I think you meant for the title to read "12 feet square", which would mean a house that was 12 feet wide by 12 feet long. "12 square feet" would imply that the house is some combo of 3 feet wide by 4 feet long (or 6' x 2'). This house looks like it has a lovely economy of space, but not THAT economical!

nice call, rachelh - i was trying to make 12 square feet make sense!

Or, in other words, 144 square feet, which is still teeny tiny!

It's fabulous - inspirational.

I was looking at the exterior photo thinking "that house can only be about 4 feet tall to be 12 square feet." My mind was boggled by thinking about how small those chairs would need to be. I'm so glad you made this make sense, rachelh.

@rachelh, of course you're right! I've corrected the title.

The title is still reading 12 rather than 144

I don't think I could live in a space that small full-time, but it would make a lovely little weekend retreat. It's beautiful & simple.

I fantasize about living in a small house like this, on my own property, without benefit of urban jungle noise. I'd just like to meet with someone who does it full-time, and visit their home, before taking the plunge myself.

How did I come to this? Because when I recently couldn't get to my 'essential stuff' due to house renovations it turns out that only about a dozen items are essential to my daily life. I live in a 'small' house, at 950 sq. ft. it's certainly not a tiny house, but find I'm really only using regularly about 144 sq. ft. of the 950 (bed, kitchen sink/stove, favorite reading spot) and that was a real eye opener.

Oops - and the bath!

I checked out her website - really interesting... Rucy it looks like the home might be open to visitors if you are in the Bay area.

The title's definitely misleading; this place is probably about 150 square feet. That's as big as I'd want for a fixed home, and this looks like my dream fixed home!

(I live in an RV that's about 125 square feet and I have a sleeping loft with four rooms--study, dressing, toilet, and kitchen/lounge).

JulieR--Yeah, the page title still says 12 sf. But the POST title now says "12 feet square". Big difference! The latter means 12' x 12'.

Personally, this is taking it a bit far, even though it is possible (unlike 12sf!). I like to be able to turn around without whacking limbs on things. I'd feel like a dog in a crate--cozy for a few hours, crazymaking for longer periods. Maybe for one person, and without all the room divisions...I mean, I love small rooms, I hate the open-plans-for-all thing, but why not have the living/dining/study all be one room?

Oh, and this story is totally cheating anyway. This place has a sleeping loft, so it's actually probably half again the stated square footage. The footprint may be 12' square, but that's not how interior square footage works. And it looks like the bathroom may be in that little bumpout.

Also also: these people do not heat and cook all winter with just the prunings from their trees, unless their definition of pruning and mine are way different. Nope. Sorry. Not even if they keep it 50 degrees inside and that sucker is almost perfectly insulated and they eat mostly nuts and berries and only cook one meal a day. Cutting firewood is fine and I'm okay with it, it's not that I'm scolding them, I just prefer not to pretend they their firewood is magic. :)

This house is about so much more than interior design that I am hesitant to bother the owners about the colors. But how I would love to know what color they used for their exterior! I have tried 3 already on our house trying to reach this midnight blue and nothing brings the same depth and at the same time vivacity as what they used. Of course, it can be just the light or my computer settings but if somebody has the guesses of what paint is being used here on exterior walls, I would appreciate knowing.

Kind of reminds me of ancient times when witches lives in this kind of house. But still this looks great and cozy.