"Katrina" Cottages

I follow the small/tiny house movement, as you know, and dream of downsizing someday into a very small space.  An odd interconnection between small houses and world events is the idea of "Katrina" cottages, meant to be quickly and cheaply built for people who lost their houses in the 2005 Katrina hurricane.

Houseplans.com recently released eight plans for these little houses, ranging from 544 square feet to a relatively large 1200 square feet.  I particularly like the fact that the 1200 square foot house is an expansion to one of the smaller houses; that a small 938-square-foot 2-bedroom (shown above) can be expanded to have an extra bedroom and bath.  At the website CusatoCottages.com, there are actually more plans, but they don't seem to be available to buy any longer.

Many of the cottages on Cusato's own site are designed with the traditional form of New Orleans homes, long and skinny with a front porch.  We are thinking of an addition on our farmhouse someday, and I like the idea of building an addition that's also a self-contained unit on its own for future adaptability.  This yellow house is only 308 square feet, which is not big enough to build as a dwelling in our district, but there are no minimum-size requirements on additions!

I can definitely see this cute little appendage tacked on to the back of our farmhouse!  I would have to make some minor changes to provide a back door that would attach to the lobby connecting the two houses, but I think it could be done, and the 7 by 13 bedroom with a closet stuck in the middle could be improved anyway, I think.  Perhaps I would have to add two feet to the length of the house, or move the middle window and wall between the bedroom and living room.