Small Home Designs - Steal the Best Ideas From Vacation Homes

You can learn a lot from a dummy. But, when it comes to small home plans, I turn to vacation homes. That's where I get the best ideas.

Most good designers of vacation homes are intent on providing people with the most comfort in the smallest amount of square footage. The one thing that stands out the most in my mind is the use of volume.

 The Small House With Lofty Goals

Taller, not wider ... getting volume by going up, not out. There are ways to expand the look and feel without paying for it! That's the trick. Ever wonder why homes have lofts? Guess what, it's cheap square footage.

To achieve these lofts, ceilings are vaulted. When you create an extra room or two in these vaulted areas, you're actually putting rooms in what would have been attic space had the ceilings not been vaulted. No walls and no extra foundation help keep the cost of this extra square footage to a minimum.

 Taller Ceilings Volumize Small Home Living

Grow your ceiling heights from eight feet to nine or ten. This is another strategy that goes right along with vaulted ceilings and lofts. But, what do I mean by volume? That's the amount of (air) space that surrounds you inside the home. Vaulted ceilings achieve this ... taller ceilings in the rest of the home do as well.

So, it's not just about lofts and extra living square footage. It's also about a bigger feel, more room to decorate, and more space to add windows to bring the outside in.

 Home Building Education

So, your vacations have had another purpose all along! The theft of ideas may not have been overt, but you came away with a great strategy to help you design a small house floor plan that feels big.