Home Petite Home

Image Gallery With a total of 640 square feet, the Speed family home is just right. FRANCES IDLEBROOK

Sometimes good things do come in small packages. As the housing market in America super-sized and homeowners demanded more square footage for their new homes each year, Sarina Speed and her husband, Ben, went the opposite route: They decided to build the smallest house possible to fit their needs. Their two-story home in Franklin, Maine, clocks in at 640 square feet and stands 18-by-18 feet, smaller than some garages. The couple shares the home with their toddler, Noah, and a cat.

Quirky, small houses are a tradition in Maine. And the Speeds’ home was as carefully planned as some coastal mansions.

Sarina says it was important for her and her husband to build an environmentally friendly home that required a minimal amount of fossil fuels. The couple originally planned to build an off-the-grid home powered by solar panels, but the initial investment would’ve been too much. After months of research, the couple decided the easiest way to achieve energy efficiency was to reduce the size of the house. Their research paid off; their monthly electric bill is about $20 (they heat their home using a woodstove).

That’s amazing in this day and age, says Dick Brown, former program manager for Efficiency Maine, a program that helps Mainers save money on their electric bills. “Somebody with a $20 electric bill is basically using the minimum amount of electricity,” he says.

Sarina acknowledges that the roots for their decision to build a small house were put down at an early age: She was born into a home that measured just 16 by 16 feet. “I was fairly accustomed to the idea of smaller,” she says.

It helped that since she and her husband met, they have pared down their belongings to the bare essentials. There isn’t a lot of space to store things to be used someday. “You only really keep the things that have memories for you,” she says.

But creating a comfortable home is about more than paring down; it’s about good design. In a small home, every square foot of space is important. “Every corner has to be planned,” Sarina says.

The Speeds bought their small-house plan from small-home designer Jay Shafer through his company, Tumbleweed Tiny House Co., based in Sabastopol, Calif. Shafer, who lives in a 96-square-foot home, has constructed or provided plans for 70 small homes, ranging in size from 65 to 774 square feet. The Speeds then modified the plan to fit their needs.