The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live
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Product Description
Amazon.com Review
When describing a favorite room in the house, do you find yourself using terms such as “expansive,” “proper,” and “spacious”–a marble reception area or a proper dining room perhaps? Or do the words “cozy,” “intimate,” and “warm” come to mind–a cheery small breakfast nook or a window seat perfect with plenty of pillows and a breathtaking view? More than likely, you–like thousands of additional homeowners–are drawn to the more personal spaces in your home, where comfort, beauty, and efficiency meet. In The Not So Huge House, respected architect Sarah Susanka and coauthor Kira Obolensky take up our affinity for the “smaller, more personal spaces” and propose “clear, workable guidelines for making homes that serve both our spiritual needs and our material supplies.” The heart of the not-so-huge house–which is not “just a tiny house … [but] a smaller house,” that uses “less space to give greater quality of life,” and is designed to not only “accommodate the lifestyles of its occupants” but also to prompt “our values and our personalities,” is discussed in chapter 1, entitled “Larger Isn’t Better.” Susanka’s urging for homeowners to get creative with their space as well as loads of thoughts to encourage that creativity are covered in “Rethinking the House” and “Building Not So Huge Work.” Discussions of point needs, such as a home for one and crafty for kids, can be establish in “Lifestyles of the Not So Rich and Legendary,” while “Dreams, Details, and Dollars” gets down to the nuts and bolts of the operation, looking at quality versus amount, budgeting, and what “low end,” “middle ground,” and “high end” really mean in home design and construction. Finally, the authors look at the home of the future, which involves simplifying, recycling, sinking waste, and using energy-well-organized construction. With more than 200 color photographs, as well as floor plans and Susanka and Obolensky’s intelligent and lively dialogue, The Not So Huge House is perfect for homeowners ready to rethink their space. –Stefanie Hargreaves
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Basically, the idears were not new at all. My 14 years olddaughter had the same thought couple years ago while we were househunting. Plus, it will cost 2 to 3 times than everage to detail this kind of house. People seeking tiny and nice houses are persons on a budget. Thanks for printing persons nice photos.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Well, darlings, I’ve read all 87 reviews here and NOT ONE defends mcmansions. Isn’t there anything to be said for them? Let me reflect. I reflect the main point, beyond the basic defense of ego-pleasuring one might want to make (“I want to be thought of as a huge person, and therefore I want to have a huge house.”), is that if you’re rich and worldly and therefore have an absolute TON of stuff – huge stuff – you’ve got to place it somewhere. Let me offer an example. Let’s say that you don’t read books, but you do watch a huge amount of tv, as do all of your children. You’re going to need a lot of widescreen, giant tv/vcrs scattered throughout the house. Only an enormous house will accommodate them. Or let’s say that although no one in your family tree plays the piano, you have begun to gather that having a grand piano in your living room is a very impressive class marker. So you buy a grand – and where are you going to place it? You’re obviously going to need a living room large enough to contain the thing (they are massive). I also reflect you can defend blockbuster mcmansions – huge houses built to loom over an area of much smaller ones – by recalling Gore Vidal’s legendary statement: “It is not enough to make it. Others must fail.” The ideal setting for a mcmansion, then, would be a not-so-huge-house neighborhood, in which you can spend every free moment contemplating your sense of having attained greater worldly success than the people immediately around you. This is fantastic for the ego. And the final, and of course strongest, most unanswerable, most American defense of the mcmansion: Nobody gets to tell me what I can do! If I want the largest SUV on the market, I’m gonna damn well get it! Same for my house! Free country.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Let’s see….2000 square feet is considered “not so huge.” And effective one’s way up — oops, I mean down! — to that modest allotment of space requires spending at least six, more like seven facts. And, supposedly, this fits under the philosophy of “simpler living.”
What sort of people buy into this? Bourgeois bohemians, of course, a subspecies wittily described in “Bobos in Paradise” by David Brooks.
These are people with lotsa dough who live in nice neighborhoods and drive nice cars. But they’re not rich, you see. They’re “progressives” (read: liberals). So, in order to assuage the subconscious guilt they suffer for the “sin” of their own affluence, they drop loads of money on expensive stuff that’s no different in quality from many cheaper brands, but merely has “progressive” cachet. You know…REI and L.L. Bean clothing (“environmentally aware”), coffee that costs $12 a pound (because it’s “honest trade”), and just about anything that comes out of the public radio tchotchkes catalogue.
Susanka’s book has kicked this up the essential notch. No longer is buying a high-priced Saab or Volvo the essential in pretense to “conscience” while indulging oneself. Now the bobos of America can take out second and third mortgages to take in what their six-figure incomes won’t and erect the “not so huge house” of their dreams. Hey, it’s not the money that’s vital. It’s “feeling excellent about your choices.”
Susanka, Obolensky, and anyone who gave this book a excellent review are welcome to trade their huge houses for my one-bedroom, second-floor apartment in a effective-class neighborhood with no off-street parking. They can then acquaint themselves to their hearts’ desires with the reality of “modest living.”
As for me, I’ll buy lots of cool stuff and fill up their ex- abodes. I’ve got better things to do than wring my hands over my “ecological trace.” And for my housewarming party, I’ll be barbecuing up a few spotted owls, bald eagles, dolphins, and baby seals in that spacious back yard.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Just having bought an 1887 house in a tiny southern town, this book was not what I needed. It was well written, gorgeous photography and layout, but not within the fee range or geographical range. It might have saved me some money if these items of interest to readers had been mentioned. Also – “mission” or “prairie” is not a dominant theme in this area.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Fascinating book, I am reading it from take in to take in.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5