Dan Osterman— AI Product Engineer & Creative Technologist

The drive and the build

From San Francisco to the porch light. Scroll to follow along.

The Tiny Home

We left San Francisco during COVID, drove across America, and found a piece of land out in the country. Then my partner and I built our home by hand, learning as we went.

Built by
Dan Osterman, with my partner
Site
Rural America
Year
2019–2026
  1. 01Leaving San Francisco
  2. 02Across the country
  3. 03The site
  4. 04Delivery day
  5. 05The build-out
  6. 06Bathhouse and utility room
  7. 07Living in it
Porch endLong sideWidthHeightLengthMetal roofOctagon windowEntryPorchCedar postBathhouseCedar sidingStarlink dishUtility roomWindowsPorch

Part one

The drive

Leaving San Francisco

Where we started. We left during COVID.

The Golden Gate Bridge from the headlands, under a clear blue sky
01.1Nov 2019The Golden Gate
A San Francisco street at dawn, seen over the steering wheel
01.2Aug 2019The city from the driver’s seat
01.3Oct 2019The coast road, above the fog
The Golden Gate Bridge framed by a sea cliff, from the beach
01.4Nov 2019The bridge from the beach

Across the country

From the coast to the country. Keep scrolling to drive.

A gravel road through the trees at sunrise
02.1Aug 2020First light on a back road
02.2Sep 2020Moose on the hillside
The sun setting into the ocean from a dark headland
02.3Oct 2020The sun going down over the Pacific
02.4Oct 2020Last light on the coast
A small tent and a camp chair beside a station wagon with a rooftop tent, on a bluff by the sea
02.5Oct 2020Camp, wherever we stopped
02.6Oct 2020Blue hour
The station wagon with its rooftop tent parked on red dirt below a layered red-rock mesa
02.7Apr 2021Red rock country
A straight highway running toward a snow-capped volcanic peak
02.8May 2021Snow on the peaks
A long wind-turbine blade on a truck in the oncoming lane of a two-lane highway
02.9Jun 2021Sharing the road
02.10Jun 2021Turbine blades, headed somewhere

Part two

The build

The site

Bare ground, before anything arrived.

A leveled, timber-edged gravel pad in a grassy yard, the sun flaring through the trees
03.1Sep 2021The pad, squared and leveled
An open field under a blue sky, edged by pines, with the photographer’s shadow in the foreground
03.2Mar 2020Where it started
An empty, freshly mown yard with a few outbuildings in the distance
03.3May 2021Before anything arrived
An orange tractor with a backhoe digging out the ground for the pad
03.4Sep 2021Digging in

Delivery day

The shell comes off the trailer. Scroll to play it.

04.1Oct 28, 2021The shell comes off the trailer
The cedar shell lifted on a tracked mover, being walked across the yard to its pad
04.2Oct 28, 2021Walked into place
The shell set down on its pad with a covered front porch, under a big blue sky
04.3Oct 28, 2021Set down, porch and all

The build-out

Making a shell into a home. Drag across to compare.

The front-door end of the house, looking from inside, before
The front-door end of the house, looking from inside, after
05.1Oct 2021 → Nov 2026The front door, bare framing to home
Someone in a protective suit fitting insulation between the wall studs
05.2Nov 2021Insulation, wall by wall
Hardwood boards laid out across the subfloor while the floor goes down
05.3Dec 2021Laying the floor, board by board
05.4Nov 2021Hanging drywall

Bathhouse and utility room

The parts nobody thinks about until they need them.

The bathhouse with its freestanding tub, before
The bathhouse with its freestanding tub, after
06.1Dec 2025 → Jul 2026The bathhouse, drywall to done
06.2Dec 2021The bathhouse arrives
The grey bathhouse with white doors set beside the cedar house
06.3Dec 2021Set beside the house
06.4Jan 2022The wood furnace

Living in it

Measure, cut, fit, live in it, revise.

07.1Nov 2026Home
The house at night with its porch light on, woodsmoke rising into a moonlit sky
07.2Jan 2022Woodsmoke under the moon
A misty morning view from the porch over the patio, chairs and garden
07.3Sep 2022Morning off the porch
07.4Feb 2024Cedar and the octagon window
The bathhouse and the cedar house side by side, with a deck and a garden in front
07.5Jul 2026House and bathhouse, today
A straight dirt road through a tunnel of bright green spring trees
07.6May 2022The road home in spring
A dirt road lined with red and orange fall trees under a big sky
07.7Oct 2022Fall, out in the country

Built by hand, and still being revised.

Contact sheet

Every shot from the road and the build, in order. Tap one to jump to it.

  1. 01.1The Golden Gate
  2. 01.2The city from the driver’s seat
  3. 01.3The coast road, above the fog
  4. 01.4The bridge from the beach
  5. 02.1First light on a back road
  6. 02.2Moose on the hillside
  7. 02.3The sun going down over the Pacific
  8. 02.4Last light on the coast
  9. 02.5Camp, wherever we stopped
  10. 02.6Blue hour
  11. 02.7Red rock country
  12. 02.8Snow on the peaks
  13. 02.9Sharing the road
  14. 02.10Turbine blades, headed somewhere
  15. 03.1The pad, squared and leveled
  16. 03.2Where it started
  17. 03.3Before anything arrived
  18. 03.4Digging in
  19. 04.1The shell comes off the trailer
  20. 04.2Walked into place
  21. 04.3Set down, porch and all
  22. 05.1The front door, bare framing to home
  23. 05.2Insulation, wall by wall
  24. 05.3Laying the floor, board by board
  25. 05.4Hanging drywall
  26. 06.1The bathhouse, drywall to done
  27. 06.2The bathhouse arrives
  28. 06.3Set beside the house
  29. 06.4The wood furnace
  30. 07.1Home
  31. 07.2Woodsmoke under the moon
  32. 07.3Morning off the porch
  33. 07.4Cedar and the octagon window
  34. 07.5House and bathhouse, today
  35. 07.6The road home in spring
  36. 07.7Fall, out in the country

My first house. Not my first build.

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