Desert Builder uses "Dirt, Sticks, and Salvage" to craft his Tiny House Creations

Want to get a glimpse of a few building practices and approaches you might never have considered when building your tiny house or off grid homestead? Check this one out- its loaded with a tours of not one, but SEVERAL desert builds- and all ones that were built from, well, local dirt, sticks, and upcycled materials. 

Meet Richard Ward from Terraform Together based out of Bisbee, Arizona. Richard, a longstanding dweller and member of the tiny house scene, has been hard at work on his off grid desert property that he purchased only a few years ago. As you'll see in this video, with the aid of some friends and willing students, Richard has created quite the desert homestead- one that includes (as you'll see in this tour) several earth built structures, and even a buried school bus guest house that serves as a student dorm. If you're into hyper adobe, earth bag building, solar power, mud construction, or looking to learn the ways of "building with what you have on hand", this one might be up your alley. Richard is very immersed in the world of reuse, salvage, and employing secondhand materials into his work, and you'll see plenty of that here! This video might give you a few ideas for your own builds, off grid homes, bug out shelters, budget building, tiny homes, Cobb building, and for desert living in general (reuse, recycling, repurposing, and salvaging in dwellings and buildings) #offgridliving #offgridhome #deserthomestead #homesteading

They turned a SILO into a GORGEOUS Tiny House

    This is certainly one for the repurposing fans, and if you give the video tour a look (Thanks to Michael Hicks of the "Mike Does" channel on Youtube for the guest tour) you will see quite a few very cleverly thought-out hacks and repurposing approaches. The decor in this tiny house or tree house is also pretty stunning. If you like funky "flea market chic" and eclecticism then this one might be for you. It's also an Airbnb rental under the name "The Sassafras Treehouse", and it is certainly a place I would love to see in person at some point. Its a no-brainer- this one combines my love of tree houses, tiny houses, and reused and salvaged materials- all of which combine to make this such a unique and attractive build. 

Be sure to check out the very creative Murphy bed, or "Captains Bed" that was custom built for this rental- also the old piano that they turned into an electric fireplace! So many upcycling ideas in this one! 

How to make DIY Mud Walking Shoes- they're called "PATTENS"

     For all your explorers, seaside and swamp mudlarkers, and even those willing or wanting to traverse muddy territories (say, for instance, while looking at a parcel of land before buying it), these super easy DIY mud walking shoes might be right up your alley. 

These were recently featured on my OTHER YouTube channel "Streets Shall Provide" (please check it out and Subscribe!) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ePK6dw_7L5dlmkGZ5vVnw

Here's what went down. Enjoy. 

These are FUN to use, but being a pretty big guy, as you'll see, mine might need to be a little larger so as to work more effectively. 

And...

Our real-deal TINY HOUSE feature film is done! The Debut..

Yes, its true. 

Yes, it took five years of planning, building, filming, and editing to complete. 

YES- Our tiny house film is done and we have now announced our VERY FIRST PUBLIC SCREENING!

Ticket Link: https://stayvocal.com/collections/events/products/ti20220714

Aside from our full length feature film you will also get admission to the Fuller Craft Museum, AND get to tour the very house that the film is based on. 

Oh yeah, BOTH directors/builders (myself and Alex Eaves) will be there to do a QnA afterwards. 

Its a GREAT venue- half the proceeds benefit the museum and there will be MANY on hand from the tiny house scene to hang and schmooze with. Come join us! 

Press/questions- kidcedar@gmail.com ("Attn: Tiny House Movie")

Giant Robot Tree House w/a Mustache? Live Build Workshop!

                          ASMR style Tree House Concept Sketch Video- Why The Heck Not? 

A few have asked in the past, so I decided to film a real-time design-process video on the planning and brainstorming phases of a tree house we just might tackle at a workshop (fully hands-on) happening in New Market, Alabama on May 14th and 15th this year (2022). This video talks about quite a few money saving and time saving approaches when it comes to actually building your backyard tree house or clubhouse/tree fort. Ya' just may get some new ideas from it. 

And these are definitely NOT Pete Nelson style tree house builds for $200k. LOVE that dude and his work(!), but this is the lo-fi budget and 101 approach to things which ALSO ties into a lot of tiny house building and framing too (we'll also get into that!)

                           And if you'd like to join us for the full weekend workshop, check it out! 

Alabama Hands-On Tree House and Tiny House Workshop- May 14-15, 2022! JUST announced

A Tree House and Tiny House Building Workshop in Alabama? 

A recent budget tree house build of ours in Massachusetts- Design and photo by Derek "Deek" Diedricksen

Yes, its true- we ARE heading down to Alabama (the town of New Market) to host a small, intimate, hands-on tree house building workshop- where we'll also cover many things "tiny house"- with live framing demos, YOU actually building, discussion sessions, and more! Its a fun weekend, a great chance to network, and you'll have PLENTY of time to ask questions one on one (so come armed with tons of 'em!). 

When: Saturday May 14th and Sunday May 15th

(THERE IS ALSO a separate-ticket movie screening event this weekend too (Sat night)- with a QnA from the directors and builders (link below)

TWO full days or fun projects, learning, actually building a tree house, learning to frame, and more. 

Limited to 16 students only. 18+ 

Hosted by Derek "Deek" Diedricksen (former HGTV and DIY Network host and designer and author of the bestseller "Microshelters" and "Micro Living"). Deek has been building tiny houses, cabins, and tree houses for three decades now. 

We taught cub scouts(!) to build this little hobby cabin/guest shack! So yes, YOU can do it! 

AND JUST ADDED/CONFIRMED:

Alex Eaves- Reuse Expert, Tiny House Dweller, Director of the tiny house film "Box Truck Film- A REUSEful Home", and founder of Stay Vocal Apparel. Check out HIS home at http://www.BoxTruckFilm.com 

You will be building alongside these two all weekend at LEIGH ACRES! A super funky and fun event space where you'll see everything from converted horse trailers (into a rental cabin), to a vintage caboose and more. This place is loaded with cool art too! 

FOR MANY, MANY MORE DETAILS ON WHAT WE'LL BE DOING AND COVERING

CLICK HERE

Questions/sponsorships (wanna be in all our posts, on the flyer/poster and more, get mentions in videos on our YouTube channel, and more?)- kidcedar@gmail.com 

New Market, Alabama and this tree house and tiny house workshop is located smack between several large cities- Atlanta, Georgia- Chattanooga, Tennessee- Birmingham, Alabama- Nashville, Tennessee- Huntsville, Alabama..... 

(For those looking for/into: Alternative building techniques, salvage and reuse, architectural salvage, cabins and camp construction, building for less, recycling, tree forts, building with salvage, and budget building)

Two young women build a great little A frame cabin- on the cheap!

 Here is another build from the plans I devised and offer up on this very site (click on the "workshops" banner that is on the top of almost every page for more on it). 

In this case, the "Transforming A Frame Cabin" was tackled by two sisters, and they were kind enough to share their video tour of their cabin build with us tiny house addicts on my YouTube channel. 

We have almost SIX HUNDRED tiny house, tree house, cabin, cottage, and studio/she-shed video tours and DIY build overviews up now on "RelaxshacksDOTcom"- one of the first tiny house related YouTube channels ever. We're not the biggest, but we're still out there duking it out and filming- and having fun with it. We also touch upon off grid living quite a bit as well. 

Be sure to check out the channel and subscribe if you haven't

We have OTHER cool A-Frame Cabin build tours on the channel as well! 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eos7d1rshlk

Also- keep checking our workshop link as we do have a hands-on tiny house and tree house building workshop coming up in Alabama in May (2022)- Space will be limited. 20 is our max so as to ensure you get lots of hands on and building experience! 

And more from these two women at http://www.shelbyshack.com 

Small House meets ASMR Graffiti Art Makeover Video.....

 This one is certainly different for this site, but in the spirit of low-budget, DIY, home decor, and well, thinking outside the box, I figure that this video might intrigue some of you (and scare the hell out of the rest of ya). Enjoy. 

"Come on up to New Hampshire and graffiti the heck out of this kids bedroom for us, would ya?". And so I did. The room you'll see is part of a REALLY COOL Keene, NH airbnb listing that is entirely art themed in that each room focuses on different artists (one being me- @DeekDiedricksenart ). After this all went down (I did everything you see in a day) I later ended up getting Covid (the Omnicron variant- fun!) and while in "basement quarantine" I stumbled across a series of ASMR relaxation videos that I got sucked into. I then realized that this here film (which I originally intended to release in sped-up "time lapse" format) was pretty interesting and relaxing in its real time mode- at least I felt so. Whatever the case, it was a free form graffiti art project that through the narrations, gives a little insight into what I was thinking (and wasn't thinking) at the time. Everything you see is spur of the moment and unplanned. I hope you find it fun! (file under: painting, street art, punk rock art, mural painting) #bostonartist #graffitiart #kidsbedroommakeover #outsiderart #monstersandrobots

@DeekDiedricksenArt

Tiny House Fixer-Upper for Sale- only $4k!

Its rare that you'll see a tiny house for sale for so little (even one in rough shape). I mean, even the lumber alone these days is worth a small fortune, never mind the time and labor. Well, here is a 14' by 8' tiny house on wheels (not road worthy) that is up for sale in Pembroke, MA that DEFINITELY needs A LOT of work. Question is: Could it be worth it? It is a cute little cabin (with a composting toilet, loft, and small kitchen space) that would certainly give you a jump on things/tiny house living, but you'll definitely need some know-how and elbow grease to finish this one and bring this little home to life. On the other hand, if fixed up, it could make for a cool little backyard rental, guest house, art studio, yoga space, or she-shed. Some of these airbnb's and hip camp rentals bring in a small fortune these days so it would be something to consider. 

Whatever your take on it, check out this video for more. 

If interested in purchasing it- contact the owner here- Wildirishfarms@comcast.net

Desert Glamping Tents- could YOU live in one full time tiny house style?

     Dustin and I recently got back from hosting another hands-on build and design workshop in Twentynine Palms CA (the group was AWESOME!!!) and while we were there we also had a chance to camp out/stay at this GREAT glamping rental spot called "Heavenly Cielito". Check out the video and see for yourself how very cool this spot was! Question is- how many of you could live in a tent like this full time? Or even seasonally? The particular tent we stayed in about approximately 12' wide and 16' long- 192 square feet- larger than some tiny houses I've been in.