The home of the future: smaller, simpler, more affordable
Amy Pyle
Dec 5th 2009
Marianne Cusato was busy designing cottages for people displaced by Hurricane Katrina when requests started pouring in from developers, builders and homeowners across the country begging her to create a similarly compact dwelling for them.
“I was very focused on disaster housing and the small-house movement came to me,” Cusato told WalletPop.
Though Cusato’s 300- to 1,800-square-foot Katrina Cottages — now for sale at Lowe’s — are an extreme example of the smaller-is-better mentality, the movement appears to be more than a fad, especially now that the economy has tanked.
A slew of surveys shows that homeowners are looking to slim down, hoping for less space to heat, cool and clean, and cheaper mortgage payments. A recent CNN poll found 69% of respondents felt homes had gotten too big and Kermit Baker, an American Institute of Architects economist, reported in October that while people want a home office more than ever (reflecting in part the growing number of self-employed and telecommuting workers), special-function rooms such as home theaters, exercise rooms, guest wings and three-car garages have become less popular.
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