By Lisa Johnson Mandell | Nov 29, 2016 Marry the small-house craze with the equally hot trend of prefab homes, and what do you get? Small prefab homes, which are the housing industry’s equivalent to miniature schnauzers tied with a gift bow on Christmas day: extremely cute and increasingly in demand. Or, so argues Sheri Koones‘ latest book, “Prefabulous Small Houses,” which explores the beauty, variety, and benefits of small-scale prefab construction in all its glory. Also the author of “Modular Mansions” and “Prefabulous World,” Koones argues that these prefab homes may be small, but they are so beautiful and well-built, you can’t tell the difference between them and the supposedly “nicer” houses constructed on-site. Robert Redford, who wrote the foreword, is also a fan: “Building smaller, along with building houses prefabricated—in the process using less time, fewer materials, and using both more efficiently—is the sanest and wisest recipe for home construction, for now and for the future.” We talked with Koones about what we can all take away from these modest yet amazing dwellings. Q: What’s the biggest misconception people have about small prefab houses? A: The important thing for people to understand is that prefab homes today are literally indistinguishable from site-built houses. Realtors® don’t even have to disclose a house [they are selling] is prefabricated. I interviewed someone who bought a prefab panelized house, and he didn’t understand why I wanted to interview him. I explained, “your house is panelized,” and he said, “no, no, my house is a very expensive luxury house.” I said, “yes, it is,” and it was panelized and that means it’s prefab. Q: What do you consider a ‘small house’? Is it the same thing as a ‘tiny house’? A: The smallest house I feature in the book is 352 square feet. I differentiate that from a “tiny house” in that the one I write about is connected to the grid, it has a foundation, a septic system, plumbing electricity, etc., and it meets all the local codes. The largest house I feature is 2,500 square feet, and I’m considering that small, because it’s one of the smaller homes in Santa Monica. It’s all relative to the area. Q: What are some of the basic elements of the small prefab houses? A: In all of these houses, space is used in an intelligent way. A lot of the rooms are multipurposes. There are no large hallways or wasted space. All were built in less time than a site-built house would take, and are sustainable and low maintenance. Those are elements everyone seems to be looking for in homes these days. Q: Are small prefab homes less expensive than houses built on-site? A: Well yes, if they’re smaller. But price per square foot is usually about the same. But you save in other ways. Construction costs are reduced, because small...

By Angela Colley | Nov 30, 2016 When you’re selling your home, you must be ready for people to pop in at a moment’s notice. And no, it’s not like when your neighbor drops by to ask you to water her plants while she’s on vacation, and leaves in five minutes without noticing how many dishes are stacked in your sink or the layer of dust on your coffee table. Nope, these people will scrutinize. And they will judge. But you’re still living in your home—how do you keep it clean enough to make a good impression, no matter the time or day? It turns out you don’t have to hire a live-in housekeeper, and your life doesn’t need to come to a screeching halt just because you’re showing your house. Try these hacks to get the job done quickly and easily, so you can free up your time—and save your sanity. 1. Work the room Half of my cleaning problems come from not knowing where to start. I walk into a room, picture myself trying to clean all the things at once, get overwhelmed, and suddenly feel the urge to sit down for a while. Apparently I’m doing it wrong (no big surprise there). But if you know how to work the room, cleaning will go much faster.“ At first, follow the top-to-bottom and left-to-right rule for each room in the house,” says Lauren Haynes, home organizing and cleaning expert at Star Domestic Cleaners. That means start by dusting the ceiling fan, the top of the bookshelves, and anything up high before moving on. Going from left to right (or right to left, if that feels more natural) will keep you on task and make the cleaning go faster.“Then focus on the top eye-catcher places and things like floors, ovens, and bathroom [fixtures],” she says. While your instinct might be to clean everything, you might also go crazy trying to pull it off before every showing. Instead, zero in on what the potential buyer is likely to notice, Haynes recommends—cleaning it every day or two, and then doing a deeper clean once a week. 2. Use mobile storage As soon as you know you’re going to show your house, pack up everything you don’t normally use. “Remove all the nonfunctional stuff or things which don’t contribute to the overall look of the property,” Haynes says. It’ll feel weird to live like that at first, but the more stuff you have, the more stuff you have to clean. Once you’re down to the stuff you actually need, find a way to quickly and easily hide it when it’s time to show the house. “When we had a viewing on short notice, we used plastic and cardboard boxes...