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

by Grey Crawford Sarah Susanka, Grey Crawford (Photographer)

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.

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction, Design, Reference, How To, Construction, Art

258 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 1 out of 5]

If Sarah Susanka wrote a book about big houses, what square footage would she include? This "not so big" approach to living in smaller spaces is crazy. Instead of 1000 square foot homes, there are several that are triple that. Several homes used in the book BEGAN as not so big houses...but were quickly converted to double or triple their original size.

[Cait · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked this one better, because it was just a lot of pictures of homes. As much as I like playing fantasy architect and designing my imaginary future home- but I did not get many ideas out of this.
*shrug*

[Stefani · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love this book, but what I don't love is reading it cover to cover. I have only read it that way once before. It's so much better to choose the home styles that appeal to me and focus on those; or to just browse the pictures, then read the portions that are useful. One thing that really annoys me about this book is that the size of some of the houses are still really big! Really, a 1900 sqft 1-bedroom or a 2300 sqft 2 bedroom... those are big! Yes, they have attended to some details that apply to Not So Big Houses, but really, you couldn't shrink the floor plan just a little more?

I have always been into home design. In my spare time from age 10-20 (and some beyond), I designed houses for fun. I grew up in a home with a rarely used dining and living room, and it just seemed like such a waste to me. This book spoke to that part of me. A home's livability is in the details. I doubt I will ever be able to build my own home, but I tried to find a house that incorporates principles of the Not So Big House. Yes, it is a more quickly slapped together house in the suburbs, but the bones are good. (It even has an "away room" which currently serves as library, office and guest room.) The house is currently 12 years old, and as we look down the road, we know we have some remodeling in our future, and I hope to employ as many details as possible to have my home be an even better picture of a Not So Big House.

[Erika RS · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a sequel to The Not So Big House . In many ways, it is more like a continuation of the first book; it does not necessarily stand on its own. (In fact, I would recommend buying the set with both.) This book introduces some new principles, but the bulk of the book is case studies of houses that were inspired by the "not so big" philosophy. The case studies show that "not so big" is not limited to any single style or region.

The new ideas introduced are:

- pay attention to the third dimension (a floor plan does not tell the whole story)

- get over your fear of "too smallness" (we've lost all sense of coziness because we afraid spaces will be too small)

- use visual weight to manipulate the sense of scale in a space

- frame openings to allow large, continuous spaces to have differentiated subspaces

- visually layer spaces

- consider having a theme to unify different spaces within your home.

[Erin Penn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creating the Not So Big House is a lavishly illustrated book with many different archetype house designs drawn from around the country, giving ideas (and possible blueprints) for building the Not So Big house - or remodeling or adding onto. (Even gives a place to order copies of the blueprints.)

I like the wide arrange of options.

I was ambivalent about the "say everything at least twice" - Once in the text, once in the illustration descriptions, and then usually in the intro/conclusion of each chapter. The repeat got things to stick, even if a little boring - making it easy to understand what the text meant when the illustration giving the example said the same thing word-for-word.

Also, so many of the owners of the example houses are architects or interior designers - yes, they are the ones who have the talent to create beautiful designs, but sometimes this felt very much like "pay the experts advertisement" - on the other hand, for a lot of people to achieve the design, paying the experts (if you got the money) is the best choice.

I dislike the constant "Not so Big House" - but it is the author's call sign so I understood why.

Overall fairly useful, over 200 pages, of ideas of how to live Big in a Small(ish) space.

Final note after reading other comments: This is not a TINY HOUSE book - the footprints vary between 560 square feet (for an apartment) to 3000 square feet with the average of 1900 square feet and the median of 1950 square feet. The objective of the book is to avoid the McMansion and make a house to match your lifestyle. To make a "Not so Big House" when the average size of new construction is 2.600 square feet. And looking around the internet I found a study showing people in very small houses wanted something bigger and in larger houses wanted something smaller, with the sweet point in America being ... just under 2,000 square feet. Looks Ms. Susanka captures the appropriate size well.

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, there are good ideas, but as others have mentioned, the houses are fairly large for a “not so big “house. I’m also one of those people who doesn’t like open space living. I like to shut off the kitchen. I think family rooms which flow into the kitchen create mess and noise from both sides and I don’t like the shared space. I’ve just designed my last, forever home: 2300 sq. ft. which includes the double garage and storage (which could become a bedroom for someone else), three more bedrooms (which will be an office, a craft room and a master bedroom for me), 2-1/2 bathrooms (with space to add another where I have a large pantry). And doors on the rooms that can open or close to make rooms more integrated when entertaining. I don’t call it a small house, but actually that size including garage and potentially 4 bedrooms seems like better planning than some of the designs she presents here.

[Alexandra Meissner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Je pensais que ça serait plus un essai sur comment on devrait concevoir des maisons selon l'utilisation que l'on en fait vraiment, avec plein de notes anthropologiques.... Mais en fin de compte c'est un beau livre avec des photos de maisons d'architecte et quelques conseils... C'est ce qui arrive quand je réserve des livres à la bibliothèque sans valider! J'ai appris une couple d'affaires, mais c'était pas ce que je cherchais. Faites-moi signe si vous connaissez un livre qui parle d'anthropologie dans nos maisons!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved all the pictures showing different houses and how to use space the way you really live in it. It gave me a lot of ideas for my dream house. (far far down the road.

I gave it 4 stars, because the last 10 or so homes that were in the book just weren't that interesting. It seemed the author said everything she needed to with the first houses.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember this book from years ago. There are many nuggets of architectural wisdom in it, but I have to acknowledge that many of the photos showing examples of interiors and exteriors are rather dated. I did glean several timeless ideas I will take with me concerning interior design; especially when I contemplate utilizing space in my home or if I'm ever in a position to build a new house.

[Calciferocious · Rating 4 out of 5]

less cohesive than other books in this series, just bc the designs are from a few dozen different architects. some of the houses are pretty large, but in layout and detailing they do follow many of the Not So Big principles. I liked the inclusion of the cottages and intentional community eco-house, both of which were quite useful to me.

[Brian Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is gorgeous architecture porn, but it wasn't as useful to me in the sense of things i can do to this house... at least not without a ton of money. If you're looking to do a big home remodel or building your own home this is well worth looking at.

[Elizabeth]

I'm a big fan of Sarah Susanka's books and approach to designing a home. My favorite interior from this title is the house designed around the Golden Mean, featured in the chapter "A House in Harmony."

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick read, having read Susanka’s original book. It was good to see the ideas as designed by other architects. We have a smaller home (actually small, not the larger ones she shares) but not big budgets, so seeing the ideas are helpful, particularly the porches these days.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book emphasized style over size. A smaller house can contain more decorating touches because it costs less to build. Every home needs an 'away' room - like a den/study/family room. Cozy spaces are created with scope outs and lower ceilings.

[AdeReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Focused on building a new home but I also found it helpful when considering a renovation. So many ideas to personalize your home to fit your needs. Highlights the importance of really thinking about how you will use the space you have. Bottom line: you don’t need a lot.

[Emmareader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used ideas from this book when remodeling. Great place to go for ideas on making a house truly special.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look at various house implementing the notions of Not So Big House

[Kristie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful photos of interiors spaces. Lots of inspiration!

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. A house does not have to big or small to implement the ideas Sarah Susanka mentioned. A fun book to keep referring back to for suggestions.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s neat to see actual case studies from a variety of price points and a mix of new builds and remodels. Bonus star because they don’t all come from Susanka’s own firm.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

More tantalizing photos, designs, and stylistic guidance for human-scale houses that just feel right.

[Kim Zinkowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked most, but not all of the projects p[resented in this volume.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic.

[Shelah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Occasionally described as the JK Rowling of architecture, Sarah Susanka's books all follow a similar theme-- smaller, exceptionally designed homes with personal details are much more pleasant to live in than impersional McMansions.

In the next six or seven months, we'll be going through the process of buying a new home. When we bought our last two houses, our MO was simple-- buy the biggest house we could afford (and it probably still wouldn't be big enough). This time, it's a different situation. We're looking in areas where most of the houses are older and need some remodeling, and we need to resist the urge to buy a house with lots of square footage just because we can. Reading Sarah Susanka's books has helped me open my eyes to the details I need to look for in a home (the flow of the floor-plan or the bones of the house, for example) and has taught me that rooms (just like moms) can be great multitaskers. I had already decided that a formal dining room probably wouldn't get much use by our family, but hadn't realized that a wall of desk space and cabinetry in the playroom could do away with the need for a separate work room for the kids. The books all tend to blend together after a while. I have three more in my reading pile, but I think I'll wait a while before tackling them.

[Bickety Bam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good companion book to "The Not So Big House." Read this if you've read the first and are looking for more concepts and examples. I particularly liked the first chapter, "The Language of the Not So Big House" that developed the concepts that make a house work as NOB. The concepts are: pod of space, visual weight, framed openings, spatial layering, and the third dimension.

The book then has 25 houses which demonstrate these concepts in different ways and styles. Some of the houses are very, very small and some are rather large (but not as big as they might have been). I do like that they are some fairly traditional arrangements and some fairly out-of-the-box housing such as the two-house solution for a divorced couple with kids and the separately sleeping structure for a vacation cabin.

One thing that struck me is that some of the houses are poorly landscaped and have no attachment to the land around them. For example, the house on p.40 looks like it just dropped out of a space ship. Other of the houses are on "dream" properties overlooking canyons, the seashore, etc. which most of us won't be able to achieve. I have on my shelf to read "Outside the Not So Big House" and will be curious to see how/whether the typical lot is addressed.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Sarah Susanka! In an era of McMansions, her devotion to regular sized homes is a delight! I recommend all of her books to those people who have better things to do than clean their huge houses, who do not equate their self worth with the size of their home, and those who care about their heating/air conditioning bills for financial &/or environmental reasons. She has excellent design skills and proposes many unique solutions to make the most of limited space.

This book focuses on creating comfortable and useable spaces with character and charm. Susanka explains how we actually tend to use the space in our homes and how to better utilize the available space to meet our activities. While I don't agree with all her suggestions, like bathrooms with two doors from a hallway and bedroom, I highly recommend people read Susanka's books before they add more space to their home.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this book is excellent, like all of Susanka's book, I preferred her first book, The Not So Big House. It highlighted design strategies useful for designing houses according to her "not so big" principles: shelter around activity, doing double duty, variety of ceiling heights, interior views, diagonal views, a place of one's own. This book provided even more strategies: the third dimension, fear of "too smallness," visual weight, framed openings, spatial layering, and theme and variations. But it focused more on floorplans and designing homes from scratch, whereas I'm more interested in remodelling ideas, and The Not So Big House did a better job of providing inspirational ideas for remodelling projects.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was nice to see so many examples, with pictures and floor plans. She's right about one thing - you can't tell how a space will feel just from looking at the floor plan. I liked that she included new construction as well as remodels, but I wish there had been a wider variety of architectural styles. Most of her examples were very traditional and sometimes the crafted details she advocates for made a space look a little cluttered to me, but then again I tend to gravitate toward the clean, open lines of (mid-) modern and contemporary styles. Too bad there weren't examples of how those kinds of houses can also be Not So Big.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the idea of having bookshelves built into walls...hallways or staircases...makes me want to build a house from the ground up or spend countless hours touring model homes...and dreaming.
This book has architects from all over the country who have created amazing family living spaces. It still seems remarkable over my price tag...I guess ideas are expensive and why would anyone want to buy a book of 'so-so' humdrum spaces. I guess that is why I like design on a dime!

[Sarah Kingston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with others that the idea of Not-So-Big seems to be in the eye of the beholder. The homes featured in this book are WAY bigger and more elaborate than I would ever feel comfortable with, but it does give good ideas of how to customize your home to fit your needs, without crowding it with non-necessities.