See an Eco-Friendly Backyard Cottage in 700 Square Feet

Anna and Donovan Watt had planned to build a studio rental apartment over a new garage in the backyard of their recently purchased four-bedroom home outside Seattle. But after they met with green builder Sean Conta, their vision changed. Conta showed the Watts that they could build a 700-square-foot, two-bedroom backyard cottage within their budget using efficient and sustainable building practices. “It made us start to think we can actually live in this versus [just using it] as a rental for somebody else,” Donovan says.

Once they saw Conta’s renderings of the proposed cottage, the Watts decided to build the cottage — with inspiration from Houzz photos — move into it and rent out the four-bedroom house instead.