The lack of an entry and the bathrooms opening into the kitchen would not be my cup of tea!

Which design are you referring to?

For me it is a big no to bathrooms opening into the kitchen and I don’t care for the laundry being in the kitchen.

All 4 plans that you're showing have the bathrooms opening into the kitchen.

Have you considered talking to a local architect to design a home with you that meets your needs and fits your site?
Taking a house that was designed for someone else (maybe nobody) somewhere else (maybe nowhere) and trying to fix it can leave you with 'baggage' from the original design that is useless but lingers, and it restricts creativity. You have specific needs that is making your search like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I believe starting afresh will give you the best results. Shop around for a local architect, they are not all the same.

Mark, I can't afford an architect. This is a small house for a person of limited means.

Many people spend countless hours looking for the perfect design an never really find it; or spend money on buying the design and more money on altering the deign they bought.

Spend a little time talking to a couple local architect that design homes, it will be a good investment.

Mark, I wish that were possible, but it's really not.

Sometimes the only difference between "impossible" and "possible" is a tiny bit of effort.

All kinds of people, from wealthy to poor, need housing. We do our best with our resources. Lack of resources isn't necessarily related to lack of effort. I don't want to mine architects for their ideas knowing that I don't intend to hire them. That would be disrespectful and dishonest. The only question is, what do you think of the proposed designs, and do you have other designs or online resources for designs to suggest?

What activities does the living room have to accommodate? Hopefully the piano is a console or digital, but it also has a bench, and perhaps storage? What other musical activities, how much and what kind of space is needed? (I ring handbells and the playing, maintenance, and storage take up a lot of space!) What kind of art do you do?

Do you have a screen for watching tv/streaming/etc? Do you have visitors?

Lay out imaginary furniture for all your desired activities in the living rooms you shared. Remember to leave room for walking around. In the first one, the living room says it is 19x13, but subtract the walkways and the space available for furniture is about 14x9, and that has to accommodate open space for your feet when sitting down.

Most of the living rooms are really large passageways between kitchen, bedroom, entry, and garage, often with the traffic crisscrossing on the diagonal.

Perhaps look for houses that have an entry that is not in the living room, such as an enclosed breezeway connecting to the garage. And if you want to accommodate guests who might need to use your bathroom, and yiu don’t want them walking through your bedroom, consider something with a central hall, and all rooms including bathroom open off of it. Not all hallways are wasted square footage.

You might look for small MCM or other modern style homes.

Only 675, but the layout makes sense. Something like this but with the rooms enlarged to give you a tad more space.

May I ask why you want to build instead of purchase? I'd think purchasing would be much more cost effective.

Hats off to you for living with less space when you don't need more.

Kendrah, that’s a nice plan. Private spaces are private, bath is still accessible to guests (I’m sure OP needs only one sink). The ”virtual passage” from front door to back hall secures the living room as its own space. A garage could probably be attached to the left side.

Talk to the local architects to see what their services cost and what they can do for you, not to talk about the actual design of any certain house. It is a preliminary interview, not engaging in any of their services.

@bpath The living room will be used for music (full-size digital cabinet piano with bench and some place for music books, guitar), art (which could be done at a kitchen island), and my job, which requires only an armchair, laptop, and printer. My artwork is compact except for a medium-sized easel; no large oil paintings. I've replaced my heavy living room furniture with wicker ahead of this move. There will be no TV in the living room, so no need for a TV cabinet. Two sets of bookshelves will take up 6' of wall space. There will be no kitchen table, island only. I'm downsizing and simplifying my life. There could be visitors, but they don't enter into my design.

I like your idea of an entryway, with a coat and boot closet. I assume a common problem with small houses is that there's not enough room for hallways. I actually don't mind having the bathroom off the kitchen, since I/most people go to the bathroom more often during the day than at night.

Kendrah, I like the mudroom in that design. It looks very practical. Could the mudroom come off a garage?

Kendrah's design looks very nice. and I agree that if you made it a bit bigger to get to your 900 square feet, it would work very well. Keep in mind that it's not a long walk from anywhere in a house that small to the bathroom. Re the bathroom, I wouldn't have two sinks, since you are the only resident.

And yes, the mudroom could lead to a garage. How large is the lot and where would the house sit on it? What are the setback requirements?

Hi, treadsoftly,

Before purchasing a plan or property on which to build, I suggest you get some "ballpark" construction cost estimates from builders for the type of home you have in mind. You may find that downsizing to a newly constructed, smaller home involves a considerable upsizing of your housing investment.

Charles Ross, I've already done that, thank you. Diana Bier, I don't have land yet. I'm searching.

Have you considered a pole barn with a toilet and a sink and figure out the rest after you move in?

You kind of need the lot first, so that you can plan a house that will be appropriate for it, for approach, accessibility, light, slope, views, etc.

There could be visitors, but they don't enter into my design.

If they don't enter into your design, they probably won't enter into the house! It truly is something to consider when a space is this small - where will someone else comfortably sit when they come to visit.

Armchair

Printer

Music books

Guitar

Piano an bench

Medium easle

These things do take up space! What seating do you want aside from your one armchair from which to work?

I'd tape off part of your current living room and put into it everything you want in your new smaller space and see how it all fits with your wicker furniture. In my mind wicker furniture is bulky and not something I imagine in the foot print of a small home.

Also, if you are buying land, I presume you don't live in a city -- correct? If so, then does that mean you drive a car everywhere you go? If yes, then is a front door functional? Obviously you need appropriate egress, but maybe think about a non-traditional layout that tends to focus on entryway into the living room from a front door.

Will you park in the garage or will it be more of a throw stuff in storage garage? What door will you actually walk in and out of? I'd have that door go into your mudroom. Yes, I think a garage can go on the mudroom side of the plan I posted.

@ Kendrah This is a small house, not a tiny house. There will be seating room. I'm not worried about that. The bedroom is the least important space for me. If space needs to be shifted, I would sacrifice bedroom space in favor of the living room, where I will be spending the most time.

In downsizing, I decided to not take anything with me that I can't physically handle myself. My wicker furniture (sofa, loveseat, armchair) is very light in weight and appearance.

In my opinion, all houses need a front door. I will park in the garage and usually enter the house from the garage. An important goal is to carry groceries the shortest distance possible to the kitchen. The garage needs significant space for storage besides the car.

"You kind of need the lot first, so that you can plan a house that will be appropriate for it, for approach, accessibility, light, slope, views, etc." I'm working on finding land. I am avoiding steep land. Once I find land, this project will happen quickly so I need to plan the house now.

With all the storage space you want, it’s surprising you won’t keep your bigger house. It is going to cost you WAY more than that current house cost you to build new and ”small”. Because the amount of required spaces like kitchens and baths are a far higher % than in a larger house. Fir someone with limited means, it will be much cheaper to keep what you have. Even long term, it will be massively cheaper.

" It is going to cost you WAY more than that current house cost you to build new and ”small”. " With all due respect, you can't possibly know what my specific situation is to make that statement. I try to respond only to comments that answer my question. Giving more details only invites more questioning of people's decisions and then the OP has to defend why they decided to do such-and-such. The given here is "I want to build a one-story, 1BR house around 750 to 900 sq ft, with washer and dryer on the main floor, and preferably with a 1-car garage." That's 6 decisions I've already made. The question, again, is what do you think of the designs I've found? So far no one has mentioned the exterior designs of the houses. I hope someone will.

I like the exteriors of the first two houses better than the second two. The gabled roofs with the trim are nicer than the other two, which kind of look like sheds. See if you can use those exteriors with Kendrah's floor plan but bigger to get to 900 square feet.

Diana, I also like the first two designs better. I worry that they might be more expensive to build because they have some unnecessary features, but those features are what distinguish them. I notice with the two simpler designs that good colors and landscaping help to overcome their simplicity. I think " those exteriors with Kendrah's floor plan but bigger to get to 900 square feet" would work for me. Since I can't afford an architect I'll keep looking to see if I can find that online.

Good luck to you in your quest!

Anyone who thinks a 900 sf house will be cheaper than an 1800 one long term is just fooling themselves. Or lives in a completely uninsulated 1919 miners shack. Existing homes are always the cheaper option over building new.

Here's a fun challenge for you: When would building a new 900 sq ft house be the wiser decision financially than continuing to live in an existing house twice the size? List as many scenarios as you can think of. I tried this and came up with 17 scenarios without using Google AI.

It's never wiser, if the house is paid off. If you owe the bank, it's still never wiser if you have a sub 5% mortgage.

Just don't use the rooms that you find excessive. Or, rent them out, and make some cash.

You would need to perform a differential analysis, listing ALL the costs involved with each option, as well as the proceeds from selling the existing house, which would reduce the costs of the new build. You'd need to factor in all the operating and financing expenses of each option, and then also include the tax effect of each. Then select the one with the lesser cost. The devil is in the details.

That analysis has been done and verified. It's unrelated to my design question.

Then why did you pose the "fun challenge"? No one can answer that question without all the information I noted in my post.

Good luck and bless your heart.

The fun challenge was for two people who stated that building a small house always costs more than continuing to live in a larger house. That's an unfounded statement. You can't possibly know all the details of a poster's situation, and it's useless to make such conjectures without all the information, as you mention. But why make such a statement if the poster's question wasn't "Will it cost me more to build a small house or stay in my current house"? There is a very long list of factors that enter into the decision to buy or build: a person's age, finances, life goals, desires, available help, location, market conditions and on and on. It's important to respect people's right to make their own decisions and their privacy and not press them to justify their choices publicly. No matter what answer I give to explain why I've decided to build a house, people will challenge it. That's an unhelpful distraction when my question was only about the design of the house. M

" . . . building a small house always costs more than continuing to live in a larger house. That's an unfounded statement."

If you stay in your house you do not have to pay for:

Find and purchase the lot

Research the type of house you want

Research and hire the building team

Get the required permits from the township

Clear the property

Level the site

Prepare the land for the foundation or basement

Install footings

Pour the foundation

Install drains, sewers, taps

Have an inspection done on the foundation

Build the frame of the house

Apply sheathing to exterior walls

Install windows and exterior doors

Install HVAC system

Install rough plumbing

Have an inspector evaluate the new plumbing

Install electrical wires and panels

Get an HVAC and electrical inspection

Put a roof on the home

Install insulation is installed

Hang drywall

Paint the walls

Install exterior finishes

Lay flooring throughout the house

Complete window sills and trim

Install cabinets and vanities

Install light fixtures, outlets, and switches

Install bathroom fixtures

Hang mirrors

Complete landscaping and hardscaping

If you build a new house you have to pay for all that and more.

Sports equipment and a piano do not fit in those designs. A 1 car garage does not fit in a small budget. There is a lot of cognitive dissonance between the words and plans, and the wants and budget.

I'm not going to comment any further on whether I should build a house and what the comparative cost will be.

964 square feet. My mom lives in a place just about this size, and it's comfortable for a single person -- but only because she added a large shed for storage. Her closet and pantry are similar to this houses' storage, and they're enough for every day -- but she didn't have enough space for seasonal storage, memory storage, etc. Her shed is nice with heat /air, and she has a craft desk out there. Thoughts:

- You could create a sports storage area in the garage.

- The vaulted ceiling will make a small space feel larger.

- I dislike that the main living room will have so little light.

- Open the HVAC closet into the bedroom to give yourself a blank wall space for a small table by the door.

- A 4x6 shower is rather large. You could take it down to 3x6 without any loss of function.

- No good place to hang towels for this shower.

- Flip-flop the laundry and the half bath so the dryer can vent directly to the outside.

Although this layout is MUCH like the first one, at 716 square feet, it is 20% smaller than the first one, and that'll make a significant difference in the quality of life -- but probably not a lot of difference in the cost. #1 is better.

- Some of the same pros /cons as the first house.

- I like that the bathroom has two entrances /you wouldn't have to go through the bedroom during the day.

- Once you place a kitchen table, it'll be in the way of the bedroom door + the bathroom door. A constant irritant.

- This one will be cheaper to build, as the roofline and porch are super simple. Also, lack of a fireplace will save money.

- Again, lack of light in the main living space.

- The living room is smaller, and without the vault will feel very small.

- The island is practical, as it adds storage -- but will you be okay with it as your eating space?

- Flip-flop the shower and the laundry to get the dryer on an exterior wall.

- This larger bathroom will be more comfortable. Lose the duplicate sink.

This is basically the same as #3:

- Again, this super simple roofline and simple shape will make it more affordable to build.

- Losing the garage gives you windows /natural light from two sides in the living room. This will make the room significantly more pleasant.

- This bedroom is smaller, which is fine -- I'd think about adding that space to the living room.

- Do you like the idea of a stacked washer/dryer?

- Are you okay giving up the back porch?

Finishing my thoughts here, as I was afraid of running out of space in my just-above post:

You say budget is important. Space and layout aren't the only things that make a difference in the cost:

- I think you already know that a simple shape and simple roofline will cost less -- you've chosen simple layouts.

- A slab foundation will cost less than a crawl space.

- Consider that it may be difficult to engage a builder for such a small house. They can make more profit on a medium-to-large house.

- These houses all sport large front porches /some have rear porches. I've read that -- on average -- porches and garage spaces cost about 60% as much as finished indoor spaces. Think about whether you need these. Consider whether you could be happy with a smaller porch.

- The finishes you choose will affect your final price. Linoleum and carpet are cheaper than wooden floors and tile. Laminate countertops will cost less than granite or marble countertops. An acrylic surround and shower curtain will cost less than a tile shower with a glass door. Consider carefully what you really care about and spend intentionally.

- Consider which items will save you money later; for example, a brick house will cost more up front, but it's all but maintenance-free as the years go by.

- Similarly, these house plans all seem to show metal roofs. They cost more than asphault shingles, but they will probably last the rest of your life.

- Do spend on things that cannot be changed later -- mainly your square footage. Have you visited houses (or apartments) of roughly this square footage? You need to KNOW what you're choosing, and most of us need to SEE how big these spaces will be.

I know you say you don't want to hear it, but everyone IS telling you the truth about building being more expensive than buying something existing. Price out what you want, but keep that fact in the back of your mind.

The lack of an entry and the bathrooms opening into the kitchen would not be my cup of tea!

- My first house had no entry similar to these houses. Thinking back, if I'd been smarter then, I see how I could've created something decent by arranging furniture purposefully. You can find articles about this online -- but think through it before breaking ground.

- The bathroom opening into the kitchen will be a problem when the OP has guests.

I don’t care for the laundry being in the kitchen.

- My first house also had laundry in the kitchen. I didn't mind the location in terms of use, but what I hated was that it was NOISY, and it was disruptive to activities in the living room.

Hopefully the piano is a console or digital, but it also has a bench, and perhaps storage?

- I don't see how a piano is going to fit in any of these living rooms, especially as most people want their pianos to be placed on interior walls.

Only 675, but the layout makes sense. Something like this but with the rooms enlarged to give you a tad more space.

- This layout is nicer than anything the OP suggested. The arrangement of the rooms just makes more sense.
- I like the mudroom entry /storage + the bathroom's position.

- The bedroom is a little smaller, but that's the room I'd skimp on.

- It'd be possible to add a couple feet on the bedroom /living room side.

I don't have land yet. I'm searching.

Always land first. Always. If you're buying in a subdivision, you may be required to build X number of square feet -- or certain materials. And the positioning of the sun makes a big difference in where you want to lay your rooms.

Once I find land, this project will happen quickly so I need to plan the house now.

So you have a builder lined up? A time table? Financing is already secured? You've researched the permit process? I think you're kinda fooling yourself about speed.

Mrs. Pete, thank you very much for all the time you put into reply to my original post. Your comments are extremely helpful and they give me a lot to think about.

I've been playing with creating floor plans for our dream home for like two years now. It's super fun and relaxing for me. I started doing it because I planned to go smaller. However, once I got to messing around with it, researching clearances, and thinking what would be helpful for *us*, things changed. If once we get our land and it's all said and done, we have to have a mortgage again for 10 years - I really don't care. What we would gain by having everything on one level and not having to gut our current house and remodel the entire thing to fit for our aging selves, while having the possibility of not being able to use the basement because stairs (which are already getting to be an issue at times)..the peace of mind for us is so worth it. Doesn't matter if it's not "worth it" on paper or to anyone else.

As far as happening quickly, I don't know about that..I know there's a lot that goes into building a home, and it's not buying the land and the next day you've got a crew coming to put up a house, or a crane to just set it down and leave. Depending what the land looks like it might be a while just getting the ground ready, dirt work, any systems that need to be put in, etc. If you plan your house to face a way and the land you get works better with views, access, etc, to face a different way, or it's deeper or wider than you'd planned, etc, all those things have an effect on your plan. I think you gotta be able to pivot your thinking at times.

I'll add I don't care for any of the plans you linked - I'd figure out how to have bathroom access not directly in the kitchen. I liked the one Kendrah posted better. Also I'd rather have a half bath for guests instead of just one bathroom with a second door. We don't have a half bath, and I added one to my plan.

All houses need two exterior doors. Its code most places, and in any case, it is a safety issue. If you should have any guests, they will not want to use your bathroom, when the entrance is in the kitchen. Kendrah's plan is much nicer than any you posted. I dont understand, why you dont just look for existing homes if money is a big issue. Building can cost a lot, and there are always extra costs, that you dont see in original estimate.

I bought a $50K 900 sf house rather than pay 275K for a new one. 2015 prices. 2025 is probably double now for a new build. Meanwhile, I spent 75K on redos for my little house, and it’s now worth 250K. And the neighborhoid is gentrifying. Not setting the market on fire, but it’s still a far better choice for a low budget than a new build.

There are some great suggestions and questions already laid out so I'll just add a couple that would be on my mind...

1. Is this a home you plan to age-in place? If so, you'll want to consider things like wider door openings, accessible bathroom sizes, etc.

2. Are there building ordinances in your area, or wherever you build as to the minimum size house that must be built as the primary residence? In Maine, for example, we're looking to build a summer place and there is a 1000 square foot minimum for new builds. I'm sure this has to do with property tax calculations.

Good luck!