The New Small House

My copy of The New Small House is already filled with sticky notes--so many great ideas to tuck away for a (future) little house design. If you're even remotely interested in the current trend towards building smaller with smarter designs, you will love architect-writer Katie Hutchison's lucid and practical advice as well as the particular houses she chose to showcase. I love that many of the designs have a clean and contemporary feel, while many still incorporate traditional or regional architecture. I also love that each house not only has a design plan (floor plan drawing) with it, but enough beautiful photographs to really get a sense of how the design plays out. Additionally each of the photographs is tagged with an icon representing one of Hutchison's 10 key small-house design strategies, so again, the beautiful and the practical come together to inform you without overwhelming you.

This is a beautiful book and, though I had a moment of doubt, I'm keeping it. Why the hesitation? It's the only complaint I have with some of the books in this category ... what makes a "small" or "tiny" house? These beautiful pages and pictures show spacious and refined spaces. Well of course. Most of these houses are over 1200 square feet. Those are not small houses! And all of them address one or two people occupancy which makes the space to my thinking generous beyond small.I currently live in a 1250 square foot Craftsman. The house has two nice size bedrooms, one even has an additional walk-in closet. And of course I have a foyer, living room, formal dining room, a nursery or office, bathroom, mud room along with a kitchen with a breakfast nook and pantry. This house may not be a McMansion but it does not qualify as a small house. I live in a lot of space, wonderful space and for a long time felt overwhelmed by how little of the house I actually inhabited.In my mind and in the better books in this category, a small house does not exceed 1000 square feet. Then the challenge of space well used becomes real. Then the ideas and decorating often show ingenuity and resourcefulness. Then I find real and useful if not inspiring material. Especially when it comes to how much space I actually need.Having said that, this is an entertaining and beautiful book. Of course my favorite houses are the smaller ones, especially the several entitled 20k Houses. The incorporation of unexpected materials such as plywood with a metallic finish also is interesting and dramatic. Some of the window designs are also exceptional ways to make more use of light and views. But lofts aren't particularly well designed or original.So I'll keep the book but encourage you to look at other books in this category. I've reviewed all the ones I've purchased and will add here why my love of this category. It's quite simple. My house is larger than I need for the one of me and I wanted to use the space better before I went in search of a roommate. Add to this my attached 850 square foot cottage which I don't want to rent. Instead I learned from one book to consider it my "mountain cabin getaway" without the long drive to get out of the Bay Area. My success in accomplishment of all this is directly related to what I've learned from the better books on small and tiny houses. Perhaps you will find equal reward from the better books in this category while this book can provide a few ideas for extra polish.

Very nice selection of SMALL houses for both traditional and modern houses styles. Enjoy browsing through the 30 different houses from all over the US. The book contains exterior and interior photographs as well as detail photo's. Each house has floor plans and some have site plans.The book also contains additional info about the construction materials used in constructing the house whether for a prefab or on site constructed. If you are an architect or just planning your dream SMALL house, you will love looking at this book many times.

This book was good and quite informative. However, I was hoping it would of provided more information of exactly how to go about building, and designing your own small house. It focused on small homes that had already been established. I wanted to have examples of people who had embarked on the process of converting to a small home.....from start to finish. I wanted to know about the builders they used, the financial costs, and their designs. There were some nice photographs which gave some good ideas, but it did not give any specific direction on where and how to start with owning your own small home.

Not a book for folks interested in tiny houses. There are no beds that double as dining tables here. But a beautiful and informative read about a varied collection of smaller homes whose owners are living quite comfortably and with great style. Hutchison offers enough text on each house that the reader has a true sense of what it is like to live in each space. Lots of inspiration and ideas.

Great book full of a lot of helpful tips for those exploring the small house movement. I really like the variety of houses they present in the book along with some great detail - it really makes you think about what your perfect small house needs to look like. Recommend!

I'm enjoying this book, lots of ideas for a small house.

The photographs in this book are beautiful, and it is full of great ideas to create interesting and original space in a small house. If you live in California and are a fan of Sunset magazine, as I am, you will especially appreciate the images in "The New Small House!"