Best Small Homes & Cottages Books of 2025

The book "Beautifully Organized: A Guide to Function and Style in Your Home" by Nikki Boyd is a must-read for anyone looking to transform their home into a decluttered and calming space. With her experience as a professional organizer, Boyd shares her five essential steps to an organized home and provides interior design inspiration with beautiful photography on every page. The book is not just about organizing but also creating a welcoming atmosphere for family and friends. Overall, "Beautifully Organized" is a recipe for a beautiful, fulfilling life and a great addition to any gift decorating book collection.

Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre is a comprehensive guide that covers everything you need to know about small-area farming. It offers a holistic approach to producing 85% of an average family's food on just a quarter acre while earning $10,000 in cash annually. The book includes topics such as composting, raising chickens, water and irrigation, dealing with pests, and much more. Brett L. Markham, the author of the bestselling Mini Farming series, provides detailed materials, tools, and techniques with photographs, tables, diagrams, and illustrations. This book is a must-have for anyone interested in self-sufficiency and small-scale farming.

Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills is an eminently useful, full-color guide that teaches basic living skills employed by our forefathers and adapts them for a better life in the twenty-first century. This book is perfect for anyone who wants to learn old-fashioned skills and escape to an era before power saws and fast-food restaurants. The book is complete with tips for old-fashioned fun, including homemade toys, kayaking tips, and square dancing calls. Highly recommended for dreamers and those who want to live a healthier, greener, and more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Camp Granny by Sharon Lovejoy is an interactive book that offers 130 projects for grandparents and grandchildren to connect through nature. From leaf rubbings to creating firefly lanterns, the book encourages being adventurous and curious while instilling a lifelong sense of wonder. Illustrated with photographs and watercolors, the book is more than just an activity book, it's an interactivity book. The author, who is a children's garden adviser, has four grandchildren and divides her time between California and Maine. Overall, Camp Granny is a heartwarming and unique book that celebrates the special bond between grandparents and grandchildren.

Feng Shui Modern is a House Beautiful Best Design Book that provides a modern guide to opening up living spaces using the ancient principles of feng shui. Interior design expert Cliff Tan adapts a specified approach to developing your own intuitive sense of space using traditional principles of energy. The book offers practical tips to help you find harmony in every facet of your life, from choosing a home to redecorating old rooms. This book is an excellent resource for anyone looking to restore balance to their own home using feng shui principles.

Best-Selling 1-Story Home Plans, 5th Edition is the perfect guide for those seeking to build their own one-story dream home. The book features over 360 home plans, including a wide variety of styles and sizes suited for any budget, from Traditional Ranch style to Country Craftsman cottages. With complete construction blueprints and CAD files available for each house plan, readers can customize their homes to fit their needs. The book also includes special sections on outdoor living trends, kitchen design ideas, and maximizing living space. With plans from top architects and designers, this book is a must-have for anyone looking to build their dream one-story home.

The 50th anniversary edition of One Man's Wilderness by Dick Proenneke is a must-read for those fascinated by the Alaskan wilderness. The book features an all-new foreword by Nick Offerman and includes previously unseen color photographs. Proenneke's memoir details his day-to-day explorations and activities while living alone in the Alaskan wilds. Sam Keith, with firsthand knowledge of the subject and setting, has woven a tribute to a man who carved his masterpiece out of the beyond. This book is not just a memoir, but an inspiring account of self-sufficiency and contentment in isolation.

The Ultimate Book of Home Plans, Completely Updated & Revised 4th Edition offers over 680 home plans from the top residential architects and designers in North America. With more than 1,600 photos, renderings, and drawings, readers can explore a wide range of home styles, from farmhouses and country cottages to luxury estates and vacation retreats. The book also provides practical tips and advice on selecting a site, hiring a contractor, and landscaping. The new updated edition features 282 new plans and 9 new articles on home design trends and smart home tech ideas. The 3D plan section allows readers to visualize and manipulate the house on their lot before building. This book is an excellent resource for those looking to build their dream home.

Coastal Blues: Mrs. Howard's Guide to Decorating with the Colors of the Sea and Sky is a must-have for those who love coastal style and charm. Written by design expert Phoebe Howard, the book is filled with inspiring images of beach houses, vacation cottages, and luxurious seaside manors. It offers solid interior design and styling advice, making it a hardworking how-to-get-the-look book. Phoebe's ideas, beautiful blues, and popular designs will delight you, your family, and your guests. This book will be referred to again and again, making it the perfect addition to your coffee table or a great gift book for any design lover.

The Complete Guide to Contracting Your Home is a comprehensive guide that teaches readers how to manage their home construction project effectively. The book covers every phase of construction, from selecting a lot to landscaping, and includes financial and legal details in easy-to-understand language. The updated edition also includes a new section on sustainable building and a comprehensive building resources section. With schedules, order forms, control logs, contracts, and checklists, readers can keep their project on track and save up to 30% on home construction. This book is a must-read for anyone looking to build their dream home.