Laneway houses—small houses built in backyards—are taking the Vancouver, Canada area by storm. A response to the ever-increasing population of the area, the laneway house is a great way to cope with the population density while still allowing citizens the feelings of permanence that come with living in single-family houses.
This particular laneway house is designed by Smallworks Studios and is 670 square feet. This home looks just like a miniature version of just about any traditional house you might see anywhere else. It even includes simple landscaping–in the form of small hedges—that makes this space feel even more like home.
With this house, you certainly would not lack in modern creature comforts. You would be surprised what can fit into 670 square feet of space. In this case, two bedrooms and two bathrooms easily fit into this 1.5-story home. This house also includes a kitchen/dining area, a living room, and a study.
The kitchen is particularly impressive as it easily houses all your necessary appliances—from a fridge and freezer, to a microwave, a sink, and a dishwasher. There is also still room for several cabinets and a pantry.
In terms of décor, this home is neutral with a few carefully placed splashes of color in areas like the bathrooms and the kitchen. It is perfect for those who prefer a subtler, more traditional style for their homes, and it makes a great addition to the small house movement.
670 Sq. Ft. Cottage
Images © Smallworks
Images © Smallworks
Learn more: Smallworks Studios
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Sabrena
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Love this cottage, but please remember Canada is huge. To say you are listing a tiny house in Canada is just like saying you are listing a tiny house in the USA. Vancouver is a city on the lower tip of one of three coasts in Canada., with vastly different climate then many other areas in Canada, for one thing. It’s Just annoying.
Um, the house is in Canada. What’s your point?
What is your point? What does it matter where in Canada? You are just annoying.
The point is that the cost of living, as well as the cost of any house, can be drastically different depending on where you live. If this house is in the Vancouver area, that puts it in one of the most expensive places to live in Canada, so the cost of the house will be rather high. To put it in therms that Americans would understand, would you seriously try to compare rents in, say, Kansas City, MS with Manhattan, NY?
I’m with Catherine. It is very important to know which town or city , province or state, anything is in. It is quite frustrating to me because as I move forward towards downsizing I need to know where everything is located. Should not be a secret!
Jane and David: I am guessing (hoping really) that you are both Europeans of the sort who think you can come to the states, take a quick day trip from NYC to the Golden Gate Bridge for a morning tour, stop off and have lunch at the Grand Canyon on your way back, and return to NYC in time for dinner. Of course distance matters! SMH. You are just unkind, and needlessly rude. Hope the intervening years have allowed you to attain some personal growth and mellow out a bit.
I love laneway houses, wish they were allowed in my area but sadly not. Secondary suites are only now being allowed so maybe some day laneway houses will follow. I’d like to see what I call Driveway Houses allowed. That would be having a space for a THOW with electrical, sewer and water connections set up ready for use. People could charge a small fee or do labour exchange for the use of the services or just let friends hang out. As with laneway houses there would have to be ways to fit the space into the neighbourhood without causing problems. The biggest obstacle would probably be neighbours not wanting to see a lot of junky looking structures sprouting up all over. Laneway houses have aesthetic rules and a THOW could be made to blend in a lot better than just parking any old RV in the driveway. It would be a lot cheaper for the homeowner to just have the utility access put in and the cost of an actual dwelling can go with the tiny house owner or the homeowner can build a rental unit. Gives more people a place to live, achieving density without huge cost. Not sure it will ever happen but it could solve a lot of problems, especially in the Vancouver area where lower waged people have a hard time finding decent housing.
Issues with affordable housing could definitely be improved by this. In my part of the U.S., older homes are being purchased and flattened to put a duplex or townhome there. Imagine if the look and feel of a neighborhood could be kept the same with adding more affordable housing.
…or…Imagine tearing down one house and using the space to erect two or three new ones.
What was once a “one home property” could become a “micro community”.
Interesting concept, eh?
Affordable is not related to tiny necessarily. The average tiny home is 124 to 400% more expensive per square foot. Same with cohousing. I’m all for it, but it’s still a game for people with cash mostly. It’s certainly not for the low-income.
Yeah its more expensive per square foot, but tiny homes are still being built for 10-15k that look very nice.
My interest is how CAN we shift this into a game for the lower-income families?
the house is adorable! couldn’t agree with you more, alice h. we definitely need exactly what you described in nyc too! HUGE housing crisis right now
I totally agree with Alice. However, this same problem exists all over the United States. I live in the greater Milwaukee area of Wisconsin and finding a reasonable priced, decent place to live is almost impossible. My hope is that someday I can afford a small home to treasure for myself.
I also live in Wisconsin, 42 miles north of Milwaukee in Random Lake. Housing is cheaper up here which is why I commuted for the last 23 years from here to where I did work near Milwaukee. Lower taxes as well. Location certainly does affect housing costs and like most bigger cities Milwaukee does have a lack of inexpensive housing. I do see some very large campgrounds out by me that allow year round living in campers and park models, have even seen a few THOW units. Might be an option for you if you can stand the commute distance.
This is a wonderful update of the size of home millions of families occupied post-war. The neighborhood where I live is filled with 500-800sf homes on 6000-9000-sf lots that are being scraped off for 4000-sf three-story ultra modern townhomes with no yards that go on the market for $700,000 and are snapped up. It’s pitiful.
I especially like the excellent storage option in the bathroom.
I wonder if there is room for a stackable washer-dryer tho, which
would be important to me. The storage drawers underneath a
built-in bed is always a good idea for a small space. Again, I crave
more pictures…….
In our county in Ohio there is a 1000 square foot minimum for a residential structure. But I probably won’t be here forever. This seems about as small as I would want to go.
Pete, put it on a cellar. (foundation) paint the walls, put in a chair and a TV and call it a room. Bingo! You’ve doubled your floor space at a minimal cost.
Another possibility could be to build it with a kitchen/living area, bathroom and bedroom on the ground floor and then replicate it again for the next floor (with excellent soundproofing) then add an internal staircase leading directly to the front door, you can add interior doors to close this off right from the start or later, plus a ‘fire escape’ from the upstairs living area. You may need to be creative with the second kitchen and use a small table top oven and hobs so it doesn’t appear to be 2 separate apartments. Then rent out one to help recover the building costs while simultaneously providing living accommodation to someone who wants to live tiny but can’t afford to buy and build their own. Adding covered porches up and down would add to the ambiance and give more credence to the upstairs fire escape theory.
Required square footage plus help paying the building costs and provision of another TH for someone who needs it. Win win.
Cute house and a nice write up. Welcome to Sabrina
I really wouldn’t say it’s because of population density…it’s more because of the outrageous land and housing prices!
house prices are steep where ever you are in the world, even New Zealand
I see tiny homes in wooded areas and wonder how the water and electricity is supplied. I am very interested in these small homes. Thanks.
Nice!
I really like how the designers kept all the “basic elements” of a home and simply postured them into a smaller structure.
Nothing is comprimised and you retain “full sized” elements, but the space that contains them is now much more efficient.
I also love the corner front door entrance.
Very inviting.
My hats off to Smallworks Studios for creating such a practical and appealing layout.
I was so taken by these small houses, that I bought a 26’camper to convert to small house. as I dug deeper into the whole process, I discovered that you had to have a PLACE to put the tiny house. RVparks are very expensive, and no way are you living off the grid. I was extremely disappointed to discover cost of where to put house.
hi margaret-
i had to laugh reading your post because i have the reverse problem… bought 20 acres of remote property in north, central washington state- republic, wa- on rolling hills above the curlew river. i need a tiny home to plop on it. put yours there and we’ll time share!
I’m wo9ndering if you could divide the property up somehow and do a 99-yr lease, or something, versus subdividing and selling off peices, as that may be a zoning issue. You could make money and be picky about what kind of aesthertics you want for your “community”. Houses that are unique, but not shacks. HOA. You could have 20 houses on 20 acres! I’d be interested in something like this. Email me either way, as I’d love to know what you’re thinking is here. JKust one tiny house to share? LOL Kinda… “friendly”…
I would be happy to bring my THOW to your location
What a cute place! I’m figuring out that I’m more of a small house person than a tiny house person, love that you share a variety of homes.
I sure wish “laneway” or “small” houses would take off in the USA. Why aren’t we hearing about neighborhoods of small homes being built here? FL would be a great place to build a small home community. What’s taking so long?!
Small-house person, as well. The garden apartment I rent has about the same square footage as one. Near where I live in Bergenfield, New Jersey is a development built in the 1950s-60s of small ranch houses very much equivalent in size to this one. However, the one written about here is SO much nicer! The rest: What Dean said.
I love this cottage, I have a place in KY, that is about 1/2 acre with trees and close enough to the road that water won’t be a problem and driveway. the trouble is the county rules on building. I haven’t checked on the rules and regulations, but am told that if it has wheels it will pass as an RV and then no taxes. I want permanent, septic tank, water, reg. toilet and so on. How does it work to get the house down here? or do you deliver that far away. It is in the country, several miles from the small town.
I would like to see the floor plans and perhaps better photos. It is difficult to picture the whole layout.
I, too, would like to see more photos & definitely a floor plan. This is the most liveable tiny house I have seen, by far.
I find that many tiny houses are reinventing the wheel. So many boats
and RV’s have come up with very smart ways to get the most out of
the square footage, and they’ve been doing it for decades. I saw a tiny house for 70K – geez if you want to
be mobile buy an AIRSTREAM If you still want “custom” at least look
at into those markets for ideas.
strongly agree
Most people aren’t looking at being mobile… the wheels are to get around, to me, stupid planning regulations which say a house has to be x sq ft minimum. Outrageous! I’m surprised no one appears to have challenged this in the US via constitutional rights to do with your “own” land.
Nancy, down here in FL, they used to have smaller homes until the Northerners flocked down here and demanded the McMansions they were used to up North. My grandmother’s home that was built in the 1930’s was only two bedrooms and they raised four children in it without A/C and didn’t even have indoor plumbing for a toilet until the 40s. We lived in a smaller home several times when we have lived down here. The home I had foreclosed on me, was only 1250 sqft. Which isn’t tiny, but, small compared to many of the McMansions being built now. The current generation or the one just previous wants bigger/better. I would be happy to have another house about the same size I had before, rather than live in an apt.
Beth, I grew up on NJ in a house this size, possibly smaller in sf. They’re not all McMansions! Living in our snug little home instilled a lifelong love of small houses and cottages. McMansions are a blight on the landscape! Unless you have a very large family, it’s a waste.
Beth,
We are in the same boat. I had a similar 1250 home foreclosed on because of $5000 taxes. This is a minature at a fifth of the price. If I came up with a lot, could they build in Eaton Rapids, MI?
We have a variety of tiny houses available — from raw interior to completely fitted — completely assembled and delivered!
300 Sq. Ft. to just under 1000 Sq. Ft.
I am falling more and more in love with the many options for living in tiny spaces. My daughter recently lost her home to fire. She too is interested in a tiny home. Than you so much for the pictures and information.
My pleasure, Carol! Thank you!
I went to Smallworks website. What I discovered was the homes are custom built all over Canada. I found one house, less than 700 sf, in British Columbia, Canada that had a price listed. It was $260,000 + $40,000 in fees and taxes. So, total price is at least $300,000.
Would we be right in thinking that “fees” are permits etc?
And how does this compare to a “normal” sized house for the area in terms of size and cost?
I have to “laugh” at several friends who inherited houses in the NJ area and are holding on to them–often working several jobs and doing without or postponing things like having kids–because the “value” of the houses dropped a lot in the recent recession. Well–a house or a diamond or an apple is only WORTH what some one is willing to PAY for it at a certain moment in time. And this is something that obviously fluctuates. But to dump huge tax money and cost of living into these houses on the HOPE that they will once again be worth what they were say–10 YEARS ago? When NJ is already one of THE spendiest places to live in the world?
I agree that we need affordable housing for low-or -middle income ASAP—but when towns impose these kind of fees and taxes and size requirements–not going to happen. One of the REASONS that towns put in the 1000 SqFt “rule” is so no one moved a mobile home (trailer) onto their groomed and overly taxed streets. Even out here in Cow Town we have some of these rules now–and when a local home burned down and killed a child–an older house that was smaller than the rule and could NOT have been built now!–a company offered to donate a double wide trailer and the town fought them tooth and nail. They finally agreed after lots of bad press and many many people showing up at Planning and Town Board meetings. The irony is we have lots of older houses that are MUCH smaller because they were built over 100 years ago. And they also have imposed rules that say you can build a HOUSE–stick built; pre-fab etc–on almost any size piece of land; but for a TRAILER–you need to have minimum acreage–something like 3 acres. Can you say::: discrimination?
Charming, but obviously not a cheap build. Ideally, this is the smallest I would want to go for a 2 bedroom. That 2nd bath is certainly a bonus. Since kitchens are my favorite room in a house, I would be willing to sacrifice one of them for a big pantry. Loft spaces are certainly wonderful for an office or lounge area, but I wouldn’t like to use them as a bedroom when sharing space. I love the open floor plan in public areas, but for full-time residents bedrooms require complete privacy and sound separation for folks on different schedules. Plus, I absolutely have no desire to climb a ladder to get to anything other than attic crawl space.
I live in a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia. It’s a beautiful city to live in, with many outdoor activities all year round. It’s also one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in, primarily due to the cost of housing.
The main house in this article sits on a regular city lot, and the laneway house takes up the space the garage used to take up. It also incorporates a garage for parking for the laneway occupants.
That regular city lot, in Vancouver, is worth 2 or 3 million dollars, depending on exactly where it is. That doesn’t include building the house, which can cost $500 per square foot. The square foot price goes up as the size goes down.
Vancouver is trying to create more housing within reach of transit and rapid transit trains, rather than encouraging people to move out to the suburbs. Vancouver is surrounded by mountains and ocean, so the space for spreading out is limited. Housing around rapid transit train stations is multi-family, such as townhouses and condominiums, sometimes highrises.
You can google Vancouver and see all this. Seattle is also beautiful but is less expensive, and is in the US, a benefit if you are American. There is more space to spread out to the east, or on the Olympic Peninsula, as the mountains are further from the coast. Seattle is not hemmed as is Vancouver.
I am looking for more info for a small/tiny home that has 3 bedrooms. where can i find one?
You can scroll through this site to find 3 bedroom plans in the square footage you want. But a truly tiny house with three bedrooms you won’t find — not enough space! haha https://www.houseplans.com/collection/small-house-plans#s=MOST_BEDROOMS&p=1
I just want to buy the game plans so I can build in USA
The house plans* them auto correct!!!!
If you want to see other types of small house customized and built for you, visit Small House Solutions. https://buyasmallhouse.com