Do I Have to Build a Big House?

Since I get asked about Dewees Island houses a lot, I thought I would expand on it some here.  No, not all Dewees Island houses are huge.  The maximum size of heated square footage for homes on Dewees Island is 5000 square feet.  There are a few homes on the island that bump up against that maximum, but most hover in the 2500-3500 range.  (Building costs can be high per square foot, because porches are pretty important here, but they don’t count in the square footage, which drives the price per sq. foot up.)  We have a number of homes with small bedrooms and large living spaces and porches.  If you’re driving around, many homes look huge from the ground, because everything needs to be elevated to 17 feet above sea level.

There’s been a lot of discussion about the really tiny house movement– and I have been collecting designs that might work on the island.  Here’s a link to that board on pinterest.  Here are some existing home interiors, and this board has porches with views.

Here are some photos of Dewees Houses:

Even though this bottom photo looks like a large house, it’s really clever. It’s 1600 square feet of house and 3200 square feet of porch.  It’s a great way to be part of the outdoor environment. Here’s a whole page about that house.