Cabin Floor Plans & Small Cabin Plans From

This house comes in five variations that range from super–compact to small. The architect was looking to design a small building that did not become so obsessed with efficiency that it lost its presence. Smaller buildings can capture your imagination because they can be held in the imagination more completely– but there has to be enough visual and spatial interest to make it worth your imagination's while.

Cabin-1

In Cabin-1 the architect was looking for as small a building as possible that would still have: a decent kitchen and bath; an entry porch to pause on arrival; a screened porch for an outdoor living room; a fireplace (or stove) at its core; a definable place to eat; sleeping lofts over the smaller spaces; open plans so you can sense the entire space; enough modularity that parts can move and still be logical.

This building has 626 square feet of heated floor space, and 850 adjusted square feet. The adjusted square feet include both heated and unheated floor space, such as the screened porch and entry porch.

Cabin-2

Cabin-2 adds a couple of 2'-6" 'bumpouts' - cantilevered extensions to the kitchen and/or dining area. The kitchen 'bumpout' changes it from a super–compact kitchen to one that is just compact and efficient. The dining room 'bumpout' gives the dining area more space, and better definition as a space. The possibility of skylighting both these extensions adds another dimension of interest, and can add markedly to the sense of place and space in both these rooms. So Cabin-2 ends up with 688.5 heated square feet and 903 adjusted square feet. These extensions can also be added to Cabin-3 or Cabin-4.

Cabin-3

Cabin-3 consumes part of the screened porch with a "TV Nook" as an alcove off the living room. That alcove could be a space for a small office, a sleeping area with a futon that gets turned back into seating during the day, or whatever your imagination conjures up. Another change shown in Cabin-3 is the substitution of an inglenook to the west of the fireplace to provide a better seating situation. This precludes circulation around the central chimney, and the loss of some storage and the "ship's" ladder to the loft becomes a vertical ladder- but the potential seating in the living room is greatly enhanced. This option is available in all of the Cabin designs.

Cabin-4

Cabin-4 consumes another part of the screened porch with a downstairs bedroom. An alternate bathroom layout is also introduced in this plan (that could be used in any of the plans) that moves the door to the south, thereby shortening the circulation path, giving a space for a unit heater, but losing some potential storage.

Cabin-5

Cabin-5 simply combines all the options of the previous 4 designs into one loaded model. Yet even this building has a very modest 849 square feet of heated floor space and 1,012 adjusted square feet. Because of the symmetry of the design it can easily be mirrored left to right, the dormer can be put on the north side, skylights can be added, etc.

You should be able to play with these permutations and come up with a compact little house that will adapt to your site, while still keep its original presence, and feeling very much like home.

Foundation Info
This house was originally designed to have a crawlspace foundation. However, if you prefer a basement or slab foundation, these are fairly simple and inexpensive changes that your builder can often make for you.

Please Note
Due to licensing agreements, this home may not be built in Hancock County, Maine.