Not real tiny house

I love the tiny house concept and ideas. I follow a couple blogs of tiny home people and watch this forum and love seeing the clever ways to make smaller places functional

But I'm not destined for a tiny home, I'm looking to downsize to a smaller home at some point. I want a smarter layout and incorporate the clever ideas. I'm thinking it's the same concept of one room, a kitchen,a bath and a loft.

Is there any classification for homes like this? Small home instead of tiny home? I plan on using it as a get away on weekends on out farm and then migrate to living there eventually

Right now we have a big home with big bills and filled with stuff we don't need. We're always trying to get rid of stuff and "get organized". I'm tired of it and the clutter doesn't give me peace. I don't how many times I've seen a picture of a clutter free room and thought how great that would be.

Anyway, just thought you may have some ideas on where to look. Small cabins have been the closest I've found.

There's a lot of great inspiration here for more minimalist, natural, smaller, in-tune-with-nature type homes: http://cabinporn.com/

I feel I know exactly what you mean when you like the idea of clean, uncluttered spaces but already know "a tiny house" is just too small.

I have fallen in love with the earth friendly homes; cob, earth berm, earthbag, Paul's wofati. I love the umbrella house.

Something I heard in the recent past on the size you may be considering that helps in looking up that size of home is the word "bungalow". I have even heard the word to describe a home on a property that allowed it to escape code laws.

I have always been a bit of a hacker when it comes to search engines, discovering things that most people just don't find. While considering your situation I watched Paul's Ted talk(he's very comfortable with talking). After that talk I listened to a guy talking about learning any language in 6 months and a search of the word bungalow showed a foreign word "bure". That got me thinking that an interesting search for your smaller home size might be using google's translator function.

Recently I rediscovered Pinterest.com and they have tons of followers with "tiny house" inklings and "cob" and "earthbag" and one search leads to another. A search of "small house plans" was fruitful also.

I believe one of the early earthbag home builders has a model of a clerestory (clear story) style home that I really like called the "sweet spot" http://earthbagbuilding.com/plans/plans.htm

Hope this helps or leads you towards your goal.

Mike

When I was searching for small house plans, I would just go to normal house plan sites and search by square footage of the house (under 1,000 sqft, for me). I do, however really love these tiny house plans: http://storybookhomes.com/. Not necessarily the best environmentally, but living in a storybook home would be just be my dream come true. As it is, I live in a 1,000 sgft manufactured home, and will likely never have the money to build my dream home. Oh well!

I think that 'how small can you go' partially depends on climate.
In a warm climate, with mild winters, you can go pretty tiny.
A nice patio, with BBQ, table/chairs, maybe a small storage shed or lockers, etc.
You don't go inside until after dark. You enjoy your morning coffee out there.
Washer/Dryer, refrigerator and many other things can be located on a covered deck.
I have even seen sofas and TVs kept outdoors year round (covered of course).

In a colder climate, with short growing seasons, you can only spend so much time in the outdoors space. In extreme climates, with long, bitter winters, even an 'average sized' house 'grows in' on you. Cabin Fever starts setting in long before spring has sprung. You need more storage space to accommodate bulky winter ware, extra blankets, etc.

In most areas, the tax man hits you a lot less per square foot for covered decks than he does for the enclosed house area. I know a couple who have a cement patio with +/- 6' wood fence surrounding it, and a translucent roof. It is almost the size of the house itself, yet only gets charged about 10% of what the house does. They spend almost all of their time "on the patio".

I like those stoneybrook homes, wish they had pictures of actual houses built.

I am planning on having deep overhangs around the house for outside area. Good to know about the tax implication.

They've actually made a few developments (which used to have websites, but no longer do). One such is Simpler Times Village (http://www.wnd.com/2007/06/42229/) and another is called Cotswold Village (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150429178413064.418065.192674878063&type=3).

Storybook Homes facebook page also has some pictures of houses they've designed, too: https://www.facebook.com/storybookhomesandgardens





Most of the pictures seem to be of the larger designs, but the Simpler Times Village was all smaller houses (I'd looked at it years ago). Here's a garden shed they made:

I found this video last year and immediately favorited it. I want to build this home one of these days! Enjoy the video! http://youtu.be/npBqmW8LWkY?list=UUOis3ayBl1MSyyDveDuPZ8g

Just for the record; current definition of tiny house is under 400 sq. ft. and small house is 400 to 1000 sq. ft.

You may enjoy the Small House Bliss website. I'm copying the floor plan of one of the houses (Dreamcatcher, Seaside, FL) for the house I'm building. Except I'm modifying the roof into a two-part south-facing roof. Also, my house will be smaller, with an 875 sq ft base. I'll probably post it on this website when I'm finished.

I love the idea of a tiny or small home. My only concern with a loft sleeping area is growing old in it. We down sized to a ranch house know that I may very well wind up in a wheel chair when as I age. We may not stay here in retirement but I wanted to make sure we could if we couldn't afford to move. Having the option of single floor living means you can stay in your dream home much longer as you age.

Kate: "My only concern with a loft sleeping area is growing old in it."

I share your concern, which is why I adore the small/tiny houses with stairs that double as storage. I've seen very ingenious setups where under some runners are drawers, and other under-stair areas are more open as closets. When these are located directly next to the wall(s), they can easily accommodate handles or railings as needed without sacrificing an open feeling.

Stuffy air quality has also been a concern with some designs, and at least 2 windows to allow for cross-ventilation can help. Each new design I explore helps me to problem solve for the solutions I prefer.