North Carolina: This serene 500-square-foot lakeshore cottage comes with 200 feet of lakefront and your own two-slip boat dock. (Zillow)

In expensive cities and sought-after municipalities, smaller homes are in high demand. But living in a small space doesn't have to mean compromising. With the right attitude and some creativity, your new property will be home sweet (tiny) home.

There are many weekend projects you can take on to make your home feel larger. According to the plant placement can make a huge difference. Putting larger plants and objects up front and smaller plants further away is a visual trick that creates the sense of distance.

Another trick is to plant tall, narrow shrubs outside of your home, adding vertical lines to create the illusion of depth. Home Depot recommends using columnar fruit trees or tall, narrow evergreen trees like cedar, juniper and arborvitae. Another way to incorporate vertical lines is with modern garden art, refined statues or water features -- like a rock fountain.

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If you're thinking of building a fence around your property, go vertical, not horizontal. According to Home Depot,Japanese gardens use vertical slats of wood or bamboo fences to make spaces look larger. Plus, they add privacy.

For inspiration, here are some unique homes that do a lot with a little. They're all under 500 square feet,.What these homes lack in size, they make up for in character.