In this sequel to The Not So Big House, Sarah Susanka shows readers how to create extraordinary "Not So Big" homes. She leads a personal tour through 25 of the most beautiful, well-designed homes in North America. More than 200 color photos, floor plans and design details illustrate this innovative philosophy.
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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.
Susanka selected house plans that are available for sale, because her purpose is to make affordable quality housing accessible to the general public, but they're also presented as catalysts for your own designs, because the house that worked for one person might inspire the plan that would work best for you. Whether you're in the market for a new house, want pragmatic renovation ideas, or are interested in the concept of space-saving abodes from a city-planning, philosophical perspective, Susanka's book is an eye-opener and a mind-expander, providing conceptual and practical tools to assist you in planning your own livable home. --Stephanie Gold --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From 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 typesDPueblo-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 patternDunhappiness 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.DRussell T. Clement, Northwestern Univ. Lib., Evanston, IL
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By M. Genton
Format:Paperback
This is a great book for anyone who questions the need to build ever bigger and bigger homes. Written by an architect but easy to digest. Simple but elegant ideas for creating more with less.
Format:Hardcover
This is packed with so many great ideas and principles. It'll change everything you thing you want in a house. A must read.
By R. A. Ward
Format:Paperback
I liked the way this book looks. It has beautiful photos in it, with a wide variation of house styles, sizes and cool solutions tailored to each homeowner/family. That being said, what intrigued me the most was *why* Susanka chose the houses, and what she saw in them that worked with her "Not So Big" philosophy. I have not read her original book, so none of the information was rehashed in my reading. Perhaps if I had, I wouldn't have enjoyed this book so much. However, I suspect that "Creating the Not So Big House" offers more in the way of practical application of the theory and is therefore valuable on its own. I also figure that since it shows personal interpretations of Susanka's original thoughts on homebuilding, it offers a different "flavor" of the same basic idea.
This book also made me want to buy the original, so I can get more of the pure "mindset" part of Susanka's message. Perhaps that was part of the point. :)
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4.3 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
An OK book, but WAY below the par of "The Not So Big House"
This is a good book. Unfortunately, it's a follow-on to an EXCELLENT book ("The Not So Big House"), and fares poorly by comparison. Read more
Published on Jun 1 2003 by Henry Perkins
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun and useful ideas
I keep buying copies of this book because its a book friends and new acquaintances pick up and fall in love with and I end up saying "Oh take it...let it be my gift"... Read more
Published on May 8 2003 by Beth DeRoos
3.0 out of 5 stars
Just didn't apply to my situation at all.
I have been looking through "idea" books for solutions to some of my redecorating problems and came across Ms Susanka's book Creating the Not so Big House in my search on... Read more
Published on Jan 15 2003 by Atheen M. Wilson
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not as good as the original
I bought this book having enjoyed the original Not So Big House, but I found this book to be disappointing - it is very repetitive and doesn't contain any new ideas. Read more
Published on Nov 8 2002
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the most valuable books i own
This book is amazing! I bought both books (the not so big house and this one) and they were incredibly valuable in designing my own home. Read more
Published on Nov 8 2002
3.0 out of 5 stars
Is this a children's book?
I liked these books when I first read them, about a year ago, but, having read much since, now find them lightweight. Read more
Published on Oct 12 2002 by misterbeets
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great ideas, inspiring
Okay, i'm a sucker for this type of book. I mean she suggests that we buy more quality and less quantity. Read more
Published on May 31 2002 by david rudakewich
4.0 out of 5 stars
Smaller is better, how to is good!
Sarah Susanka continues the excellent job she started in The Not So Big House in this book, expanding on the explanations of how and why not so big houses can feel so luxurious... Read more
Published on Feb 27 2002 by Howard Bolling
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Book for those looking to build.
This is a great book and should be read by those still in the planning stage. There are many ideas that I could have used in building my first house in Oregon. Read more
Published on Feb 15 2002 by "jimkins"
5.0 out of 5 stars
exactly what I wanted; exactly what I believe
Susan captured, in words, the design philosophy I've embraced my entire career. Disgusted with the "big box" neighborhoods indicative of suburban architecture today,... Read more
Published on Feb 2 2002 by e-generic
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