Country Living Tiny Homes: Living Big in Small Spaces

by Country Living

Bigger isn’t always Country Living offers a look inside more than 25 tiny homes that maximize function and style. 
 
Downsizing has become a big trend —and many people are choosing to live small and smart in compact houses that don’t require huge mortgages or upkeep. Country Living  showcases a coast-to-coast collection of sustainable dwellings, all ranging from 100 to 1,500 square feet. Take an inside tour of these impressive little abodes, like a converted 1840s schoolhouse in New York, a 22- x 24-foot kit barn in California wine country, a 1914 New Hampshire coastal row home, and a renovated 1950s Alabama lake house . Along with inspiring photographs, hundreds of decorating tips, smart finds, and storage solutions will help you implement minimalistic living in your own home.

These charming cottages, delightful she-sheds, functional farmhouses, and transformative trailers feature a clever use of space and prove that going small can be simple and fulfilling.

Genres: Nonfiction, Design, Self Help

208 pages, Hardcover

Published September 4, 2018

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a few pages of ideas for making your tiny home look bigger at the beginning of the book, but mostly it is just pictures of beautifully decorated SMALL homes. I got a little tired of white walls, and white furniture. I know that's supposed to make a space appear larger, but it's just not my style.

[The Story Girl (Serenity) · Rating 3 out of 5]

While searching Libby for the book Small Spaces, this book showed up in my search results and I borrowed it because why not? At first, it was interesting to see how people try to save space, but after seeing one too many tiny homes... it started feeling a little claustrophobic and a lot cluttered. I started asking myself what I'd do with myself if I had to live in such a small space because all that clutter and the constant need for organization was making my ADD brain hurt, but then I looked up and remembered that I myself only lived in an ~800 square foot home (apartment) and it's plenty of space for me and I'm doing just fine. Whereas this book was highlighting homes with maybe an average of 1200 square feet. Huh. So in the end, this book just wasn't for me, and I'm wondering what people who live in 100 square foot homes are doing (although one is like a guest loft and the other is a mobile farmhouse).

(And I think this may have been the first book I picked up since Friday since I've obsessively been watching Lucifer on Netflix. Halfway through season two and I finally decided I needed a break, but after "reading" (read: skimming) this book, I'm ready to watch more already haha. Maybe.)

[hannah ☆ ୨ৎ˚࿔]

For whatever reason I am super intrigued by tiny homes! I don’t intend to live in one necessarily, but I always love the concept of minimalism and the reminder that we don’t have to strive to live in these huge mansions to be happy. So many people are still trying to keep up with the Joneses, but this book truly shows that less is more.

Definitely a fun little book to flip through that gave me lots of good decorating ideas!

[Etchison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like HGTV in a book. Maybe one day...

[Laur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soooo enjoyable!!
I got all warm inside reading this. So many beautiful homes. Definitely something I'd want on my coffee table to flip through, again and again.

[Shannon Telles lisowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book. Beautiful full colored pictures. Great storage ideas

[Rebekah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't realise when I picked it up that is was done by Country Living.
So that meant that all the tiny homes were clogged with the clutter of the country aesthetic.
I'm hesitant to rate it because it's not the books fault that I don't like that aesthetic.
But I also subtract marks for inconsistency. On one page they praise a style decision saying it accomplishes a good thing, then on another they praise the complete opposite decision saying it accomplishes a good thing.

So from that I learned: do whatever you like, it's all personal taste anyway.

Also, several of the houses aren't actually small. But I guess that's probably a cultural thing. Americans are known for having ginormous houses, and this book was put together by an American magazine.

But it was still interesting enough to finish, and look at the ways people make spaces multifunctional.

So I guess, all in all, it was okay.

[Joy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Disappointing. Literally half of the “tiny” homes in here were bigger than my condo. The first “tiny” home featured is 1,450 square feet. Size aside, I think this is a book to look at for visual enjoyment, but it’s not a book you look at to get practical, livable ideas. It was a cool photo shoot project; almost nothing is realistic. One bathroom had a live duck standing on the sink. At least one of the homes didn’t have a bedroom—it was really an entertaining shed, and not a home. So I was not impressed with this, and really didn’t get a single usable idea from it. A much better book on this same topic is Small Space Style, by Whitney Leigh Morris. That was full of excellent, practical ideas.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty book that makes you think that Living tiny would be charming ,except what about closets?

[Debra Daniels-Zeller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd give this book about a 3.5 because not all the homes in the book were tiny. For example, 1,400 square feet is a mansion compared to true tiny homes, and not all were even really homes, one was a treehouse and one was a greenhouse. Couldn't they find enough actual homes? But the book does have some great ideas for small spaces. Some of the things I really liked were: the cute hidden dog bed in the Minimalist Escape; using tree stumps as tables in Logged In, and the cloth skirting around the sinks in Charm School. Overall the book felt too neatly categorized with all the cutesy names, but it was interesting reading about how the wide variety of small homes.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a spin-off from Country Living magazine, this American book is full of great pictures and limited, punchy text, making it an enjoyable, easy read with lots of ideas and a huge variety of styles to inspire when designing and decorating small spaces. Some of the smallest don't really count as tiny "homes", because they are day rooms, stand-alone guest-rooms or garden sheds that are not self-contained homes in their own right, but each offers interesting space-saving ideas. The book also starts with a round-up of 20 of the best ideas for maximising a small space. The book's key message is that any space that is well thought out can feel spacious.

[oddrots · Rating 2 out of 5]

my rating: 2.5

There were some interesting homes and ideas in this compilation book, but there was even more filler. When I pick up a book about the titular subject, tiny homes, I don't expect for more than half the featured homes to have a square footage of over 1,000. The homes in the book are presented from largest to smallest, but once you finally get to the actually "tiny" spaces they begin to show off greenhouses and backyard party sheds.. ..so.. *not* tiny homes. ::sigh::

Could have been cool, really wasn't, but not a terrible collection overall.

[Grace]

This small-sized (like a tiny home!) coffee table book features great photos, homes of various sizes (though some of them are too big to be a tiny home, in my opinion) and styles, and tons of tips for maximizing the most out of limited space. Although sparse in text and lacking in floor plans, this book more than makes up for it in showing through photos instead of telling through text. Even if you don't own a tiny home, the space-saving tips will be useful for a house of any size.

[Miss Pippi the Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute little book about tiny homes. The book offers a short section on small home ideas, than jumps into a tiny home tour. Twenty-eight homes are shown from around North America ranging from 1,000 sq. feet to 100 sq. feet. Fun to page through and imagine a space that could be tailored for you. The tips throughout the book are handy.

Reviewed from a library copy.

[Caden · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book includes great ideas about starting out and the stories highlighted show how appealing scaling down truly is. I had hoped to get more concrete ideas about how to scale down and more examples of homes, but the book was better suited to introducing the reader to the general idea of tiny homes.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had tones of great space saving decoration and functionality that will work even in much larger homes. It had great ideas for color scheme as well. I know that as I get older that I will want a much smaller home than my current home and this will be one of those books that I revisit as that time approaches. It may be a few more years out but I enjoyed it.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up on a whim, thought I’d glance through it, enjoy the pretty pictures and move on. I am stunned at the quality of the book, the stories and the visuals. Not having a tiny house I thought it wouldn’t be relevant to me but this book has so many ideas that can make any space fantastic, highly recommended.

[Sue Fratianni · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great idea book and compilation of well designed small spaces throughout the United States. Think of it as a picture book of all things tiny. It gave me lots of ideas throughout its glossy spreads. Not a lot of details are provided on construction or remodeling, it's more a little book full of dreams. Thanks for the inspiration!

[Celestia Simmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

The pictures made me swoon

I have been researching tiny homes for a while. I dreamed of turning my garage into a retreat/sewing center, surrounding myself with my favorite things. It has taken so long to actually move on the idea that i can no longer live alone. Don't let your dream die.

[Jennifer Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love tiny house books! They are so fascinating and this one had so many beautiful pictures. My favorite house had a ton of wallpaper and was just beautiful!

Good for inspiration but not instructional.

[Laura Haske · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love efficiency in all things, including design elements. This book features a wide variety of small spaces. Each space was unique. I liked how the editor thought through featuring concepts that can be incorporated into any size space to make it function better.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kinda like looking at a sample book of every smallish home idea out of Country Living. Not a lot of context or anything, mostly just pictures of white walls, white furniture, blah blah blah. Not useful.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Country Living brand, doing what it does best - great photos of unique homes with decorating tips sprinkled throughout.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filled with great photos and decorating tips.

[Tonya Hardin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very coo and informative.

[Bonnie Arriola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the idea of a little house. Wish they would have included floor plans.

[K. L. Petersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great tips and tons of inspiration for anyone planning on making a tiny house their HOME!

[Beth Farley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Country Living design/decorating books are the best!!

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish a floor plan and an exterior picture was included for each one. There were some nice pictures and some good ideas, but way to many structures and far to few details.

[Theresa Hildebrand · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read to flip through & check out the cool ideas for small spaces. Thanks Country Living for remembering that not everyone chooses to leave beyond their means in a McMansion.