Cohousing-L Mailing List: Affordable examples

[Marganne (marganne]

At 7:33 PM -0400 5/10/08, Sharon Villines wrote:
> I recently saw something similar constructed on a lot in a medium size 
> town in MD. Two artists built two small houses on one lot, one on the 
> street and one behind that were live work studios. They had a bedroom 
> upstairs, kitchen and bath downstairs, and the living room was their 
> studio. Each was perfectly livable for one person. And they filled the 
> whole lot with a small path on one side and small gardens all around 
> -- small being 2-3 feet, enough to soften the appearance of the 
> foundations.
>
> I also saw a free standing bank vault that has been renovated into a 
> house. It was VERY small. Maybe 15 ft square and not two stories tall. 
> Two men lived there. They created a half-floor for the upstairs barely 
> large enough to hold a bed, a closet, a wine rack, and a bathroom. 
> Downstairs was a small living room/kitchen and a half bath. It was 
> lovely but it was only a bit larger than the parking space they had 
> beside it. But they were in the heart of the city with a parking space
> and could walk to work.


An overwhelming amount of innovative small homes and buildings 
already exist. Bank vaults, boats, rail road cars. This is just a 
very small sample of things I've found.

A good example of infill in Toronto has gotten a lot of publicity in 
the past few years:
http://www.midtowntoronto.com/2007/10/15/torontos-smallest-house-for-sale/
Here's the real estate seller's page on this home
http://members.tripod.com/~list2sell/1smal.htm

Jeff Shafer of California builds homes on foundations and on wheels
http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/houses.htm

First Day Cottage of New Hampshire
http://www.firstdaycottage.com/Main.html

Go to Architectural House Plans and search for plans under 1,000 square feet
http://www.architecturalhouseplans.com/

And there always are the Katrina Cottages
http://www.katrinacottages.com/plans/types.html

Maybe I just found some answers for small house communities on 
Resources for Life
http://www.resourcesforlife.com/docs/item516

--
Cheers!
Marganne
http://cohousingsmallhomes.blogspot.com/

Small House Society
http://www.resourcesforlife.com/small-house-society
Examples of small homes
http://www.resourcesforlife.com/small-house-society/resources