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All Photos/exterior/building type : small home

Exterior Small Home Design Photos and Ideas

Large windows in the rear corner capture views of Lake Washington.
The roof is made from locally milled hemlock board shingles that were left natural to allow them to weather, turning from bright tan to silvery gray over time. Four foot long boards in widths of 4, 6 and 8 inches were laid with a deep overhang to give the roof a textured look.
After renting in San Francisco for a decade, DIY couple Molly Fiffer and Jeff Waldman bought 10 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where the pair and their friends built a cabin compound complete with sheds, tree decks, a pavilion, a wood-fired hot tub, an outhouse, and an outdoor shower. The cabin is made from locally sourced, rough-sawn redwood, which the couple stained with nontoxic Eco Wood Treatment to give the panels an aged appearance and a dark patina.
After staying in a tree house listed on Airbnb, Remo Kommnick and Emi Moore wanted their own getaway in the woods. "It was amazing being up in the trees,
A family chose MyCabin to construct prefab structures in their home country of Latvia. The prefab structures have space for work, sleep, and relaxation.
The accessory dwelling unit behind the home of Sonja Batalden in Saint Paul, Minnesota, has cheery yellow siding that the entrance appears to carve into. “If the yellow of the siding is the wrapper on the candy, this is kind of like the gooey middle,” architect Christopher Strom says about the thermally modified ash lining the entry.
The overall home is constructed with larch timber, a British wood, and features a central ridge beam that gives it a butterfly-shaped roof. Shou sugi ban was done on the wood to give it a charred finish.
The buildings on the property sit close together, with carefully considered landscaping connecting them into a cozy compound. The main house's deck, which sits about 15 feet above the ground, sits on structural fins. Thin stainless steel railings almost disappear against the forest views.
Using a contemporary play on vintage ski cabins in Vermont, architect David R. Maclean designed a modern home that takes advantage of sweeping valley views and opens up to the surrounding forested landscape.
When the trees leaf out, the overhauled guest cabin, the couple’s “Scandinavian dream cabin in the woods,” is hidden from view from the main house, making for a private retreat.
Architect Minwook Choi’s 710-square-foot Seroro House rises from a tiny urban lot in Seoul that had long been neglected because of its challenging size.
The preserved grove of Redwoods is just past the house. “They loved the house that was there so much that, it was important to create something that wasn't trying to replace it, but would function for them in a different way,” says Boyer. Thus, this cabin reconnects the couple to the land, and gives them “that place of refuge” they need in nature.
The cabin has charcoal-colored metal siding and a punchy yellow-green front door for contrast.
Boyer first visited the site in 2018 for the redesign. Having grown up in the area, it was awful to see the devastating effects of the fire, but there were also signs of regrowth just a year later. “The redwoods had started to grow a little fuzzy green against the charred black [bark],” says Boyer. “It was kind-of promising. It felt hopeful that nature was coming back so quickly.”
The micro home that Architect George designed for a young couple in Newton, Sydney, Australia, features a greenery-filled courtyard that ties the interior of the home to the outdoors.
Laura and Juris chose Manta North's Slope model, which differs from its Ray model just in the roof shape. The metal roof can be built to incorporate solar panels.
In the evening, the bright green front facade of the micro home glows, bringing to mind nature and a sense of fantasy.
One of the selling points of the cottage was the meadow surrounding it, which the windows in the addition seek to capture.
“We didn’t want to wedge something into the site that was out of scale—everything had to just slot in,” says architect Jason Kerwin.
Although it’s just 924 square feet, Maria and Louis Gabriel’s Los Angeles back house, designed by Jason Kerwin of OKB, packs in a lot of program, including a family room on the ground floor and an office and a guest suite upstairs. The siding is by James Hardie and the stairs are painted in Celluloid by Dunn-Edwards.
The home’s 2,340 square feet span the upper and lower levels, while the basement can serve as an independent ADU, home office, or guest quarters. The lower-level entry is now more comfortable, with a wide waiting area protected from the weather overhead.
Michael Benjamin Lerner of the band Telekinesis collaborated with local prefab builder NODE to build a 392-square-foot DADU in Lerner’s Seattle backyard. The builder took care of design, permitting, site prep, and the foundation and framing. Michael tackled the finish work.
The ADU stands ready for guests—and the owners to use as a temporary home during renovations of the main house.
Reclaimed wood graces the exterior and wraparound deck of the ADU, which is surrounded by native landscaping.
The architect placed only a few windows on the eastern and northern facades, which intersect in a pronounced curve, to maintain privacy.
The compact home, clad in white acrylic stucco, features windows on the southern and western facades, opening the home to the lush hillside.
The Bracy Cottage — Front Facade
The Bracy Cottage — Front Facade
Why Now, More Than Ever, the ADU Is the Future of Home: Whether it serves as an investment, backyard office, or intergenerational housing, the accessory dwelling unit (ADU) has never made more sense.
A view of the opposite side shows the main entrance off of the garden and the LaCantina Swing Doors in the kitchen. The couple’s 1980s sailboat is moored along a separate dock to the right. Photo by Kevin Scott
LaCantina’s Zero Post Corner Sliding Glass Doors seamlessly open a corner of the home. “The large openings make it easier for us to live in a smaller footprint and use the deck as a functional living space,” Suzanne adds. “In that way, the outdoors feel very much part of the interior. It's wonderful.” Photo by Kevin Scott
Now, there are two different seating areas off the back of the house, rather than facing the driveway and neighbor as they did before.
A custom concrete planter is now home to a 70-year-old olive tree. The couple reconfigured the front porch to allow for a straight path between the front door and the driveway for better circulation.
Jeffrey Bokey-Grant gives his family’s traditional cottage an award-winning remodel that adheres to the original footprint. The original brick worker’s cottage is estimated to have been built in the 1920s. "The house had since been victim to neglect and a series of questionable improvements over the course of its life," says Bokey-Grant.
Nicknamed La Madriguera (The Burrow), this cozy, 538-square-foot home in Madrid is wrapped in lush greenery and mirrors that reflect the surrounding gardens.
Front Exterior
The Lookout occupies the alley side of the lot. “It’s a white box hovering above all of the visual noise of the alley,” says Humble. “We [located] the circulation to that side, and have all of our primary openings facing away from the alley toward the tree.”
The 1,120-square-foot structure is compact enough that it doesn’t encroach on the kids’ play area.
"For most of us, this is the first home we’ve owned and the first house we built ourselves. These are all floating homes, with specific requirements for materials. It wasn’t easy,” explains resident Wouter Valkenier.
“For me, sustainability is a social aspect of the neighborhood. It was a huge investment of time, but together we helped each other through all the technical innovations. None of us could have done this on our own,
Of the 30 houses, 15 are inhabited by more than one household. One home has three floors, the lowest of which is underwater, with daylight entering through the small rectangular windows above the waterline.
The Buiksloterham area in northern Amsterdam is designated for sustainable building, which made it an appealing location for Schoonschip’s founders. The houses are oriented toward the water and each other, creating a neighborly feel.
The residents decided to build with a limited set of sustainable materials; for the facades, that meant wood, bamboo, or cork.
Residents of Schoonschip, a floating neighborhood in Amsterdam, designed their own houses, working with various architects and contractors. The water in the formerly industrial canal is now clean enough to swim in, but the opposite shore is still a landscape of warehouses.
The exterior of Site Shack is covered in steel panels that are bolted to the framing. Look closely and you won’t see any visible fasteners, as Powers Construction’s welder was fastidious, creating a seamless shell with just steel and glass.
The Nook exterior features shiplap cypress siding, a reclaimed oak deck, and an entranceway of oak blackened in the traditional Japanese method.
The micro home in Warsaw that architect Adam Pszczolkowski designed for his family and friends features expansive windows framed by plywood and white-painted HPL panels. "I chose white because of its modern and timeless character," the architect says.
Esperance Chalet Village is located in the southwestern coastal town of Esperance, Australia. The compound features a mix of A-frames and other structures updated by <span style="font-family: Theinhardt, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif;">Fiona and Matt Shillington, who purchased the property after moving to the area from Sydney five years ago.</span><span style="font-family: Theinhardt, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif;"> </span>
“Without opening an umbrella, we can relax using the exterior long wood bench that’s shaded by the roof’s overhang,” Adam says.
The glazing in the kitchen area facilitates views of the lush gardens that surround the home.
“The main and side entrance doors were handmade using the same plywood we used for the interior walls,” Adam says.
The micro home in Warsaw that architect Adam Pszczolkowski designed for his family and friends features expansive windows framed by plywood and white-painted HPL panels. “I chose white because of its modern and timeless character,” the architect says.
The form of the 556-square-foot home in Tokyo that Tomoko Sasaki designed for her close friends inspired the name Milk Carton House.
The cabin and back deck are cantilevered over a slope in the property.
The ground floor is split between Gloria’s bedroom and the kitchen and living area, with a bathroom at the center.
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