Customer Reviews

Not So Big House

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

"The Not So Big House" is the best treatment I know of on efficient use of available space in a house design. Sarah Susanka favors built-in storage near the points of use, which is efficient in both use of square footage and on time spent getting things out of storage to where they're needed. Of course built-ins raise the cost of a house, which leads to Susanka's central thesis: a small, well-designed house with attention to detail will be costly -- but, in her opinion, worth it. She suggests toting up the square footage vs. time spent in various home spaces, and finds that typically formal living and dining rooms are budget busters that are used only rarely. Skipping these formal rooms will free up money for higher quality in the remaining spaces.

Susanka falls down on the job with her limited treatment of ways a prospective home owner can save money on their dream house. Specifically, she mentions only
- smaller size
- less attention to detail (lower quality)
- a cheaper lot
but not, for example
- changing the number of stories (2-story homes save on foundation costs over ranch homes)
- owner labor
- owner functioning as general contractor

The book, filled with excellent color photographs (many by the author) is extraordinarily well laid out. The text continually refers to "the photo above" rather than something like "Fig. 8-3b". Accompanying floor plans show the point and angle of the associated photos, making it easy to build up a mental picture of the overall space from a few choice shots. The lighting, contrast, color balance, and composition of the photos is outstanding.

I must mention that the book is basically a paen to houses heavy on natural interior wood detail. In American homes this is exemplified by the Craftsman style; the feature also applies to traditional Japanese houses. It's a style that I personally like so that's not a detriment for me. If instead your taste runs to French country homes, where every scrap of wood must be painted, you'll probably have some qualms at the author's architectural bias.

Unlike most architecture books which feature carefully decorated rooms you couldn't possibly be comfortable living in, the spaces depicted in Susanka's opus are refreshingly naturalistic. That's not to say that there are photos with kids' fingerprints around the light switches (as in real life). But this book is a rarity in showing bookshelves loaded with paperback books instead of the usual sets of matching leather-bound volumes, each shelf having three books stacked sideways to hold some Object d'Art. And there are actual kids' toys on actual floors!

A final, fairly significant drawback is Susanka's short shrift when it comes to non-design topics. For instance, energy efficiency only gets a couple of pages. There are even shorter treatments of recycled materials, sustainability, and alternate (other than stick-built) construction styles. All of these "peripheral" subjects are crammed into the last (and shortest) chapter.

Summary: This book is a rich resource of ideas on how to design a house that's efficient for your actual lifestyle. You'll need to look elsewhere to figure out how to build it and pay for it. But because design is the spearhead of the architectural process, this is an excellent starting point.

Not a practical book for someone on a budget. This book is still for someone with lots of time and money to spend on a home design. However, the book is a great reference for someone w/ the time and money to spend on a home design. Just be prepared to spend more than thought w/ this as a reference. My advice for budget minded home builders, look elsewhere.

I made a list of my favorite ideas from this book, and I took that list to our builder. What I learned is that the author has told us how to build a wonderful small house -- but the kinds of details and materials she advocates will produce a small house that costs as much as a large one! I still agree in principle with the idea of building great smaller homes, but this book is only for those who have lots of money to spend.

If you want to expand your ideas about what a nice home should be then this book may be for you. And if you are looking for a book full of pictures to help you communicate with your architect during your next meeting, then again this is a good choice. But if you are like me, trying to design you own small house to be space-efficient and comfortable, then you may find that Susanka does not supply you with much worthwhile information. Her concept, I believe, is excellent. And the book makes no claim to be a do-it-yourself guide. But I was still hoping for some more substance behind the glossy photos. There is little information about the process of laying out a house from scratch to fit a site and its occupants. There is no real method for how to go about optimizing your use of space in the overall floorplan, or how to address common problem situations. It is full of many excellent space-saving examples- but by the time I was finished reading this book I never wanted to see another white room with light wood trim again. The 199 pages of this large-font book are full of "architecturally designed" houses that appear to my eye a bit dated. I also think she is too devoted to the upper levels of the budget spectrum. Most people who are building a "Not So Big" house don't have a half million dollars to spend, which her case studies apparently did.

Everything others have said. The not so small house is very expensive and does not reflect the needs of either a small family or people with limited budgets. Also, IMO, an American not so big house is still too big. This not so small house is for those who've made a lot of money on their real big house and want something that reflects the same aesthetic values of their former huge home but in a slightly smaller format. It's an interesting book to garner some ideas but impractical for the average consumer. As far as I'm concerned this is a fairly typical moneyed-American view of what a home is. The only justification for the small in the title is that American homes are so overly-large.

For "not so big" the images contained in this book depict houses that by my standard are enormous. My entire house could fit into the livingroom shown on the cover of Susanka's book.

Susan Susanka presents her ideas on how to build a better home. Half way through the book she presents her trinity of compromises that the architect, builder & home-owner have to make...price, quanity & quality of the proposed home. I think this is the gem in the book. As many have noted, this is definitely not a book for a "small" or "cheap" home; and this should be obvious as nobody who is limited to building a "small" or "cheap" home would hire an architect to design it! Though she never states it, I estimate that the houses she designs cost over $500,000 to build so consider that when you read this book.

I value this book for the ideas it presents; however, it is definitely a coffee-table book rather than a reference for an architect or home-builder. Not until the last two super-homes does Susan even mention a number. Nowhere in the book does it actually talk about the square feet, total price, price for materials, cost/square foot, material trade-off possibilities, building codes, or anything that is actually needed to design or build a house (or even remodel). The lack of details and thoroughness was disappointing and the reason I only gave her three stars. I suppose this book can be considered a "theory" book rather than a "practical" book, but it seems to me that a well-written book could contain both.

On the plus side, the pictures were very nice; there were floor-plans for each of the houses and Susan has a very nice and clear writing style.

My husband and I are preparing our 5-year old, sterile house for sale with the intention of buying an older bungalow. We'll be looking for slightly smaller houses, since we've found that so much of the space in our present house is really wasted. We won't be building from scratch or even remodeling, but the philosophy of design in this book is really helpful to us as we think through what we want and need in our next house. I think the basic Not So Big concept is sound for any budget: square footage means little, rather, utility and comfort is paramount. The book is teaching us to think in terms of spaces rather than rooms, of getting the most possible use and enjoyment from a space. I think it will definitely help us train ourselves to see the possibility in houses we look at in our search.

I just finished this book and I found it informative. Susanka plainly writes about the way most houses are typically built and the waste in their construction as well as the lack of soul and personality in most. I have noticed this myself for years. I completely agree with her concept of creating homes that are smaller and more efficient, using more of the structure's square footage for actual living and evolving the formal spaces that are rarely used anymore (i.e. formal dining and living room) into one area. Creating a home with enough room and spaces for how people live day to day and not just a place that says "look at how much money I have".
I especially liked the chapter "Dreams, Details, and Dollars". Although it was disheartening to read that even a small home with attention to detail can be costly. And this is what I am/was leaning toward. Also, to keep the cost down in most home building one needs to start with the box shape, which to me is boring.
The one negative point I would make is that, as someone else mentioned, this book does lean toward those who have more to spend than most. Although she does give a good stratedgy on how to begin to look at affording a home (the quantity, quality, cost triangle) that can work for anyone.
All in all I liked this book and plan on reading the second one, Creating the Not So Big House. This may answer more of my how-can-I-do-it questions.
The photos are great too!

I just finished this book and I found it informative. Susanka plainly writes about the way most houses are typically built and the waste in their construction as well as the lack of soul and personality in most. I have noticed this myself for years. I completely agree with her concept of creating homes that are smaller and more efficient, using more of the structure's square footage for actual living and evolving the formal spaces that are rarely used anymore (i.e. formal dining and living room) into one area. Creating a home with enough room and spaces for how people live day to day and not just a place that says "look at how much money I have".
I especially liked the chapter "Dreams, Details, and Dollars". Although it was disheartening to read that even a small home with attention to detail can be costly. And this is what I am/was leaning toward. Also, to keep the cost down in most home building one needs to start with the box shape, which to me is boring.
The one negative point I would make is that, as someone else mentioned, this book does lean toward those who have more to spend than most. Although she does give a good stratedgy on how to begin to look at affording a home (the quantity, quality, cost triangle) that can work for anyone.
All in all I liked this book and plan on reading the second one, Creating the Not So Big House. This may answer more of my how-can-I-do-it questions.
The photos are great too!