Everybody aspires to be green these days. The health and cost-saving benefits of implementing green strategies in your home and your daily routine are obvious. Unfortunately, it is not always immediately evident what constitutes a truly eco-friendly house plan. Many green features are not obvious to the eye but if you understand the concepts you will be able to discern the real deal from the faux.
Bigger is not better: A large home consumes much more energy than a small one and there is no way around that, …

Whether you are downsizing, or already own a small home, it can be a challenge to find space for a home office without having a dedicated room. Custom designed small offices can be incorporated into a new small house plan, or you can look for nooks in your current home that is just wasted space.  Here are a few ideas for finding space for a small home office.
The Closet Office
Think about the space in your closet. Small walk-in closets are an ideal space to tuck a work surface in …

You are excited about building your new small home and have endless ideas of what it is going to be. Chances are you have been clipping images from magazines and did some research online to find inspiration. Now you need to sit down with your designer and communicate your vision to her. Designers are creative by definition but are trained to listen to your vision, too, to help you organize and refine your ideas and then translate them into a feasible reality. Be sure you ask your …

Sure, solar panels are a great way to capture the sun’s energy and power your small house but the good old traditional solar panel never really caught on for good reason. Nobody wants an unsightly bulky armature in front of their house. Luckily we have come a long way and with Solé Power Tile the genius of collecting the sun’s energy is hidden within the beautiful tile product, offering the benefits of photovoltaic panels and at the same time preserving the beauty of your home.
Solé Power Tile is the …

The problem of the Minimum Dwelling has always occupied architects and designers. From modernist thought leaders in the 20th century who introduced the idea of modular dwellings precisely tailored to fit the needs of an individual or a family to more recent proposals such as the Micro Compact House featured at a recent exhibit at the Modern Museum of Art in New York, the question still prevails:
How much space do we really need?
Oversized homes use more energy, therefore generating higher monthly bills and are otherwise more costly to upkeep than …