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The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live

  • ISBN13: 9781561583768
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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.When describing a favorite room in the house, do you find yourself using terms such as “expansive,” “formal

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Vogue Living: Houses, Gardens, People

This unique book of thirty-six spectacular houses and gardens—whose owners come from the worlds of fashion, music, art, and society—draws not only on stories that have appeared in the pages of Vogue and Vogue Living over the past two decades but also on images that have never before been published. Vogue Living: Houses, Gardens, People takes you to these style-makers’ private realms around the world, captured by such celebrated photographers as Miles Aldridge, Cecil Beaton, Jonathan Becker

List Price: $ 75.00

Price: $ 46.69

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6 responses to “The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live Reviews”

  1. Paul Martin Avatar
    Paul Martin
    193 of 195 people found the following review helpful:
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    This book deserves to be widely read, July 5, 2000
    By 
    Paul Martin (Albuquerque, NM) –
    (REAL NAME)
      

    This review is from: The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live (Hardcover)

    We are just completing the construction of our new home. While this book was certainly not the only source of ideas, it was certainly critical in giving us the courage to abandon the “starter castle” mentality of soaring ceilings and the attendent wasted space. The reaction we are getting certainly bears out the strength of these design concepts.

    Given the content of the other reviews, I have to be clear about the intentions of this book. It is not a book about building inexpensive houses. It is written by an architect, and architects are generally not consulted when price is the ultimate consideration. It is not a book of house plans, nor a how-to book on house design. It is a book about a design philosophy which considers the house as a place to live rather than as a monument to impress ones neighbors. The philosophy is not terribly original; why does it have to be? It is a return to basic principles of good design.

    We began this project with a very clear idea of the style we wanted, and someone concerned with style alone might not recognize this book’s influence on our home. On the other hand, anyone who compared our home to the starter castles on our block would see the difference immediately. Every room is comfortable and constructed on a human scale. I would recommend this book to anyone in the process of constructing a new home. If I had the money, I would send anonymous copies to a number of builders and designers in the area. This book deserves a wider reading.

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  2. "readertoo" Avatar
    “readertoo”
    135 of 138 people found the following review helpful:
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    Quality rather than Quantity, December 6, 2000
    By 

    This review is from: The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live (Hardcover)

    Although the concept of ‘The Not So Big House’ is not a revelation to many people, sometimes we need reminding that ‘more’ is not always ‘more, and this book is a wonderful source for inspiration, both philosophicaly and practically. The book begins by showing some examples of when people put their money into building a small home with character, and others that put their money into square footage. The second of the two is only too familiar in my area (Colorado). Here there has been a trend for the last ten or so years of developments being built with large (4000+sq.ft) homes that have absolutely NO design qualities what-so-ever. Even the paint jobs are identical on literally thousands of homes. These developments are not communities. Personally I see them more as the large scale slums of the future. Really ugly. The majority of the book however shows examples, home by home, of how people have built with minimal square footage, using well thought out floor plans, and delicious design details, to create a feeling of comfort, coziness, spaciousness and drama without pretence. Some of the homes were clearly built by people who had quite a bit of money to spend on custom cabinetry, stonework and refined plaster molding. Probably not within the budget of many people even if they do choose quality over quantity. Others are very simple, light filled, and within the budget of pretty much anyone who has it in their budget to build thier own home in the first place. Just a note that this is not an interior design book. This is a book for those seeking a different way of living ‘in space’ and creating an environment for family life and enjoyable pasttimes. Much of the interior decorating is really quite boring. But the homes themselves are very inspirational. The use of wood work reminds me of older homes, built up to and including the Arts and Crafts movement. The authors are pining for homes to be built the way that they used to be, and by the time you have finished this book, you will be too. I do believe that beauty, and quality of life, is in the details, and a properly designed home makes use of the square footage it has and requires much less ‘room’ than is commonly thought necessary these days. If you feel this way, or think you might like to, this book is for you.

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  3. Avatar
    Anonymous
    73 of 76 people found the following review helpful:
    4.0 out of 5 stars
    The blueprint for our new house…, December 10, 1999
    By A Customer
    This review is from: The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live (Hardcover)

    We are on the last stages of building our first(last?) house, and this book showed us the way. Most homes built today try to stretch square footage at the expense of quality (“starter castles” is the term the author uses). We’ve all been in these big, soulless homes:a marble foyer that feels like a mausoleum, rooms that reach to the roof and waste all the space overhead; and usually in a few years the cracks are beginning to show in the drywall seams, floors are squeaking, and there are still a few rooms that don’t have any furniture in them yet…or people. The author makes a great argument for building a smaller home that is higher in quality and more space efficient. Better to fill a smaller space with things of quality and beauty than build big and empty places. We read this book, threw out our floor plans, and started over with a new philosophy. In one month we’ll be moving into a better, more energy and space efficient home for having done this–at about $90/SQFT.

    Read this book before you build.

    (You can also read the author’s columns in Fine Homebuilding magazine; many are also on the FH website. The column on “designing an entryway” is a logical place to start!)

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  4. Shemogue Avatar
    Shemogue
    52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
    4.0 out of 5 stars
    sumptuous living, December 29, 2007
    By 
    Shemogue (New Brunswick) –

    This review is from: Vogue Living: Houses, Gardens, People (Hardcover)

    There is no disputing that this is a sumptuous volume. Lavishly produced, its oversized 384 pages are crammed with images of exquisite rooms and lush gardens from 36 unique homes, owned by the rich and/or famous in Europe, America and North Africa and into the likes of which you and I will never set foot. (Which is the reason, thankfully, such books are produced and why we lesser mortals buy them.)

    There are rooms modern and rooms classic, arranged with the taste, elegance and restraint of the world’s best decorators and captured by the world’s greatest photographers. And yet the rooms are not museum pieces, but are demonstrably inhabited by their owners, their well-scrubbed children and their adorable dogs, such as the greyhound on page 317 filching a piece of cheese from the dinner table.

    My favourite room which is featured on the front jacket cover is of Janet de Botton’s breakfast room in Provence, its French chateau décor a study in white, cream and faded pastel, the background, literally a wall of china – floral motifed white plates and platters displayed on white-painted, floor-to-ceiling wooden plate racks built into the walls. (Already I’ve been measuring my walls to see how I can incorporate something similar – though less vast – into my old house).

    At the opposite end of the décor spectrum is Amanda Brooks NYC loft, all kitsch and brash eye-popping colour like a Barbie Doll house with Brooks herself photographed in a Barbie Doll style gown in a Barbie Doll pose. (It’s not to my personal taste but cleverly done & I had to look twice to be sure the figure lying stiffly across the bed wasn’t a mannequin).

    If you are a fan of décor books you will find plenty more here to inspire, amuse and entertain you and your like-minded friends and family.

    So why did I hold back from a five star rating? My quibble is with the empty 14 pages devoted to Madonna which might have been put to better use: Madonna’s cow pastures, M. with (admittedly cute) children; a gowned & high-heeled & coiffed M. feeding the chickens (as if!); M. canoodling with husband, a double-page shot of M’s sheep — & only one tiny interior shot, a sitting room that was rearranged by the photographer & does not reflect the actual décor of Madonna’s house – which might have been of real interest even to a non-fan like me.
    Thus the book falls just a little short of being, for me, the epitome of the coffee-table décor genre.

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  5. J. Landau Avatar
    J. Landau
    40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    The best decorating book of the holiday season, November 29, 2007
    By 
    J. Landau (Orinda, CA USA) –
    (REAL NAME)
      

    Amazon Verified Purchase(What’s this?)
    This review is from: Vogue Living: Houses, Gardens, People (Hardcover)

    Flash review: The perfect gift book for this season.

    This new book, timed for Xmas giving, features a selection of the best homes shown in Vogue in the past several years. It is a large-scale book, filled with wonderful color photography. Although Elle Decor and Architectural Digest have come out with similar books this season, neither can hold a candle to Vogue’s tome. If you are familiar with the 1968 publication, “Vogue’s Book of Houses, Gardens, People”, which now sells for $400 and up if you can find it, you will know what is in store for you.

    Maximum emphasis on homes you would love to see in person, owned by people of impeccable style: Janet de Botton in the south of France, Marella Agnelli in Marrakech, David Cholmondeley’s stately, etc.; minimal number of celebrity digs done by decorators of questionable taste which you tend to see in Architectural Digest. The style and taste of the featured houses, gardens (and, yes, people) are on an entirely different plane than those shown in the new books by the other two lifestyle magazines.

    July 2010 Follow up review:

    Just how tight is the upper class of England? On page 312 we meet the Hanbury girls, mom looking beautiful and daughters Marina, 21 at the time the story was originally done in 2003, and Rosie, then 19, obviously both gorgeous, as they gambol about their lovely Devon estate. Now, in the June 2010 issue of Tatler, we read about the marriage several years ago of Rosie Hanbury, at age 25, to David, Marquess of Cholmondeley, 49, who was discussed on page 358 of the book as the owner of Houghton Hall. You may remember that name from the Treasure Houses of Britain exhibit. He is one of the wealthiest men in England, an intimate of the Queen, and Rosie has now given him two sons.

    The older Hanbury daughter, Marina, now 28, has recently been engaged to Ned, Earl of Lambton, 48 years old and heir to Lord Lambton who we visited on page 132 of this book. The late Lord Lambton was shown at his Tuscany home, Centinale, which he shared with his long time mistress, Claire Ward, mother of the beautiful actress Rachel Ward. Centinale is just one of four estates inherited by Ned upon the death of his father, along with a huge pile of cash. If one were a cynic, one might say that neither Hanbury daughter has let mere money, titles or stately homes stand in the way of their love for these men old enough to be their father, but I would never make such an observation. Nor would I note that Lord Cholmoneley met young Rosie at Centinale, tying all three families together yet again.

    This book is great fun and an immediate classic.

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  6. Stylemaven Avatar
    Stylemaven
    19 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
    3.0 out of 5 stars
    Vague Living, November 27, 2007
    By 

    This review is from: Vogue Living: Houses, Gardens, People (Hardcover)

    Photography is extraordinary. The people featured therein, not so much. Still, it’s a beautifully done publication and worth the cash but buy it at discount.
    Stylemaven

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