Tiny Houses: Or How to Get Away from It All

by Lester Walker

Book Overview

Both playful tribute and handy how-to, this is a wonderfully illustrated volume that features hundreds of photographs and detailed scale drawings. Whether you're a student of philosophy aspiring to build a replica of Thoreau's cabin, an ice fisherman in n

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879512717
• ISBN13: 9780879512712
• Release Date: May 1987
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 2.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 8.7" x 11.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

40 Most Enjoyable Tiny House Designs by a True Master

Loved every page! From the historical small houses on Martha's Vineyard to the tiniest, little bitty house - an OutHouse at the end (I always start by glancing through from the back) - Never knew there much thought required for a proper "privy". The corn cob bin was hysterical, and now I know what else those Sear catalogs were good for! Consider this book before it goes way out-of-print!

Tiny Houses, Big Ideas

I've owned Walker's book since I picked it up on a sale table eight or nine years ago. It's probably given me more enjoyable fantasy hours than any other book I own. I hope to build my own office/studio in the woods behind my house, and this book has fueled my dreams. I may never get around to building any of these structures, but I've been rewarded many times over by the inspiration of "Tiny, Tiny Houses."

These little houses are big on inspiration

Forty small, simple and wonderful homes presented in photos, plans and detail drawings by an architect who is an authority on American vernacular design.

A wonderful, wonderful book!

I am a professional builder and this is one of my very favorite books on residential architecture. It is a book that you pick up from the coffee table to peruse, and you can end up studying for hours. Maybe you're not interested in building an ice fishing shanty, or a camp cottage, or the tent house that folds out like a pop up trailer, but in this book there are interesting lessons, ideas, and details about space that apply to well designed houses of any size. This book makes you think. If you are in the process of designing a home, I guarantee you will be flagging pages, and jotting down notes on details. Tiny Tiny Houses is about efficient use of space. It's about good design. It's about historic homes. Lester Walker is an architect with a passion and it shows on every page. This book will have you smiling ear to ear!

Personal space on a personal scale.

I find myself coming back to this book again and again. To me, its importance is that it provides specific examples of how people have adapted their lifestyles to fit into remarkably small spaces. Some are less than 100 square feet, an area so small that the UBC doesn't recognize such structures as residential.A few of dwellings shown served as homes for the likes of Henry David Thoreau and Thomas Jefferson; the majority, however, are fairly simple vernacular structures, a few having been designed by the author himself. The text is concise but quite readable. The line drawings adequately illustrate the interior arrangements for living and enjoying what are often very limited spaces indeed; black and white photos answer most remaining questions.

- Highly recommended if you're building a small, unique home

My father lent me this book after I bought some property (19 acres) and told him I was planning on building a small dwelling there--not necessarily with heat and running water. (But with ISDN or satellite connectivity, of course. ;)The collection of house profiles is inspiring! From a thatch dwelling, to a two-story built entirely by the woman living there. Famous tiny houses include Thomas Jefferson's honeymoon cottage (which I will probably be building), Thoreau's cabin, George Bernard Shaw's rotating writing hut.Each house profile includes photos, sketches and floor plans (including tiny furniture).I'm coming here to get a copy for the friend/architect who I'm going to have draw up the plans!