Mini Suburban Homes

This home is 300sft on the main floor, with the upper floor likely bringing the total to 600 or 700sft. The look and feel is that of a more standard suburban home (usually 1200-2000sft), but with a much smaller foot print. Single car garage, one full bath and one half bath, 3 bedrooms.

I like the uniqueness of this design, the main floor is 300sft, but with a bonus room over garage the total square footage is closer to 700 or 800sft. The only change I would make in hind sight is to take of the right corner of the garage and flatten it to match the property line making the house not quite so wide.

900sf Home Re-Model

Our home before the one we are in now was an old 950sf bungalow, it felt tight and cramped. We developed the basement to make more rooms (a bedroom, living room, guest room, laundry and bathroom)  for out family of 6 and the guests we often had staying with us.

But the Space was not truly that small, it just felt like it because the they fundamental layout was bad. The useless nooks, odd shaped rooms the poor traffic flow... There was lots of room if it could have been laid out differently. So over time I grew in my mind what I would do with the space if I could gut the place and start over with only a few fundamental structural peaces left.

This is the main floor of the home roughly, in of its self it is not to bad, but it is designed for a family of 3 or 4, not 6 or 8. And when the basement is developed the hole layout becomes much less practical.

So my dream reno of the place would place all the bedrooms downstairs, including a full bath and a half bath in the basement as-well. The upper floor is all open with a half wall around the stars and lots more windows. I think it would be a very lovely place to live. The living room is massive, and surrounded my 4 large windows to bathe it in sunlight. The kitchen which was good size before now is doubled in size, and the the dining room spans large enough for  a 14 chair table and has a buffet and drink counter on the side! I believe the amount of space gained would make the house feel much larger than many modern 2k sf two story homes.

Edit: Also, if a main floor half bath were a desired necessity, one could fit behind the fireplace in the center of the house.

Edit: I decided to make up a posable basement to match.  The bathroom situation is flexible, I chose this bathroom layout because of ow many people can fit in all these bed rooms splitting this up like this just makes sense for efficiency. Of-corse, a more standard bathroom situation is also totally posable. There is lots of room for a master off suit with shower and a laundry/bath room with tub if that was what was desired. The bedrooms are small but have lots of room for one or 2 people (bunk beds) to sleep, and a dresser or wardrobe to store cloths.

175sft House

This house features a full kitchen, full bath, living room a dining aria and a loft bedroom that can sleep 4.

Trailer

This is a tiny house on wheels, it measures 16' (less tung) by 8'. So bit less than 120 square feet of living space on the main floor, and around 130 with the porches included.

The main floor includes a sitting room, a half bath, a kitchen and a nook as well as storage cabinet stairs.

The upstairs leaves room for 2 valeted ceilings, one over the living room, and one over the entry/stairway. There is room for a queen sized bed or 2 singles on the loft, as wells a some storage.

More 15'x20' Floor Plans

140sf house

This is a house I sketched up the other day, only 140 square feet, on the main floor, very simple open floor plan concept. A nice use of space I think. The best place for the door would likely be on to the kitchen from this side.

The 'I' House

This home is shaped like the letter I giving it some nice external character both front and back. It has a large kitchen, a dining room, a small siting room and ether a full or 2/3 upper floor for bedrooms. I wish I could remember the square footage... something like 400 I think.

If a second bath was added on the second floor, the but could be removed from the lower floor to make it a half bath and free up a good deal of space.

4 15'x20' floor plans.

After asking for some feedback on some of my floor plans, I was given the advice that in a small house, you don't need to have a sink in the bathroom as it is already so close to the kitchen sink and that can save a lot of space. S oI tried to apply that to my previous design: Small Home A and I was able sink the space in the the kitchen, which was to small on the previous design. It also opens up a back door and posable access to a basement staircase.

And then I got fiddling and began rearranging the floor plan in the same 15'x20' space and came out with 3 more.

In this floor plan I would make the top door the front door, it is a much more open concept design. With the living room and stairs on the same end, this one has the option of having a vaulted sealing over the living room.

This one swaps the kitchen and living room space. I would expect that this would trade off for a second or 3rd bedroom up top, but I suppose you could still have a vaulted sealing over the living room, its just not as efficient.

This one is a take on a contemporary stile floor plan. The front door is on the small side of the home making it better for a skinny lot, probably open over the stairway and entry way, could have 2 or 3 bed rooms up and possibly another bathroom. Laundry is in the basement.

Small Shops

A few years ago I shot a film series in maritime Canada, I was sifting through some of the footage yesterday and came across a little Barber Shop and thought I would share:

There was this little shed I liked:

I hope I will have a more unique post next week.

Ross Chapin Architects

I stumbled across a company called Ross Chapin Architects the other day, I really like their stuff. Their cabins look very attractive from the outside, I especially like the front porches and sun rooms on the fronts. They seem to have gone out of their way to create neat little alcoves, nooks and crannies that I love.

http://www.rosschapin.com/

Tiny House A2

You may remember one of my previous posts Tiny House A that I posted tiny house, well I was just looking at that floor plan and it hit me that if I reversed the bathroom the door would work much more efficiently. So here is that update to that design.

Tiny Split House

Our currant home is a split, and it just hit me for the first time that a split would work well for a small home on a foundation. I like it so far, it is fairly small and efficient use of space I think. However, I am not sure where to place the bathroom. I am wondering if switching the kitchen and the living room might find the space somewhere in there.

Any thoughts or ideas on how to improve this design?

Small Home A take 2

I posted his floor plan a few weeks a go, I really have it on the brain so I made it up in floor planer. The more I see it, the more I like it.

Large Kitchen A

 This is a large Kitchen I designed with a nook or a sitting aria in the middle. This make what is normally 2 spaces in to one, making the kitchen more friendly and inviting, a place where life happens. It would utilize under counter fridges and an under counter freezer. There is no pantry and few over counter cupboards making the space open and airy. There is still plenty of storage however under all the counter space.

Small Home B

Ok, I just put this one togather. It is a joining of a few ideas, but not to much thought in how it was laydout. It worked out ok I think, it sits at 597sft, it has some flaws. Like the lack of front many Windows.

3 Stage Home

I have often thought when musing about tiny houses how they would make good starter homes. They are affordable and quick to erect. But they don't leave much room for expansion. It would be nice to start with a small home, with the ability to expand on it latter. This is one design I thought up that might do the trick.

This home is built in 3 stages. The first stage is the biggest, there seems to be no way around this, you need to be able to live in it, and to leave anything (like bathroom or kitchen) out would make it un-usable.
-Stage one would be a small 2 story, one bedroom, a small kitten living room and bath.
-Stage two would add an extra bedroom and expand the living room an kitchen.
-Stage three might add an extra bath room, and bedroom.

Small Home A

The sketch seen here is one of my favorite small home designs, I just really like it. It is The Micro Cottage from Sheldon Designs and is  354 sf on the first floor and has 524 sf total living area. However, I also really like the idea of this house:

But there are no plans for it to be found. So I decided to take the plans from The Micro Cottage from Sheldon Designs and modify them to something that might look the the house in the pict above. Blow you can see my rough design on the top and the The Micro Cottage on the bottom.

Talking with furniture arrangements: The Living Room

When you think of communicating with a room you may think of the standard concepts. Warm and inviting, open and welcoming, cozy and intimate come to mind. But that is only half the picture. What does your choice of furniture and arraignment of it say about you and your family?

In a movie every set is carefully decorated by a set dresser, no prop or peace of furniture is placed by accident, everything about the set communicates to the viewer clues and information they need to know. Nothing simply placed because it merely look good that way. Every photo, every peace of furniture, every pen is chose beforehand, discussed and approved to ensure maximum intended effect.

In most modern homes the living room is the hub and center of the home. It is where guests are entertained and get the biggest clues to your family. What is featured prominently? What is easily accessible? What is not?

Here are 2 examples, they are going to be a bit pointed and extreme for the sake of clarity.

This room is all about the TV, it is obvious anything other than TV is not often done in this room as the seating makes for poor community and interaction.

This room has no TV, and no computers, it is obvious that community interaction is important to the function of the room.

What your room says about you: Living/Dining

In this example, we have 2 identical rooms with the same furniture, only in different arraignments. What you choose to display, how you display it says things about you and communicates to those in your home.

1. In the top arraignment we see a standard modern north american furniture arraignment. We have 2 spaces here, and in a way two rooms that are open to each-other. A Living room and a Dining room, with the living room taking up the larger portion of the room.

This arraignment says "Come on in and sit down and chat. Our family likes to sit back and relax. We like to be comfortable."

2. The bottom arraignment takes the table and features it prominently, there are still two spaces, but it still feels like one room.

This arraignment says "Come on in and eat! The table is the hart of our home."

Grand Dining Room Plan

Black: Walls
Blue: Windows
Brown: Tables
Beige: Table Chars
Red: Arm Chair

Bunk Room

This is an idea for a bunk room in our basement. The room as six 6' twin beds a walk in closet, built in shelving, and a counter with a small sink.

This room plan allows for 6 beds comfortably where normally you would find 2 or maybe 3. This room would allow us to hose large family, and have friends and guests over without worying about beds.


Not only is this a efficient use of space, the room has character. One hole wall is dedicated to built in shelving and a counter spanning the room with cupboards below.

Small house sketch A

This floor plan has a small foot print, and rather then a bedroom a half loft. It features a full kitchen, full bath, L stairs, and a loft. Inspired by my tiny house research.