Small Home Plans on Foundations

Small home plans

The Big Book of Small Home Plans was delivered to my doorstep recently and I can't stop looking at it. If you are planning on building a small home, or looking at house plans is one of your favorite pastimes, you might like this book as much as I do. With 360 home plans under 1200 square foot you are likely to find something that suits your needs.

The Big Book of Small Home Plans

I really like having 360 house plans under 1200 sq feet at my fingertips. In this book, each page is on glossy, thick pages. No flimsy newspaper print in black and white, and hard-to-read fonts. 

Each house plan includes the foot print dimensions and the heated square feet. Each major room has the dimensions listed. I have purchased house plan books and magazines that do not include that information - which defeats the entire purpose of looking at the plans, in my opinion. If you look at the The Big Book of Small Home Plans on Amazon, the "look inside" feature is very helpful.

The book is 288 pages. The vast majority of pages are the house plans. There are a smattering of pages with helpful design and organizing ideas.  Topics such as:

• Dream Big While Living Small
• No Excuses...It's Time to Get Organized
• Bathroom Storage Solved
• Banish Kitchen Clutter Forever
• Pantry Organization 101
• and more

The helpful tips pages are not distracting from the amount of home plan pages and are helpful in thinking about how small I can truly go (or not).  

Also, on page 142 there is a user's guide for downloading and using the 3D app they offer. With that app, you can view the home from all sides on your piece of land. This is available through Apple and Android app stores. I have not yet tried this app but I can imagine it would be very helpful to people who are app-savvy.

Why Small Home Plans Appeal to Me

After years of daydreaming and searching real estate websites, I purchased my land a couple of years ago. Now my daydreaming, planning, and researching has turned to house plans. I have very specific needs (passive solar, suitable for a steep lot, etc) and I want to stay small due to my plan to be debt-free in retirement. 

Searching the internet for house plans yields many house plan sites with many house plans. Although, after a bit it becomes cumbersome and overwhelming searching for a small home that is not on wheels and is under 1200 sq ft. 

Honestly, I'm looking to stay in the range of 600 - 900 square feet. With this book I can compare some of the layouts, exteriors, and orientations with just the flip of a page or two. 

*This article may contain affiliate links. If you shop via one of the affiliate links, I may earn a small commission - at no additional cost to you. I am very appreciative of every reader who visits my articles. Thank you.

Reviewing Flowers by the Dozen Crochet Pattern

I can crochet but only at an easy to moderate pattern level. I often want to crochet something that is beyond my ability (at this point) and become frustrated at my failures. My item often does not end up looking like the item in the pattern photo. It was exactly this problem that led me to this easy and adorable flower crochet pattern.

Yarnspirations - Flowers by the Dozen

I had tried multiple crochet flower patterns that were epic fails. And I was very close to giving up on the idea of crocheting a flower. But I really, really wanted to add a flower applique to the little hat that I had loom knitted for my granddaughter.  She would look adorable in a hat with a flower. So I tried "just one more time".

Yarnspirations has some really good patterns. Most of them free and downloadable with no tricks or gimmicks. It is their Flowers by the Dozen pattern that finally worked for me. 

(Click the photo to enlarge in order to see most of the crochet version pattern. Click this link for the Flowers by the Dozen knit and crochet instructions in it's entirety)

Their instructions are clear. The pattern is easy - with just 5 rounds of easy crochet to make the two layers of flower petals. You do have to know how to chain, single crochet, half double crochet, double crochet, and slip stitch. But if you are familiar with those basic stitches, you'll be able to make these flowers.

I like that I can choose to finish a flower with just one layer of petals or go on to finish with the two layers of petals. And clearly, this pattern works with a variety of sizes of yarn and of crochet hooks.

A single layer of petals - Peaches & Cream cotton yarn

I also like that the little flowers would look fine without any embellishment in the middle. For my granddaughter I chose a really big button (due to her young age and my concern about toddlers and choking hazards). However, I have also looked at a wide variety of stones, beads, and broaches that would look great sewn into the middle of these little flowers.

Related Link:

I only recently discovered round loom knitting and wrote about it immediately. See Creating Treasures with Round Loom Knitting - Hats to read about how I learned to create the little yellow hat in the photo above.

*This article may contain affiliate links. If you shop via one of the affiliate links, I may earn a small commission - at no additional cost to you. I am very appreciative of every reader who visits my articles. Thank you.