DIY Sanctuary

When the folks at ReadyMade magazine, the do-it-yourself bible for the young and the hip, saw 32-year-old furniture designer Edgar Blazona’s modernist prefab dwellings, they were so impressed that they asked him to design something their readers could both afford and put together “in a week in their backyards,” says ReadyMade editor-in-chief Shoshana Berger.

The result is the tiny 10-foot-by-10-foot abode you see above, featured last year in the pages of ReadyMade. You can purchase the 100 square feet of Plexiglas, steel, prefinished wood, and other materials from your local hardware store for about $1,500. ReadyMade sells detailed blueprints through its Web site for $35, and about 300 readers have taken the plunge so far, Berger says.

“This is the first time we’ve ever asked a designer to do this,” she says. “Prefab is just such a compelling new trend in architecture. It’s really hit a nerve with our generation of readers who are looking for something a little off the beaten path.”

Not meant as a primary dwelling, the sleek sanctuary could be used as a home office, a meditation room, an art studio—whatever you’d like to make of it. “Our lives are so complicated,” Berger says, “that it’s nice to have some simplicity at home.”