Brenda and Marvin recently finished building this tiny cottage for themselves. Its 384-square-foot floor plan emphasizes a roomy kitchen/dining/living area encircling a dining table/bookcase combo. The downstairs also has a private bedroom and a large bathroom complete with an old-fashioned footed bathtub. Steep stairs (or possibly a ladder) lead up to a loft, and outside is a lovely 24-foot covered porch. It took them just eight and a half months to build – even though Marvin was laid up for over a month following a roofing accident – and the couple calculates they spent a little under $25,000 on materials.