microhouse featured in highline times

A nice story about microhouse and backyard cottages (detached accessory dwelling units) is featured in the Highline Times. It features an interview with a client who built a backyard cottage for his mother. The cottage allows his ageing mother to live close to family and maintain her indepedence.

burien mother-in-law backyard cottage

magnolia backyard cottage takes shape

Design has started on Microhouse's newest backyard cottage in Magnolia.  Our clients are looking  to use some of the equity in their home to establish a rental property that could be used by a family member in the future. A secondary goal is to provide a home office for personal use. 


The steeply sloped ECA site has its share of logistical challenges as well as opportunities. Using the Eco cottage plan as a design departure point we are able to come up with a cost effective two bedroom design with a minimal amount of site work.  Tweaking the design to take advantage of the site slope we are able to pull the bathroom and circulation outside of the main plan into a tower structure that will house a home office on the top floor. The office can be accessed via a bridge from the main house via a bridge or from the cottage. The dual access allows it to be a third bedroom for the cottage or an office for the owners in the main house.  

 Microhouse -Modified Dragonfly Cottage

Microhouse -Modified Dragonfly Cottage

Microhouse small house plans available nationally

Microhouse small house plans and design services will soon be available nationally through houseplans.com. Microhouse will be one of the featured designers along with the likes of Sarah Susanka of "Not So Big House Fame". We are excited to be able to participate in the small house movement at the national level. This will also enable us to be a part of the growing backyard cottage movement as it spreads east to cities like Denver and Madison.

Ecohaus locations in Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco will continue to provide a great resource for Microhouse patrons.  Their well staffed showrooms are a great place to view our standard finishes and materials.

Rain Garden - Ballard

Here is a photo of a small rain garden designed by Landscape Architect Vinita Sidhu nearing completion Ballard. The garden is designed to handle the roof runoff from an existing garage. During heavy storms and prolonged periods of rainfall the rain garden will briefly fill with rainwater. The owner chose a decorative rain chain to connect the gutter to the inlet providing visual interest even during periods of light rain. 

The rich soil mix chosen for the rain garden forms a depression that will collect the water like a sponge slowly releasing it into the ground. Water loving native plants will thrive here.  Prior to the installation, the runoff was collected by a combined sewer system, pumped, treated and discharged into the Puget Sound.

Atom Prefab Cottage -Small House Plan of the Month

Our newest new small house plan the Atom. The idea for the atom cottage comes from a 1940's prefab house built by the U.S. Government as worker housing at Hanford.  1,200 of the small modern units were built. Many still exist including the 400 sq. ft. one bedroom model that I lived in for a year during college.

Infill cottage housing for volunteer workers, I thought, would be a great re-purposing for this house. In Richland, when the houses were originally built, land was in abundance and the car was king. The current proposal for an undeveloped urban infill site, requires a more compact footprint and greater emphasis on community. To date, two plans have been developed. One 200 sq. ft. studio loft unit and one 400 sq. ft. 1 bedroom unit. Contact us for pricing and additional information.

rain gardens in ballard

At Microhouse we have years of experience designing rain gardens and other water retention systems. Whenever possible we incorporate rain gardens as part of our overall design strategy along with thoughtful drought tolerant plantings and reduced impervious surfaces. Contact us to find out more about the possibilities for your site including incentives.  For the Ballard test area Seattle Pubic Utilities will pay $4 per square foot of impervious surface runoff collected.


Rain Gardens 101: Rain gardens are small retention ponds that collect runoff from impervious surfaces. In many parts of Seattle rain water that is not absorbed into the ground (runoff) is collected into combined sewer systems (CSO's) where it is combined with sanitary sewer.  The cost of conveying and treating this runoff is considerable which is why Seattle Public Utilities can offer incentives to homeowners who reduce runoff by building rain gardens.


In a pristine environment, most rainwater would be absorbed into the ground, picked up by plants, or slowly percolate to recharge local streams and ground water.  In urban area impervious surfaces like paving and roof tops prevent rainwater from entering the ground and must be collected and discharged.  Increased runoff from these surfaces create excessive peak flows that lead to erosion and water degradation.   Runoff often contains biological contamination from fertilizer and pet waste  and oils from road and driveways.  Rain gardens increase groundwater infiltration and break down these contaminants keeping them out of local waterways.  Rain gardens also create meaningful water features and provide great landscaping opportunities.


Check out the Seattle Public Utilities Rainwise Program for more great resources.

microhouse at west seattle summer fest

Microhouse will make a virtual appearance at the West Seattle Summer Fest along with our building partners Ncompass Cottage Company.   In collaboration with Ncompass we are able to a provide a more comprehensive design/build process. The integration the design and building results in smarter designs, improves construction quality, and reduces cost.

Stop by and say hi to Stefan and Drew and talk to them about your project.  They have 30 years construction experience working in and around  West Seattle and are enthusiastic about the new opportunities allowed by backyard cottages.  Their booth is located on California Ave SW just South of Key Bank.