Evelyn and I have been fascinated with “mini homes”. These are structures that give you all your basic needs, but sit in the 500 square foot range. I like mini homes for a couple of reasons:

• They prevent you from “keeping up with the Joneses”. You can’t keep buying stuff if you have nowhere to put it.
• They are sensitive to the environment: very low “footprint”.
• They promote modular design. You think about living units or areas, versus one big structure that handles all needs.
• They are much easier to take off-the-grid. Due to their limited power requirements, it’s easier to use Solar, Wind, and other sources of energy.
• They are easier to build. Due to their size, it’s much easier for owner-builders to construct, versus having to rely on professional builders.
• They cost less. Again due to their size, they cost less. Add in the ability for the owner to invest “sweat equity” and you have overall lower costs.

Plus, my dad and mom have always seemed to be interested in smaller homes (for retirement). Here are a couple of sites that Evelyn has come across:

Gregory Paul Johnson is the director of the Small House Society, and in this story he takes us on a tour of his 140 square foot home and talks about the concept of “living simply.” Video: http://wqpt.org/lifeandtimes/littlehouse.html

Another video from the New York Times by Bethany Lyttle http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/travel/20070216_TINY_FEATURE/blocker.html?th&emc=th

Interesting link has several design and stories of those who built them: http://www.tinyhousecompany.com/

This is so cool. Has pictures with stories quite fun to read and look at:
http://www.tinyhouses.net/directory.html
http://www.rosschapin.com/Plans/plans.html

I thought this design might be interesting for our modular home:
http://www.rocioromero.com/LVSeries/LV.htm

The above LV link came from this site on all types of Prefab:
http://www.fabprefab.com/fabfiles/fablisthome.htm

Hurdles that average joe encounters when building his/her home, this guy brings up some good points:
http://www.konzak.com/prohousing/ownerb.html