Architect and author, Sarah Susanka, has written several informative and entertaining books about The Not so Big House. She shows you how changes in a home’s design can make your life less stressful and more enjoyable.

One of her latest books, Creating the Not So Big House, has a timely message for homeowners who are searching for answers about why their homes do not work well with their lifestyle. She writes that a slightly smaller home than you would normally need or afford, designed for the way you want to live, with pleasing details, can cost the same as a typical home that has large but unfriendly spaces.

The Not So Big House starts with the premise that “We long for a sense of shelter and comfort from our homes,” but many of the new homes being built today are just big, without the “quality, substance, and beauty” that we seek. How your home is designed and how it functions can have a profound affect on how you and your family live your everyday lives. Susanka writes that today’s home should be different from the homes of generations past because our lives are more informal. Each page is filled with photographs, plan sketches and examples of how the “not so big concept” works.

She shows and describes how rooms in your house should be thought of as spaces that support the activities we engage in daily. For example, using a “Pod of Space,” such as a central fireplace, can be used to define separate spaces in an open floor plan. Other design concepts she discusses include; visual weight, framed openings, spatial layering, and the third dimension of room height. Although these architectural concepts have been used for centuries by builders and designers, they are missing from many of today’s impersonal, too-formal houses. She shows you how to discuss these timeless concepts with your architect and builder.

Susanka first dicusses the concepts mentioned above, then describes 25 homes, selected from around the country, that illustrate the features of a “not so big house.” She describes one feature, the “away room,” as a place for adults that is “a quiet retreat without losing its visual connection to the social hub of the house.” The beautiful photographs and excellent layout make this book a treat to read and re-read.

If you are thinking about remodeling or building a new home, this book will be a fabulous addition to your library. Plans for each of the homes shown are for sale and available from the architects who designed them. BACK to HOME PAGE