New Year’s Sale: Get 20% off Dwell with promo code YEAR20
SubscribeSign In
Collection by Kate Santos

Small Spaces Under 400-Square-Feet

Embracing small spaces requires maximizing functionality and minimizing material objects. Here are seven of the tiniest houses featured in Dwell, all under 400-square-feet.

View 7 Photos
”It’s important to be able to get rid of the bed,” says developer Patrick Kennedy. ”To me, there’s nothing inherently more depressing than looking at the bed all day.”
”It’s important to be able to get rid of the bed,” says developer Patrick Kennedy. ”To me, there’s nothing inherently more depressing than looking at the bed all day.”
Tasked with transforming a 93-square-foot brick boiler room into a guesthouse, architect and metalworker Christi Azevedo flexed her creative muscle. The architect spent a year and a half designing and fabricating nearly everything in the structure save for the original brick walls. "I treated the interior like a custom piece of furniture," she says.
Tasked with transforming a 93-square-foot brick boiler room into a guesthouse, architect and metalworker Christi Azevedo flexed her creative muscle. The architect spent a year and a half designing and fabricating nearly everything in the structure save for the original brick walls. "I treated the interior like a custom piece of furniture," she says.
Eight years after construction began, this lakeside weekend home 80 miles outside Johannesburg, South Africa, received the long-awaited finishing touch that makes it an eye-catching thermal wonder.
Eight years after construction began, this lakeside weekend home 80 miles outside Johannesburg, South Africa, received the long-awaited finishing touch that makes it an eye-catching thermal wonder.
Outside, the couple clad the house with a rain screen of 1.5-by-1.5-inch strips of spruce to create a “modern rustic barn.” The extra-deep sills of the first-floor window become a bench on the outside and a shelf on the inside.
Outside, the couple clad the house with a rain screen of 1.5-by-1.5-inch strips of spruce to create a “modern rustic barn.” The extra-deep sills of the first-floor window become a bench on the outside and a shelf on the inside.
"I think of the bed as intimate space, and putting the bed away—having it out of sight when not in use—is satisfying," says Milan Hughston, who reconfigured his West Village apartment with the help of architect Joel Sanders. This custom-designed Murphy bed, concealed by day behind the gold curtain, is well built; it's ergonomically easy to lower and has a firm sleeping surface.
"I think of the bed as intimate space, and putting the bed away—having it out of sight when not in use—is satisfying," says Milan Hughston, who reconfigured his West Village apartment with the help of architect Joel Sanders. This custom-designed Murphy bed, concealed by day behind the gold curtain, is well built; it's ergonomically easy to lower and has a firm sleeping surface.
The resident, a Tokyo transplant, commissioned architect Tadashi Murai to create a fully-equipped structure that comes with its own power, heating and cooling, water, and waste-disposal systems.
The resident, a Tokyo transplant, commissioned architect Tadashi Murai to create a fully-equipped structure that comes with its own power, heating and cooling, water, and waste-disposal systems.