Not So Big House

by Sarah Susanka, Kira Obolensky

This best-seller was met with an extraordinary response when it was published in 1998. In it, visionary architect Sarah Susanka embraced the notion of smaller, simpler shelters that better meet the needs of the way we live today. The book created a groundswell of interest among homeowners, architects, and builders. More than 200 photographs bring the spirit of the "Not So Big" house alive.

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

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Sarah Susanka is a bestselling author, architect, and cultural visionary. Her "build better, not bigger" approach to residential architecture has been embraced across the country, and her "Not So Big" philosophy has sparked an international dialogue, evolving beyond our houses and into how we inhabit our lives. In addition to sharing her insights with Oprah Winfrey and Charlie Rose, Susanka has been named a "Fast 50" innovator by Fast Company, a "top newsmaker" by Newsweek, an "innovator in American culture" by U.S.News & World Report, and is this year's recipient of the Anne Morrow Lindbergh Award for "outstanding individual achievement, a spirit of initiative, and work that exemplifies great dedication toward making positive contributions to our world."

Sarah is a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects, and a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council. The author of seven books, Susanka resides in North Carolina.

Reviews

[Rosalyn Eves · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the basic premise of this book: that we should focus more on the quality of our homes than on the quantity (i.e. square footage), and that we ought to build (or remodel) homes that reflect our actual lifestyles. I also particularly enjoyed her assertion that we should think about the ways that we use space--where do we spend most of our time? What activities do we do in those spaces?--and compose our homes inline with that thinking. In other words, we may find it worthwhile to spend more time, money, and effort on certain parts of the home than on others; and we may be able to find ways to incorporate multiple activities into a single space by the way we design the space itself.

Some of the critiques I've seen leveled against this book are that 3000 sq feet is not a "not-so-big" house--but in fairness to Susanka, she's arguing that, if you can afford to build 6000 sq feet, you might consider building half that size and putting the remaining budget money in the kind of details (built ins, etc.) that make a house a livable home. I don't think she's arguing that everyone should build this size--in fact, she repeatedly emphasizes that the size and nature of the home should be in line with what the homeowners are financially capable of (and in fact, the homes in the book range from 800 sq feet on up). I did find that many of the interiors are much richer than I will probably ever be able to afford (and not all of them quite to my taste), but I think her basic principle--that we should make our homes into the kind of spaces we want to be in--rings true and is a refreshing contrast from the trend of ever bigger and more spacious (and often character-less) new homes.

Since my husband and I are currently in the process of buying a new home, I found this book particularly pertinent--more importantly, for me, this helped me be more confident about our final choice. We chose, not the biggest or newest house we could afford with our budget, but an older home that was far above the other houses in terms of sheer personality and charm. This book helped explain why we were more drawn to this older home and, for me, validated our choice.

Overall, I found this book to be highly readable--I read the entire thing in less than two days.

[jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a terrible book. The houses in this book are more than twice the size of my house! I already mentioned like 150 times that we bought a house and it's fairly small and we're trying to adjust our lifestyles to use our space better. And actually, our house is 1100 square feet, which is not *really* small. Basically, this book is for people who are rich beyond my lived experience and have some novel desire for a smaller house, and a desire to spend as much on it as middle America spends on their giant 'burbian houses.

Anyway, I keep reading these "little house" books, many of which are really fantastic and full of ideas from people who created personalized homes with creative materials for a frugal, thoughtful, clever design. This book is none of those things. This book does rail against McMansions and the whole philosophy of "bigger is better" and the American Dream of a big house in the 'burbs with the boring fenced yard and blah blah blah but really, don't most people already know how wasteful and miserable a giant generic house in the 'burbs is? Yes, I think they do.

None of the architecture or design is especially clever. There is no "WOW!" moment when you see how a corner or hallway or overhead space gets converted to some crazy useful space. The houses are almost entirely devoid of creativity or personality. In this book, a small house is about high design and expensive materials. Frugal, eco-consciousness has nothing to do with it. This book is mind-numbingly idiotic and made me want to grate my face on a 3,000 square foot brick wall.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book should really be titled "The EXPENSIVE Not So Big House".

This is not an idea book for those contemplating an inexpensive small starter home. Rather, the author advocates downsizing the square-footage of a house in order to spend more money on the details that make a home feel comfortable.

Another peeve: In recommending the perfect "not so big house", the author makes sweeping assumptions about the lifestyles of others (i.e. people rarely use a dining room, people usually enter their home through the garage, etc). We use our dining room for every meal, and we always enter through the front door.

I'm also trying hard not to get annoyed by the politically-correct tone of the messages in this book (i.e. big houses waste the earth's resources, vaulted ceilings are not energy-efficient, etc).

It seems like this book is targeted at rich Lexus-driving liberals who feel guilty over their financial success and want to assuage their conscience by living in a more "modest" house that still costs a fortune. According to the author's standards, 2400 square-feet is considered a "not so big house" (as compared to 6000 square-foot McMansions).

I think my conscience can handle the blow if anyone wants to throw a McMansion my way.

[Emma Sea · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I read a book on not-so-big houses, this is not what I'm expecting:





The wealth of the homeowners here is beyond anything I will ever experience in my life. I don't know who the "we" are in the phrase "a blueprint for the way we really live," but it's not me, baby.

I love that the problem with using "non-renewable . . .giant hardwoods from old-growth forests" for elaborate trim is that it's expensive. *nods*. Yeah. That.

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

As other reviews have mentioned (complained), this book is full of pre-crash of 2008, rich people housing nonsense. However, it is written by an architect—writing from her own experience—and she’s a home architect from pre-2008 designing homes for rich people.

As a person otherwise totally ignorant of architecture, this book was a revelation. It makes a lot of (psychological) sense that the design of a home, and especially a *bad* design really impacts our lives. I found the the overall message of efficiently using and loving the space you live in easy to get on board with. This is not a “hack tiny spaces” book, but it’s full of great fundamental design principles that explain how people build, use, and live in homes.

[Jennifer Hughes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book has some good ideas but it is also flawed in ways. The architecture feels very '90s, and the author is in love with lots of wood and built-ins. The book was very different than I thought it would be--more expensive ideas than I anticipated and bigger "not so big" houses than my average suburban home is. I've read better books on small houses. The idea here that really doesn't seem that fresh to me is that you love the space you have and use it in the way that best suits your needs. My takeaway: I liked the IDEA more than I liked the book.

[Shelah · Rating 5 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.

[Kathy Davie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating read of what to consider in designing a home you can live in along with the costs to expect.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I found this book useful, I couldn't buy in completely to some of her ideas, especially on double duty spaces. Having been forced for thirty years to do this because the rooms in my house are not appropriately sized for my needs, I will be the first to say that making one space serve two functions is not optimal. Other ideas I liked, especially the open kitchen and living room idea. Having said that, I agree wholeheartedly that simplification is the key, McMansions (what I call monster houses) are not necessary, and one should only build what one needs and definitely not to keep up with the Jones or to impress. I wish she had done more with maintenance and cleaning. Houses with two stories to a room - how do they clear out the cobwebs that always form in the corners in those now out-of-reach places? How do they paint? If the owner does not want to hire people to keep their place clean and in good order and doesn't want to invest in scaffolding, is a two-story room even an option? What works best for those of us who want to do our own work on the house? Has any progress been made in building in ways to get to those pipes when they leak or put in new wires for new fixtures without having to tear out walls? Ms. Susanka mentions practicality often, but skipped the practicality of maintaining what you've built almost totally. There were a few mentions at the end of the book. On the other hand, the book brought up something inadvertently through its pictures. I found I liked almost all the interior pictures (some were too cluttered because the rooms were too small) and disliked almost all the exterior pictures. My conclusion is that having an exterior you love may not mean you have an interior you love and vice-versa. I hope it is possible to have both since we hope to build a house in the next few years. It's the first time we have chosen to build rather than buy and frankly, the idea scares me to death. Too many details to think about.

[mindi · Rating 2 out of 5]

for me, this was just okay.
for a few reasons:

1. there's no house building in my immediate future, so it just wasn't relevant for me right now.

this, of course, is not a problem with the book, just one reason it probably didn't really appeal to me once I started reading.

2. 3,000 sq. ft. is not my idea of a "not so big house". 3,000 sq. ft., even for my little family of 5, would be excessive.

3. the style of most of the home's featured throughout the book, while beautiful, are not appealing to me at all. while i would definitely put value in a home, i am not the type of person to fantasize about stained glass window art, or freakishly expensive wood staircases.


Nice, beautiful, informative book, just not for me. :)

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took this book to bed with me last night, my trusty yellow post-it notes at the ready. As the night wore on, my trusty post-its became less reliable, they were tiring and dwindling in number. This book is full of post-its now, they stick out from every open side. And they bear little phrases like "Cut glass bowls featured here could be windows, a la Dan Phillips," or "would my library, kitchen, or fireplace be the heart of my house?" I don't know that I can answer that last one right now, unless I had a gazillion bucks and an architect who could give me some sort of Rorshach floor plan test. But at least, thanks to this book, I'm starting to ask the right kind of questions. My eyes were tired of endless, flat graph paper diagrams.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't know when I became interested in the architecture and decoration of homes, but I remember week after week reading the floorplan page in our Sunday paper as a kid. When I got older I discovered architecture and decorating books and I was hooked.

Sarah Susanka is one of my favorite writers of this genre. She specializes in small space homes. I hasten to affirm I have never been able to afford even these small spaces, most of my money went on books and travel, but I have always dreamed and built houses in my head.

[Bickety Bam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was ahead of its time. When written, the McMansion era was at its peak. The book advocates for smaller and more sustainable homes that, at the same time, feel bigger and more comfortable by making full use of the space.

At first glance, many of the space depicted seem very large, they are, for the most part, very modestly sized. The feeling of spaciousness comes from the design.

While this book is directly mainly toward planning new construction or major renovation, there are plenty of concepts that can be applied via furniture placement and decor.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

We're getting ready to turn our summer camp into a year-round house and our designer-architect Deb Randall recommended this book. It represents a rejection of the bigger-is-better attitude in recent residential construction, where McMansions predominate. The book has helped us think about how we will use the space and reminded us that quality is more important than quantity of space. It's given us great ideas that Deb can incorporate into the design and renewed our excitement about the whole project.

[BarbaraAllison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book when I first read it more than a decade ago. After going through iterations of life, however, I am not fond of hard wiring one's home for a particular thing. I think flexibility is more important, so built in bookshelves may not be the right size and now one has to bend to the will of the permanent structure.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I totally agree with this concept! Great book!

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

great idea, beautiful book--go for less, and quality--not quantity....

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good book about quality over quantity and being thoughtful in how you design the spaces in your home. Deserves to be even more widely known.

[Deborah Camuglia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Quality of space, not quantity.

[Clurtle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent book though many example are fairly dated now. Some points were hard to get behind since they’re impractical for a large majority of people purchasing houses. Bashing suburbs with similar looking houses just feels like poor bashing. Attention paid to ways to cut cost were pretty half-hearted. Saying that a house loses the benefit of detail as price goes down is demonstrably untrue. Choosing cheaper woods or using paint-grade material can give stunning details without the huge hit to the pocket book. There’s amazing trims and shelving produced daily for spare construction lumber, but there’s no mention of these creative solutions in the book.

I judge the book by 2024 standards instead of 2000. I’m sure it was an innovative statement at it’s time, during the boom of McMansions, ostentatious and poorly made. This book attempts to sways folks that would build that to instead half the square footage and double down on details. What’s conveniently left as percentages and short sentences is that many of the homes have details that skyrocket the price of the build far past the cost of building a simple structure. The book does weave and sway through this consideration, but I just feel it’s a bit understated. A glass box that’s 2000 sq ft is going to cost 3x-4x the cost of a 4000 sq ft house taking the same area. Exotic materials, ceilings, railings, woods and floors just explode budgets. I wish we’d spent a chapter truly considering the framing from the finishing and progressively worked up in stages to the level of trims.

Leaving the economical section to the back of the book also just felt tacked on. The last 3 chapters Didn’t have the rigor of the previous set. By the end, i’d also seen the same house about 3 to 4 times as well as repeated quotes. Once again, these are 2024 standards, but perhaps this isn’t a book meant to be read in a sitting vs selectively.

Just like the book, i’ll leave the good stuff at the end. I do think there’s some solid take aways.
- build comfy
- add nooks for objects, reading, extra sitting
- dont build too specific to you
- add a small nursery room near master. Convert to cozy room after

[Richard Bakare · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is rooted in a lot of the principles detailed out in “A Pattern Language.” To get more out of this one I recommend you read the prior. That said this book was a useful and current application of many of those design patterns against the backdrop of modern home layout. In many ways it’s a softer critique of the McMansion trend than the Aptly named “McMansion Hell” website. It immediately made itself useful in confirming a renovation decision we had been wrestling with for months.

I would love to see an updated revision that incorporates all of the latest updates in home technology, the rise in work from home, and the increase in the number of sandwich generation households. Even without it, the helpful guidance and insight into the process gets you into thinking about efficiency in multiple dimensions. The book argues that we consider the how and why of our lives when going into designing a home. That process will impact our choice in flow, decor, finishes, and more. When thoughtfully done, the result is often a Not So Big House.

While very forward thinking the book and author could have anticipated the rise of HGTV and the mass commoditization of all aspects of home renovation, building, and design. This mass produced building style has led to a proliferation in McMansions and less personalization that might have been predicted. We are making this one a regular reference for us to review before all our home decisions.

[Katee]

For fans of the tiny house movement, the title is somewhat misleading — this book is for wealthy people who bought into the dream of owning a mansion and need to be convinced that they too could be comfortable with the square footage of a proletariat house. I expected it to contain clever advice about making the most out of very small spaces; instead I found out-of-touch tips for cramming an upper crust lifestyle into a middle class space. COULD you ever consider using your laundry corridor as a place for guests to store their luggage? Would you ever dare give up your formal dining area and live with just your family dining table at which to entertain? And are you truly willing to forego 25-foot ceilings?

The last two chapters are more practical: information about the relative costs of home components and building materials, advice for designing a home for a lifetime full of twists and turns, a somewhat outdated and very general overview of environmentally-conscious materials and design choices. More grounded, but I’m sure there are better resources out there for that. If you want to look at pretty pictures of home interiors, you could read this book or browse Pinterest. For those who grew up middle class and dream of coziness on a middle-class budget, maybe shoot for a book that wasn’t written by an architect.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This slim paperback book is the equivalent of grabbing a cozy blanket and curling up with a hot cup of tea. Nothing in here is earth-shattering, but it is refreshing to hear someone say that our homes should serve us, rather than being shackled to expectations of what a generic "good" looks like.

The book runs through a few different homes, describing basic principles in the text, and pairing those with BOTH blueprints and color photographs of the homes in use. I loved that she used examples that were both common (growing families) and those that were uncommon (wanting a pipe organ) to demonstrate how things could be applied.

My takeaways from the book:
- Incorporate alcoves (max 3'x6'x6') off the main living spaces to give people the chance to be alone or talk intimately with one other person without needing to completely withdraw
- Log how much time you spend on average in each room, along with what you are doing in that room, to better plan for your needs in designing something new
- Consider altering ceiling height to set-off space for another function
- Sliding panels can be used to temporarily separate spaces when you need flexibility in how the space is used at different times
- Centralize technology systems so that they can be easily replaced over time

[Child960801 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not the intended audience for this book. I am not currently planning on building a house, nor does that seem to be something I will ever do in the future. I don't seem myself as ever being in a financial situation where building a new house will be a thing that I can do. Building a house, particularly the kind described here, also implies that you will live in that house for many many years. I don't have a stable job situation where the idea of staying in one place for years and years seems realistic.

That being said, I picked this book up and read it almost in one sitting. I found it very readable, (if not really for me) and I liked looking at the pictures. I also felt like a lot of it seemed really dated. While I was reading it, I could picture some of the big houses that I've known in the past and I could see some of what she's saying.

The main idea behind this book seems to be that if you are building a house, you should spend more money on making the inside nice and livable -- with built in shelves and things and without rooms that no one will ever use --instead of on making the house bigger.

[Yaaresse · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some nice spaces in this photo-intensive book, but the author needs a realty check. Perhaps her view is slanted because it is mostly the affluent who think to (and can afford to) hire an architect (which she is). Maybe she honestly believes that 3,000 sq. ft. is "not so big."

According to US census data, the average size of a new single family home built in 2015 reached an all-time high of 2,687 sq. ft. That's around 60% larger than the average size of the 1973 home (even though family sizes are smaller now.) When this book was written (2001), the average size was about 2,200 sq. ft. So, no, 3,000 square feet is not "not so big." It is big, even 16+ years after the book was written.

This isn't really a how-to or reference book so much as it is eye candy and food for thought. As to the ideas about (what she calls) smaller spaces, they aren't going to be new to anyone even remotely familiar with open floor plans, multipurpose rooms, and adaptable space.

[Out of the Bex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written in response to the McMansion craze that continued to overtake the housing market since the 1980's. In a McMansion sized world we focus more on quantity than quality. The author, an architect, shares numerous examples of clients who built a huge house with tons of space but with no personality. They spend on excessive square footage and huge ceilings. These are houses that are designed to be marketed and sold, not to actually be lived in. The Not So Big House is a book that counters this perspective by promoting houses be built for the individual needs of the resident with higher quality materials and more thoughtful design.

It's an outdated book at this point in many ways, but still very much relevant at its core. I enjoyed flipping through it and seeing layout ideas for slightly smaller houses. Particularly of interest was her description of creating spaces within spaces to make a house a home.

[Niniane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book.

It describes how quality is conveyed through details including curved windows, non-regular ceiling heights, railings and moldings, stained glass. Living in a not-so-big home with attention to detail feels higher-quality than a large sprawling home without as much detail.

The goal of the not-so-big house is that every room is used every day. There isn't a "formal living room" that's only used for parties every few months. There also isn't a "formal dining room" that gathers dust while the family eats in the informal kitchen nook. The house is designed around how the family intends to use it.

The kitchen is the focal point of the home.

Varying ceiling heights invokes a sense of curiosity. The author designs custom-shaped alcoves for displaying collected items that have meaning for the family.

There is a middle chapter about how to save cost, e.g. use a square Colonial floorplan.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book because it was mentioned off-handedly in a podcast, and I had never heard of it. It is an interesting book, but most of the ideas were things that I had already thought of. Interestingly enough, I was making a change in my home at about the same time that I picked up the book, and my kids thought that I was doing it because of the book, which I hadn't started yet when I suggested we make the change in our house. So funny. It was really interesting to read about how Sarah thought that the modern alien style houses were too techy to catch on and then said that she thought windows would have glass that could change to darker with a touch of a button to shield from the sun would be in most new homes in the future. They aren't. If you are thinking about spaces in your own home or thinking of building a home and don't know where to start, this is definitely the book to pick up!

[Alexandria Blaelock · Rating 4 out of 5]

The basic notion of dropping rooms you don't use (e.g. formal living and dining) in favour of rooms you do use (e.g. a larger combined kitchen dining) is appealing. And the idea of eliminating wasted space and building human scale rooms that incorporate storage and lighting where you need it is sound. Positioning windows to take advantage of views, and using high-quality materials to create beautiful and functional space are all ideas I can get behind.

But this isn't really a how-to book, it's more of an aspirational book with lots of lovely photos of beautiful houses. To build this kind of house, you still need an architect, and if you don't have buckets of money it may be difficult to keep your budget under control if they can't get behind you on that.

I think I'll be going on a pinning campaign.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little dated, even with the 10th anniversary expansion, but not terribly so. Lots of good ideas for creating a home that is more livable with less wasted space. Not so helpful for people who live in a house that they like, that may not include many of these features (but there are Not So Big remodeling books for that if you have the cash to renovate). I’m hoping to find practical solutions that are a little less built-in, as much as I love the built-in ideas.

I liked the exercise to describe all the functions of the house and detail where they take place to identify how spaces are used in reality (like the laundry that is never folded in the laundry room but always taken somewhere else).

The author loves Frank Lloyd Wright a lot - but never once mentioned how many of his beautiful homes never worked for living because they leaked. That somewhat reduced her credibility in my eyes.