Creating the Not So Big House: Insights and Ideas for the New American Home by Sarah Susanka, Grey Crawford Hardcover - 264 pages (October 1, 2000) Taunton Pr ISBN: 1561583774 Check price and buy it at: amazon.com , amazon.co.uk

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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

From Booklist

Architect Susanka has big ideas about small home design. Her 1998 bestseller, The Not So Big House, showcased examples of excellent designs in small houses. Her new book continues to promote well-designed, efficient, interesting modest-size homes. Reacting to the American trend to build "starter castles" on small lots, Susanka proposes that these same homeowners would actually be happier in fully functioning small homes. Her basic philosophy seems to be: 1) recognize that the kitchen is the...

Customer Reviews

Fantastic Ideas with Quality, November 30, 2005
Reviewer: Jay Linsenbigler
The author does an outstanding job showing examples of quality built construction with awesome design elements built into the home instead of huge mansions built just to show off materialism. If you are handy, these details are not expensive to put in a home, but would be if you have someone else do all the work. The basis is the FLOORPLAN that is designed well with useful space- the details and woodwork can be added later which is what I will do. It's a shame that all homes cannot be built like this! But the oroginal book as well- "The Not So Big House".

Not so big is nice..., August 26, 2005
Reviewer: M. Mangelsen (Wisconsin)
My wife and I checked into Sarah's books through a recommendation from friends. I have worked in home construction for years and was delighted to finally see ideas that help stir the pot in the stale, cookie cutter design of new homes.

These ideas are refreshing and helpful to those in search for some detail and heart in a reasonably sized home. I have paged through Creating The Not So Big House and The Not So Big House countless times and would definitely recommend them.