Your essential guide to small
Australian house plans
Over the past few decades, the attitude of “bigger is better” has dominated most people’s thinking about home ownership. The project home industry has been willing to meet this demand with ever-expanding floor areas in its house plans.
Most people are familiar with the term “McMansions,” which describes larger houses placed on lots that are too small for such a large building. Not only do these houses contain rooms and spaces not required by the average family, but this large floor area also increases the cost of the house and, for most people, the size of their mortgage.
With the increasing cost of home construction, the reduction in average lot size, and the reduced availability of residential land, many homeowners are now considering a “small house”.
In the past, we’ve provided some guidance on small house planning, including general strategies for designing a small house. Here, we aim to provide more details about small, efficient home designs, including floor plans as examples.
What is considered a small house?
A “small house” is a home with a floor area between 100 and 200 square metres. This floor area normally includes a single or double garage but excludes external areas like terraces, decks, porches, etc.
Here’s an example of one of our floor plans for small houses—as you can see, all the essential amenities fit into 178m2 on a single ground floor, making it ideal for modern living and family life.
What are the advantages of a small architectural home?
Small architectural homes have several advantages for modern life, including but not limited to:
- Lower home building costs
- Reduced mortgage burden
- Suitable for a short or narrow block
- Lower maintenance and cleaning costs
- Smaller carbon footprint
- Lower property taxes
- Closer family bonds
- Easily adaptable for aging in place
- Increased resale value (smaller homes are appealing to a larger market).
When homeowners choose small house floor plans, they can spend more money to achieve a higher-quality result because the floor area and the number of rooms required are reduced, costing less overall.
For example, a homeowner with a budget of $800,000 who wants to build a new home with a floor area of 350 square metres would need to consider how much money is allocated due to the larger floor area.
For the same budget of $800,000, a homeowner looking to build a house of 180 square metres would have more money available for a higher-standard finish in the kitchens, bathrooms, built-in cupboards, and more.
A small house doesn’t mean it is of poor standard or second rate in any way—often, quite the opposite is true. A smaller architectural home can be more luxurious in terms of the standard of the fittings and finishes.
Considerations for small Australian house plans
Due to the reduced floor area, the internal planning of a small house requires closer scrutiny. Homeowners need to use every precious square metre of space as efficiently as possible, so when planning a small house, the following factors need to be considered:
- Ensure that each room or space has an efficient and functional layout that is no bigger or smaller than required.
- Consider the furniture arrangements for each room or space to ensure all the required furniture can be accommodated.
- Consider using built-in furniture. In many cases, built-in shelving, cupboards, benches, and desktops reduce the need for additional free-standing furniture.
- Consider your storage requirements to ensure adequate storage is available. A small house will feel small if there isn’t sufficient space for storing all the usual household items.
- Spaces can be made adaptable or dual-use. For example, a third bedroom could also be used as extra living space, like a second living space or a study.
A small house doesn’t mean that the house will be cramped and claustrophobic. On the contrary—a small home can feel just as open and spacious as any other larger residence.
The difference between small house plans and McMansions is the reduction in the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and multiple living spaces. For example, instead of the “McMansion” with four or five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a powder room, a family room, a home cinema, a formal living/dining space, a kitchen, and a walk-in pantry, a small house might have three bedrooms, one bathroom, a powder room, and a single open-plan living, dining, and kitchen space.
See the floor plan below, which is designed for narrow blocks. While it may be smaller, it has everything a family could need for modern life and entertainment.
Unless a home needs to accommodate a large family, a “McMansion” is simply not required.
It’s important to remember that while a house will stand for many years, children have a habit of leaving home as soon as they’ve completed their high school or uni education and start working. This has created the trend of “empty nest” downsizing.
How can I make my small house feel bigger?
Spaces can appear to be larger or smaller than their actual dimensions depending on how they are treated. For example, a room with large glass doors or windows opening to the exterior and good natural light will feel much larger than the same-sized room with one small window and poor natural light.
Rooms with light wall colours often appear larger than dark ones. Also, rooms cluttered with too much furniture will feel smaller than rooms that have been furnished in a more considered, minimalist manner.
When designing your dream home, it is also important to consider circulation spaces such as stairs, halls, and entries. If these areas are designed generously, the house will feel more spacious and open. It is a mistake to design a hall with the absolute minimum dimensions, emphasising the small area of the house every time anyone moves through it.
As a general rule, fewer large rooms or spaces are preferable to a greater number of small rooms, so using large, open, multi-purpose spaces with sliding walls and/or large doors has been a successful design strategy for smaller homes in the past.
The house can easily be reconfigured to accommodate guests or provide more privacy for work or study. It might also be possible to design a computer nook or study area in one corner of a living space instead of a separate room for a home office. This computer area could be left open to the main space or closed off with bifold sliding doors.
Small architectural homes are perfect for those looking to reduce costs
Small home designs provide the functional spaces the owner needs while allowing more money to be spent on kitchens and bathrooms than a larger house. A smaller house, with a smaller footprint, will also provide larger external areas, yards, and gardens, compared to a “McMansion,” which needs to be built from boundary to boundary.
In today’s economic climate, a small block and matching home are viable alternatives to a “McMansion” or an apartment with the associated strata fees and other costs.
Talk to one of our experienced Architects about small home designs today. We can help you design something unique and efficient on a smaller scale to suit your budget.