4 Small Houses That Blend Sustainability + Cool Design

Author Sheri Koones has great tips for living large in a small space outlined in her book Downsize: Living Large in a Small Space. Minimal hallways, multipurpose rooms, open floor plans, creative storage, high ceilings, open staircases and built-in nooks are just a few of the ways homeowners can maximize space and create design-forward, livable small homes.

A case in point, at just 1,436 square feet (all houses in the book are 2,000 square feet or less), this Corning, New York home divided into three individual buildings was built as a forever home for a retiring arts administrator who chose an open-plan, one-level design to better help her with a goal of aging in place. The space was also designed with room for the homeowner to work on her own art in a studio that occupies the center, gray, peaked-roof barn section of the home shown here.

This Corning small house features three distinct buildings: a main house clad in corrugated weathered steel, a garage in black corrugated steel and a peaked barn in rough-sawn pine. A studio space in the home features a lofted bedroom above accessed by a modern metal staircase.

The homeowner uses the ground floor studio space in the barn portion of her Corning home to work on her artwork.