Tiny House Research and Design Meetup

89 people RSVP'd to attend the Research & Design Meetup.

The DFW Tiny House Enthusiasts is clearly a collaboration of talent as evident by the three speakers at today's workshop located at the Roanoke Public Library. As if learning more about tiny houses wasn't incentive enough, they also gave away two Tiny House Jamboree tickets as door prizes to the audience. Guess who got to pick the winners... ME! I could feel the individuals in the audience using whatever psychic powers they had, silently commanding "Pick me!" ... "Draw my name!" That in conjunction with the full-on superhero stares directed my way was actually quite intimidating.

The three speakers today were Jet Regan, Cory Hagen, and Robert Horsley who each brought their own unique skills and experiences. (You can view all the presentations slides on Jet's website The Bookend Tiny House). The speakers covered a lot of basic information, defined terminology for a better understanding, and explored design concepts. They broke the presentations down into a variety of topics to provide a good cross-selection for the Q&A discussion.

Tiny House Research & Design Meetup

Jet uses her education and training in information technology and data research to provide useful tips and tricks for researching tiny house designs and inspirations. One new skill I learned was how to search for the original source of an image using Google Image search option (see slide 10 "Reverse Image Search"). Additionally, she's one of the best volunteer coordinators I've ever worked with and I look forward to working with her more.

IKEA Sink SketchUp by Cory Hagen

Cory studied architecture and design which is clearly visible since he seems to bleed design talent as demonstrated from his slides (see slide 28 "Going 3D"). I personally can't wait for him to teach a workshop on SketchUp. He started old-school with draft paper and expanded the design into 3D format. Even more enviable is that he taught himself by watching YouTube and reading tutorials. He recently contributed a SketchUp of the IKEA Lillangen Sink because the guy measures EVERYTHING!

www.horsleydesignstudio.com

Robert is the owner of Horsley Design Studio with years of experience regarding practical designs and construction. He's currently building his own tiny house. At the end of the presentations and Q&A, I was able to visit with Robert about some of the designs he presented, such as the use of alternating tread stairs (see slide 21 "Stairs VS Ladders VS No Loft"). I'd seen similar designs in Rockport, TX - but not in tiny houses. Rather they were design features of boats. Robert even said that seafaring vessels were some of the first tiny houses.

When looking for inspiration and space saving designs, I think it's important to not only look at tiny houses, campers and RVs but also maritime vessels. If you think about it, boats have utilized compact living designs since humans discovered how to cross vasts watery distances.

I highly recommend this presentation, whether you are exploring the idea of a tiny house, questing for the perfect tiny house design or even in the construction phase, because there's something here for everyone. Don't forget to check out the complete slideshow presentation.