Give this one a listen.

Gary Bute is a man on a tiny house mission.. He's on a personal mission to get all tiny housers to really think about S-A-F-E-T-Y when building that lovable little structure. Electric, gas, propane...many potentially dangerous things can lurk around each tiny corner. Builder...beware.  It’s a spookie, mookie, mirthy Halloween episode of Tiny House Podcast. Download it now, if you dare!