Talk about an extreme makeover.

As more evidence points out that the fantasy of owning a home with a white picket fence may not exist any more, or even be financially feasible, more people are turning to alternative forms housing.

In some cases, this means microhomes.

Minimalist-minded homeowners around the world are trading their houses—large and small—for homes about as big as an average-size bedroom.

Eco-dwelling

Minimalist designer Alek Lifeski created his 160-square-foot “Tiny Project Tiny House” in Sebastopol, CA, and shares the small, airy cabin with his girlfriend and dog. He build the home with a sustainably sourced metal roof and cedar and steel siding.

His goal is to “live a simpler, more conscious, debt-free life” and to “set an example” about affordable and sustainable living.

His advice to others who bunk in barely there housing: Control the clutter.

This eco-friendly home has competition on the energy- and resource-efficiency front. Open Source Ecology, a nonprofit organization that shares its designs and building machines for free, is working with designers to create energy self-sufficient microhouses that would be fueled by inexpensive, local materials like wood.

The organization’s founder, Marcin Jakubowski, imagines “a world with little to no mortgage/rent or utility costs. We see this as a significant step towards personal freedom.”

Micro mansions

Small doesn’t always mean sparse. Just ask the owners of 100- to 250-square-foot “micro mansions,” which incorporate many of the luxuries of an expensive, oversized abode—scaled to size.

Used mostly by folks needing temporary housing or who travel globally and like a little place to call home while they’re on the road, micro mansions are most popular in major cities around the world, especially in London and, increasingly, in metropolitan communities in the U.S. and Japan, according to real estate firm Strutt & Parker, whose report Futures: How the market is changing, predicts these well-appointed miniature homes will be common within 10 years.

One such petite palace, whose agent has advertised it as “the smallest house in the world,” measures 188 square feet and is on the market for $450,000.

In north London’s upscale Islington neighborhood, the one-room residence has a bed that a resident can access by climbing over the kitchen counter, a small living room/dining room area, and a toilet—in the shower.

Help for the homeless

In Travis County, TX, a charity called Mobile Loaves and Fishes feeds the homeless, gives them jobs and built a small community of even smaller houses to rent to their once-destitute constituents.

The homes in the Community First project were designed and built by University of Texas architecture students.

Halfway across the world, a young designer in Slovakia has drawn up plans to convert some of his country’s billboards into shelters for the homeless.

Called Project Gregory, the design would squeeze a tiny apartment, with a kitchen, an office, a bed and a bathroom, between the three sides of a typical, triangle-shaped Slovak billboard. The project’s creator says the apartments could be offered to those who otherwise would sleep on the street.

Wee weekly rentals

With their own blog, Facebook group and TV show, Tiny House Design have created low-cost, low-rent, low-maintenance that have piqued the interest of Americans who—let’s face it—like their stuff and need plenty of room for it.

So instead of buying these exquisitely designed-yet-bare-bones buildings, many are trying them out first—on vacation. Per-night prices are comparable to a nice hotel room.

Popular holiday destinations like Jackson Hole, WY, and Portland, OR, are home to uber-small rental homes. (See a sampling of the listings here.)

Wheel house

One Arizona college student lives in a microhouse that some friends built on top of a tow-truck trailer.

In fact, many tiny homes are built with wheels—so they don’t have to follow all of a community’s building codes for a permanent structure. That means they’re portable.

The student’s $15,000 house will save her between $675 and $945 a month in rent, she estimates.

Hurricane relief

In Katrina-torn Waveland, MS, officials hadn’t embraced the smaller-than-they-ever-expected housing trend—until recently.

The TV show “Tiny House Nation” has applied for permission to build a 650-square-foot home there for a resident displaced by the 2005 storm. The city, which has a long-standing policy that forbids the building of homes smaller than 12,000 square feet, is expected to announce its decision on Tuesday. The mayor and aldermen have said they’re in favor of bending the rules.

Treehouse extension

There was a time when the only place you’d find a 100-square-foot house was perched between branches. And it had another name: treehouse.

Until a few months ago, a treehouse builder in Louisville, KY had always sold his creations to parents whose children wanted a clubhouse or playroom away from the main home.

Now, he’s selling them as the main home.

His first ground-level sale was of a 138-square-foot home that the buyers plan to use as a bed-and-breakfast rental.

The builder says constructing a mini-home is “a lot more challenging” than creating a pretend one. “I have to think of every single inch, every centimeter really, or things don't fit," he said. "If you're off an inch in traditional construction it's not a big deal. In here, it can cause big problems."

He spent around $23,000 building the microhouse, and he sold it at a profit of greater than 100%. It includes a composting toilet, carpeting and an oven big enough to roast a Thanksgiving turkey.