Once you declutter your space, you many not want to rattle around in that McMansion. The answer: a tiny house, typically understood to be one measuring less than 500 sq. ft. (compare that to the national average for new homes, 2,600 sq. ft.).
“The fact that [tiny homes] are becoming popular shows that people are looking for ways to simplify their lives and make less of an impact on the environment,” says Paige Doscher, assistant editor at Harper Design. Even those not ready to make the big move to small living can peruse forthcoming books on the subject, including DIY titles and a family memoir.
Tiny Houses in the City
Mimi Zeiger
Rizzoli, Mar.
Zeiger, an editor at The Architect’s Newspaper, profiles more than 30 homes in cities including London, Mexico City, and Hong Kong, with interior and exterior photos, and explanatory text including information about the architects.
Tiny Houses Built with Recycled Materials
Ryan Mitchell
Adams Media, May
The blogger behind “The Tiny Life” and author of 2014’s Tiny House Living (16,000 print copies sold, per Nielsen BookScan) offers advice on sourcing and repurposing shipping containers, salvaged barn wood, reclaimed shingles, and more, through profiles of tiny house owners, 20 floor plans, and more than 150 photos.
Living Large in Our Little House
Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell
Readers Digest, June
The author didn’t join the tiny-house movement entirely by choice—financial circumstances prompted her and her husband to move into a 480-sq.-ft. cabin in the Ozarks. She’s since embraced the lifestyle, and her book includes personal anecdotes, interviews with families living in tiny homes across the U.S., and advice on decorating and on making the most of outdoor space.
150 Best Tiny Home Ideas
Manel Gutiérrez Couto
Harper Design, June
Couto showcases houses around the world, including Rock Reach House, near Joshua Tree National Park, available on Airbnb for $380 a night; Marlborough House in midtown Toronto, built by architecture firm Superkül; and Tower House, a single-family dwelling in a Melbourne suburb, made up of several skinny buildings wrapped around a courtyard.
Mini Homes
Loft Publications
Skyhorse, July
Floor plans, cross sections, diagrams, and 500-plus photos offer details on a variety of homes across the globe, including tree houses, beach houses in wooded and shore-front areas, and glass-paneled urban row houses.
Prefabulous Small Houses
Sheri Koones
Taunton, Sept.
Robert Redford contributes the foreword to this collection of dozens of kit homes in rural and coastal areas across the county. Koones, author of several previous books on prefabricated houses, offers building tips, floor plans, and 250 photos.
