By Lisa Baker

Braun Publishing, hardback, rrp $75

We tend to think of minimalist style and apartment living as a contemporary concern, but as Lisa Baker explains in the introduction to her compendium of the slickest small houses around, designing petite residences has been a fascination among architects since the early 20th century.

While owning a smaller home is often an economical decision, miniature houses are now catching on for environmental or lifestyle reasons (just look at the Tiny House movement).

If downsizing is something you're considering, Small Houses Big Time might just seal the deal, and if you already live in a little space, you'll feel vindicated.

The 50-odd homes shown and described within are innovative, chic and charming. All are 60 square metres or less and presented in gorgeous colour photographs and detailed floorplans.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there seems to be a correlation between living small and living in harmony with the natural world, as most of the featured houses are shot against stunning natural backdrops all around the globe.

BOOKCASES: FROM SALVAGE TO STORAGE

By Aurelie Drouet

Scriptum Editions, paperback, rrp $45

The humble, functional bookcase finally gets its deserved glory in Aurelie Drouet's collection of 14 DIY bookshelf projects.

A longtime bibliophile, Drouet has a strong affinity for the shelves we construct to hold our books and views them as highly personal furniture; they do, after all, reflect their owners' tastes and preferences by virtue of what they contain.

Bookcases alternates between bookshelf designs that readers can create at home, interviews with leading architects and designers about their favourite bookcase projects and 'Inspirations', profiles of particularly striking bookcases in homes throughout the world.

One of the best aspects of the follow-along-at-home projects Drouet has included is how relatively simple many of them are, while also being stylish and unique.

The book's first suggestion is an entirely upcycled, space-saving design: a wooden ladder, scrubbed up and hung horizontally on a wall.

Others include wooden pallets grouped vertically, an incredibly easy concrete block and wooden plank construction, and - slightly more ambitious - continent-shaped shelves.

SIMPLE MATTERS

By Erin Boyle

Abrams, hardback, rrp $29.99

Decluttering and living with as few possessions as possible is very zeitgeisty.

Perhaps it's because our homes are shrinking as property prices and population levels continue to grow, or maybe it's disillusion with rampant consumerism.

Whatever the cause(s), articles and blogs extolling the virtues of paring back on our belongings and living more simply have been cropping up everywhere.

Erin Boyle is the writer and photographer behind one such blog, Reading My Tea Leaves. Her first book, Simple Matters, shares her story of shifting to a minimalist lifestyle, as well as tips for those looking to do the same.

Boyle is a gifted writer. Her narrative flows and it's easy to get absorbed in her words. She's also a hip New Yorker, and her unfussy aesthetic shows on the pages' matte photographs of her stylish, yet simple, home.

The how-to portion of the book is sprinkled with personal anecdotes and covers everything from organising your home to entertaining guests.

ALL THE BUILDINGS* IN LONDON *THAT I'VE DRAWN SO FAR

By James Gulliver Hancock

Universe Publishing, hardback, rrp $37.99

James Gulliver Hancock is a Sydney-born artist and illustrator who previously created All the Buildings in New York, and has a blog by the same name.

Now he's turned his attention to the architecture of England's capital, a city he feels a strong connection with courtesy of an English mother and regular childhood visits.

For Hancock, it's an interesting progression to move from portraying New York's "strong and linear" grid layout to London's "deliciously wonky and organic" streets.

Neighbourhoods get an average of a page each, and the buildings depicted range from the instantly recognisable, such as Buckingham Palace, King's Cross and the Royal Albert Hall, to less familiar spots, including Islington High Street and a Hackney gas-holder.

Hancock's drawings are accurate and finely detailed, yet playful and whimsical at the same time. Hand-written captions offer quick insights. This book is a fun volume for fans of architecture and lovers of London.