Category: Announcement

  • How Appendix Q Changes Could Give Tiny Homes a Clear Regulatory Path

    How Appendix Q Changes Could Give Tiny Homes a Clear Regulatory Path

    Professionals in the housing sector often find that regulatory language presents the most significant barrier to alternative housing.

    A recent episode of the Less House, More Resilience podcast explores this landscape in detail. Host Laura Lynch speaks with architect Macy Miller regarding an upcoming adjustment to the International Residential Code (IRC).

    The conversation focuses primarily on the IRC’s Appendix Q. This appendix currently omits language addressing the wheels and chassis of tiny homes. This omission historically places owner-builders in an uncertain legal position.

    Macy details the current effort to introduce performance-based and prescriptive proposals to address this specific gap. These proposals aim to provide a clear regulatory framework for local jurisdictions.

    The upcoming April code vote represents a concrete opening for the industry. Passing this language provides a practical pathway for municipalities seeking to expand housing options.

    The National Association of Home Builders has signaled support for the measure. If the vote is delayed, the next opportunity to adopt the language falls in the 2030 code cycle.

    Signing the Change.org petition is one way to support the measure before the April vote.

    Image: Tiny House Design by Michael Janzen with SketchUp Pro and rendered by Gemini Pro 3.1.

  • Clearing the Studio: Why I’m Retiring My 2008–2019 Design Archive

    Clearing the Studio: Why I’m Retiring My 2008–2019 Design Archive

    View the Archive: Full Tiny House Plan Set

    If you’ve been following my work since the early days (2008–2012), you know that I spent over a decade obsessed with solving the puzzle of tiny homes. I drew hundreds of concepts, thousands of blog posts, published books on tiny house design, and spent years arguing that 120 square feet was enough.

    Then, in 2019, I stopped.

    I stepped away from drawing in public to focus on my job in tech. It was a necessary break. But now it’s 2026, and I’ve felt a pull to the light.

    Before committing to that direction, retiring the existing archive makes sense.

    The “Smashing Pots” Philosophy

    There’s a traditional potter’s method of clearing the studio and mind — smashing pots. I smashed pots. It’s not a violent act — breaking the work resets both the space and the thinking behind it. and a clear head.

    That is what this post is about.

    I am officially retiring the tiny house design archive in 2026, closing out a body of work that has accumulated over the past several years. But to fully commit to that future, I need to let go of the past.

    The Final Send-Off

    I recently found my full archive of designs from an old computer that I thought had been lost. Rather than letting them sit in digital purgatory, I’ve decided to bundle them all together for one last “send-off.”

    The bundle marks the end of the first era of this work.

    Inside the Archive Bundle, you’ll find the work that defined my contributions to the first decade in the tiny house movement:

    • The “Mendocino” Series: Plans like the Anchor Bay, Potter Valley, Boonville, and Philo—named after the tiny Northern California communities that were a strong influence in my youth and where my grandmother’s cabin stood in Redwood Valley.
    • The Experiments: Designs like the Carrack and the Westport that tested the limits of scale.
    • The Library: All four of my design books, including the Tiny House Design System and the 1st Edition of Tiny House Floor Plans (no longer available in print).

    What Happens Next?

    I am keeping this bundle available for a short time only. Once I feel the “shelves are clear,” I will be permanently retiring these plans to focus entirely on the new 2026 concepts.

    If you are a builder, a builder, a researcher, or someone studying how a tiny house is assembled how a tiny house is assembled, I hope these serve you well. They were a joy to create, and I’m glad they are finding new homes before I turn the page.

    View the Archive: Full Tiny House Plan Set