Creating the Not So Big House: Insights and Ideas for the New American Home

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Sarah Susanka has a not-so-insignificant idea in Creating the Not So Big House. She contrasts the glamorous, glossy-photo house plans of vaulted ceilings and palatial living rooms with the livable, day-to-day pleasure of cozy window seats and comfortable breakfast nooks, and her conclusion is resonating with families across the country: bigger but shoddier isn't better than smaller and well made. Descriptors like "spacious" and "expansive" fill the real-estate promos, but Susanka seeks the elusive yet affordable qualities that turn a house into a home. And she provides more than mere ideals around which to rally. She selected 25 house designs, from a southwestern adobe to a Minnesota farmhouse to a New York apartment to a Rhode Island summer cottage, and she profiles each home in great and well-illustrated detail.

Her ideas for interior as well as exterior views, airy stairways, diagonal views, and framed openings translate well in an array of different houses appropriate to childless couples and large families, as well as hot climes in Texas and cooler regions in Vermont. There are traditional designs to fit in with Massachusetts styling and contemporary designs to adapt to California cliffs, and they range from country spaces to suburban homes to city apartments.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Bookseller ReviewsThink big, but plan small: That seems to be the message of Creating The Not So Big House, Susan Susanka's clarion call for coziness. This bold pictorial heeds the obvious: That activities should define the space, not vice versa. One doesn't have to be house-hunting to benefit from the book's interior designing advice. For example, mastering the concept of "bilateral symmetry" can help the most budget-strapped home owner learn how to clarify his or her space needs, and the discussion of opening up rooms applies to almost any living space. Ultimately, this well-constructed book is uplifting: For the first time, it frees us from being prisoners of our four walls.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This sequel to The Not So Big House builds on the principles laid out in the first book: creation of comfort, rooms tailored to fit a lifestyle, and construction that lasts. By thoughtfully considering 20 new homes and five remodels that span a broad range of styles, climates, and landscape considerations, the book shows how the not-so-big ideal can work in any setting. "Sarah Susanka shows how to downsize the dream house without diminishing the dream." — The Washington Post

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Susanka's very successful The Not-So-Big House (LJ 9/15/98) nimbly capitalized on the 1990s small-is-beautiful wave that touted voluntary simplicity, downsizing, and contentment with one's lot in life (especially if that lot includes an average, middle-class house in the suburbs). This follow-up features 25 new and redesigned homes thought to embody "not-so-big" principles such as shelter around activity, double-duty rooms, interior and diagonal views, variety of ceiling heights, importance of personal space, and so on. The book's design allows readers to flip through looking for ideas about trendy house types--Pueblo-style, the old farmhouse, Shaker cottage, shingle-style, Fifties retro. Simple house plans and carefully constructed photos of well-appointed space abound. The writing is unchallenging, nontechnical, sunny, even cozy. Couples and architects are referred to by given names (Barry and Susan, Sally and Gary), and each episode follows a rather numbing, prosaic pattern--unhappiness with present quarters, lifestyle examination, and problem-solving (unfortunately without expenses listed), concluding with "not-so-big" bliss. While the first book is not required prior reading, this is best recommended for libraries where the first book proved popular.--Russell T. Clement, Northwestern Univ. Lib., Evanston, IL Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Booknews

Focusing on key design strategies such as visual weight, layering, and framed openings, home architect Suskana takes a close look at 25 houses designed to emphasize quality over the size of the structure. The houses represent a wide variety of styles and emphasize comfort and beauty, a high level of detail, and a floor plan designed for today's informal way of life. Extensively illustrated with color photographs. Oversize: 10.25x10.25. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Internet Book Watch

The author's first book proposed a blueprint for a smaller American house design which promoted quality over quantity: Creating the Not So Big House continues in the same vein, revealing the blueprint in action with a focus on key design strategies which achieve objectives in line with her 'not so big' principles. Packed with design ideas and color photos of finished projects.

Cathleen McGuigan - Newsweek

[A] practical guide for home builders and remodelers—full fo ideas and plans—which also continues her attack on the wasted formal spaces and grandiosity of the new suburban McMansions.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Steven Gordon