Free The Small House Book by Jay Shafer

windows allow for winter heat loss.
    Along these same lines, be sure to provide seasonal shade for south-facing
    and west-facing windows. Deciduous trees work to this end, as their leaves
    provide summer shade and drop to reveal the winter sun. Awnings and porch
    roofs achieve the same effect by protecting windows from the relatively verti-
    cal rays of the summer sun while allowing the more horizontal rays inside.
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    Sliding doors, curtains and pocket doors can often save space as, they do
    not require an area in which to swing.
    Minimize throughways. Hallways and oversized stairwells unnecessar-
    ily consume valuable space. If a stairway is required, consider making it a
    ladder. Paddle steps can also save space.
    Make use of vertical space. Shelves can usually go all the way to
    the ceiling; drawers can be put beneath the bed, cabinets can often be posi-
    tioned over the table, and a sleeping loft may fit below a high ceiling.
    Consider using built-in furniture and storage in your design.
    Freestanding furniture tends to leave awkward and unusable margins on
    both sides of where it is positioned. Built-ins generally stretch from wall-to-
    wall, and often floor-to-ceiling, to make use of every inch.
    Built-ins are not only integral to a house in terms of function and structure,
    but in visual terms as well. Freestanding armoires, chests, and bookcases
    will fill up a small room quickly and tend to make any space feel more crow-
    ded. A wall of built-in cabinets can contain more possessions than all of these
    combined and comes off as far less visually intrusive. Built-in seating, cabin-
    ets, bookcases, work surfaces, and dining nooks can all be used to save and
    order space in this way.
    Consider including some shallow shelves. Putting all of your glasses, vita-
    mins and herbs on one deep shelf is going to demand that you dig for stuff
    that sits at the back. Less depth will put everything where you can get to it.
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    Carve out places near the door for the things that enter and leave your home:
    coat hooks, shoe cubbies, recycling bins, and the like.
    Keep it simple. It is particularly important that a place for one be kept simple. For a single resident, all of the little extras can quickly add up to one big
    headache. The housing market currently offers very few properties designed
    specifically for one person. More often than not, those of us who choose to
    live alone end up saddled with the responsibilities of a house or apartment
    that was built for two or more residents.
    Tumbleweed Tiny House Company’s XS-House
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    The design of a single-occupancy dwelling is unique in that it requires rela-
    tively few, if any, interior walls. One room is often enough to contain every-
    thing that is necessary. Sometimes a separate little bathroom, kitchen, sleep-
    ing loft and/or closet can be useful, but the principal aim should be to keep
    things open. That said, it should be remembered that arbitrarily eliminating
    as many interior walls as possible will not necessarily result in a better space.
    While floor area and elbow room are inevitably gained, wall space is lost.
    This may affect the possibilities for furniture placement and storage options.
    Open-concept layouts are great so long as they truly correspond with the
    necessities at hand.
    Provide privacy and community. Designing a house for two or more
    people entails largely the same process, but the big room has to accommo-
    date enough open space for all of the home’s occupants to feel comfortable,
    and a small private area should be provided for every member of the house-
    hold. Our need for a balance of both privacy and community is inherent,
    and if it is ignored in the design of a dwelling, strife will inevitably result. The
    private areas can be rooms, entire apartments within the structure, or even
    physically separate cottages. To increase the effectiveness of the private
    rooms within a house, closets should be located between them as sound
    buffers