“Small House Designs”, by Kenneth Tremblay and Lawrence Von Bamford

Tremblay, Kenneth R., and Lawrence Von. Bamford. Small House Designs: Elegant, Architect-designed Homes : 34 Award-winning Plans : 1.250 Square Feet or Less. Pownal, VT: Storey Communications, 1997. Print.

This charming book was recommended to me, although I’m not sure where from – part of the reason I’m keeping track of bibliographic information in these entries!  This book is the result of a 1995 contest by Storey Communications to spark the creation of more internationally-architected small house plans.

Unlike the book of house plans I just reviewed where each plan had only one page, this excellent book devotes 4 or 6 pages to each plan.  What is provided depends a bit on what the architect provided – one or two have site plans, for instance, where the architect felt strongly about the orientation of the house on its lot.

There is an adorable clapboard farmhouse with wraparound porch that is only 1230 square feet – and they manage to fit three bedrooms and an eat-in kitchen into that!  The three designs chosen as the winners were a bit too “out there” for my taste, but I preferred seeing a smaller number of houses with good design, rather than the scatter approach of the home plan book I got off the library shelf.  There are an additional 21 designs that are of interest but not explored as fully.

No index.  There is a list of “Other Storey titles you will enjoy”, but no actual bibliography or suggested reading.

Edited to add:  LibraryThing suggests that I will like “More Small Houses” by Fine Homebuilding, so that’s going on my hold list.