How small is too small for a home? In this blog post we’re going to take a look at what we can design in under 600 square feet (55.7 square meters). Some call them small homes, tiny homes, or ADU’s, but I call them opportunities! Here is a 598 square foot ADU we designed in Windsor Ontario Canada.

**Design:** Dory Azar Architect Inc.
**Photo:** Windsor Creative Real Estate Photography

1. Organizing your spaces

This may seem like a luxury you wouldn’t have when designing a home that’s less than 600 square feet, but that’s not always the case. If anything, the delineation of spaces is more critical than ever. See our example below. Note how the bedroom doors are not directly next to each other, and separated by the bathroom. Each of those design decisions adds privacy to each room. Also note how the doors are recessed from the main living space which adds a feeling of privacy to each space also.

**Floor Plan:** Dory Azar Architect Inc.

2. Daylight / Natural Light

The surefire way to make your small home feel even smaller is to limit the amount of windows. For a small build, consider setting aside a few extra dollars for extra or wider windows. Having your sightlines continue to the outdoors will make the space feel larger, and provide the occupants with a more relaxed feeling. If for some reason wider windows aren’t possible, we can always make them taller! This also places a high priority on your site design, and what exactly those windows are going to be looking at.

3. Ceiling Heights

Most small homes are likely going to be one storey tall, so there’s nothing to see here as it relates to two storey spaces. But what if we were able to bump those ceiling heights up a foot or two? In our example, we used the slope of the roof to allow us to increase the ceiling height in the living area from 8’ to 10’. This provided a greater sense of comfort as we were able to add clerestory windows, higher storage ledges, and it’s own bit of wow to the design (nobody is expecting 10’ ceilings in a small home).

4. Exterior Finishes

Why does this matter so much in a small home? Let me explain… When we measure the area of a home, it’s taken from the exterior face of the exterior walls. What that means is that if you have thick exterior walls, that will eat into your rooms by about 4” on each exterior wall. An example would be having either a siding finish or a brick finish (a difference of approximately 4”). Even on a small home like this, that difference would represent about 5-6% of the overall floor area.

5. Furniture

This is a little beyond the walls and ceilings, but critical nonetheless. Oversized furniture will do no favours to your design. Consider smaller, more streamlined pieces, not too chunky, and with lower heights. Beds can be tucked against a wall, dining tables can be skipped in lieu of a kitchen island with stools, bunk beds for two kids, and a pullout couch always has a place in a small home. Not leaving your furniture until the last minute can really give your architect the opportunity to work it into the plan for a more cohesive design.

Source: https://www.homedit.com/convertible-coffee-tables/

There you go! Small is a subjective word. Just because it’s not dimensionally large, doesn’t mean it can’t feel that way. Allow your architect to be creative, and challenge your assumptions about what it could be like to live small.

Happy designing!

Dory.

NOTE: ADU can either stand for Accessory Dwelling Unit or Additional Dwelling Unit.

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Let's design you a home that's truly one of one.