Not So Big Solutions for Your Home [Paperback]

"Do more with less space" is the key concept of this down-to-earth design guide for both new home builders and remodelers. Not So Big Solutions for Your Home provides simplified design principles in jargon-free language for the nonprofessional contemplating a residential building project. Architect and author Sarah Susanka, well-known for 1998's The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live, offers advice on how to redefine space to create happier living areas that function more efficiently. For example, analyzing the family's television habits and planning set placement in advance may avert future squabbles and smooth out daily living. Thinking of each exterior door as the location of a sequence of common events (such as hauling in the groceries or taking off muddy boots) will help the planner create a neater entryway adapted to the family's specific needs. Throughout, plentiful drawings and photos illustrate simple solutions to such common problems as unused living rooms, dark bedrooms, and crowded kitchens. Readers seeking to remodel on a budget will be heartened by Susanka's contention that it is often best to stay within existing walls and avoid building out. All in all, the book provides a lot of theoretical food for thought for lay people preparing to begin the daunting task of either building a new home or remodeling an old one. --Judy Fireman

Dubbed "America's Favorite Home Architect" by Fine Homebuilding magazine, where her "Drawing Board" column appears, Susanka here presents a small compilation of 31 essays from the column that offer a number of solutions to household design problems both big and small. Throughout, she stresses the importance of practical designs that increase a home's aesthetic appeal and allow homeowners to use their houses in the most efficient way. Susanka offers an eclectic mix: tips on site selection, mud room design, planning to fit specific furniture, creating a family room that works, personalizing with tile, and planning window seats, pantries, TV placement, and floor plan changes. Most of the projects are major undertakings, but several could be done inexpensively. Certainly, most homeowners could find something in this title to increase their enjoyment of their home. Susanka's previous two books have sold over half a million copies, so there's sure to be reader interest in this title. Recommended for most public libraries.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.