Boston, MA resident and long-time tiny house designer, blogger, author, and youtube host Derek “Deek” Diedricksen, will be the host, designer, AND part of the building crew for an upcoming new HGTV show entitled “Tiny House Builders”. The show will debut as a sneak peak on Sunday, December 14th at 1pm. Deek, whose design work has been featured from The NY Times, to The UK Daily News, will also be featured (his second time), on a tiny house edition of ABC’s “Chronicle HD”, also slated to air soon.
“I think people are going to dig the HGTV episodes, or at least I hope so”, said Diedricksen, “We’re doing things the hard way, and at break-neck speed, and all off-grid too, in just four days- so its just absolutely grueling- but the end product in each episode is something I’m pretty proud of, and the builds and approaches are pretty darn unique. Best yet. I’m doing all this with a team I got to hand pick- all guys local to me. My brother Dustin is on my building crew and plays the occasional part of co-host, I have two long time musician friends and tradesmen in Jim Shippey and “Creature” (from the musical act “Woodland Creatures”), and I brought in this guy Phil Laplante, a New Hampshire resident, who is just as positive and entertaining as they come. He was my back-up carpenter on another string of online episodes I did for HGTV and The DIY Network in 2012. He never got ANY screen time, per contract, and I thought it was insane- the guy’s just great- so I brought him on board. Melissa Teper, aka “DJ Melissa”, from my FM radio dj days at 104.1 WBCN Boston (Deek’s CBS co-host for two years), and this guy we call “Johnny Milwaukee” (Jon Lyman) round out the cast. I told HGTV that I didn’t want any wimps, supermodels, or high-maintenance mirror addicts, and they were cool with it. So if you’re looking for Brad Pitt attempting to wield a hammer with slow-motion hair flips, or Heidi Klum prancing on a beach, sorry, we can’t give you that.
“Tiny House Builders” is a one hour program and the initial episode was filmed in Lunenberg, MA, with, as Deek reports, deep, deep, in the woods. “If they pick up more shows, beyond the pair we’ve delivered so far, I certainly would want to build something in my own town, and my hometown in the Connecticut, so that’s something I would push for. I have a few ideas I want to pitch already, as honestly, if it were up to me, I’d build and shoot everything very locally- less of a commute, I love my town, and I wouldn’t have to be away from my family for long periods of time. We’ll see where the show takes us though, and heck, if it doesn’t take off, I have so much going on with my next book (“Microshelters” via Storey Press- Sept ’15), custom tree house and backyard office builds, and my hands-on design workshops around the US, that I’ll just focus more on those instead. I also want to do more with my painting and art, in fact, I have a few long-brewing ideas for the ailing downtown center of my town and even started up a facebook page to try and spread some of these possible revitalization approaches.
In episode one, as Deek has shared with us, “We’re building a seasonal cabin in the woods for a family, but one that’s part tree house, that straddles a stream, and that has a glass floor, among other things. Episode two will move into a more traditional tiny home in that it is fully insulated, and with all the amenities.
Deek currently has a book out titled “Humble Homes, Simple Shacks” available on amazon.com, and runs he blog www.relaxshacks.com, as well as the youtube channel “RelaxshacksDOTcom“.
Deek will also have a small, intimate, hands-in workshop in his art studio (hands-on), in mid January- a one-day workshop focusing on tree house building, but with tiny house design and discussion worked in. This will be a full day workshop, with another to closely follow. For more information, check out his blog www.relaxshacks.com for upcoming details, which will be posted soon. This workshop will be limited to twelve students.