Small Homes: The Right Size by Lloyd Kahn

Small Homes: The Right Size by Lloyd Kahn

Find inspiration from DIY owner-builders who constructed their own small homes in this coffee-table book filled with photography.

Are tiny homes too little for you? Well, small is bigger than tiny! The average American home is 2,500 square feet--that's too big. The tiny home averages 200-300 square feet--that's too little. The small homes featured here are 400-1,200 square feet--just right! American homes are getting bigger and bigger, but small homes are less expensive, use fewer resources, are more efficient to heat and cool, and are less costly to maintain and repair. They are desirable for those who want to avoid a bank mortgage or high rents yet need more room than a tiny house can offer.

Lloyd Kahn has been a leader in the green-building movement for over 40 years. In Small Homes, he presents 120 small homes via more than 1,000 full-color photographs. The homes vary from unique and artistic to simple and low-cost. Some are ordinary buildings that provide shelter at a reasonable cost, and some are inspiring examples of design, carpentry, craftsmanship, imagination, creativity, and homemaking. Some are built with natural materials, such as cob or straw, and some with recycled wood or lumber milled on-site. Some are old homes that have been remodeled, while many were designed and built from scratch. Many are in the country, some in small towns, and some in large cities. Dozens of builders share their knowledge of building and design, with artistic, practical, and/or economical homes in the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, France, Germany, Spain, New Zealand, and Lithuania.Here are 65 small homes. They vary from unique and artistic to simple and low-cost. Some are plain, ordinary buildings that provide owners shelter at a reasonable cost — and some are inspiring examples of design, carpentry, craftsmanship, imagination, creativity, and homemaking.

Some are built with "natural materials," such as cob or straw, some with recycled wood or lumber milled on-site, some are old homes that have been remodeled, and many are designed and built from scratch by the owners. Many are in the country, some in small towns, and some in large cities.

It’s all in the hands. The underlying theme with Shelter’s books, which cover an over-40-year span, is that you can create your own home with your own hands, using mostly natural materials.

And note: A computer can’t build your home for you. You still need a hammer (or nail gun), a saw — and human hands.

Lloyd Kahn started building his own home in the early '60s and went on to publish books showing homeowners how they could build their own homes with their own hands. He got his start in publishing by working as the shelter editor of the Whole Earth Catalog with Stewart Brand in the late '60s. He has since authored six highly-graphic books on homemade building, all of which are interrelated. The books, "The Shelter Library Of Building Books," include Shelter, Shelter II (1978), Home Work (2004), Builders of the Pacific Coast (2008), Tiny Homes (2012), and Tiny Homes on the Move (2014).