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

Nearly a quarter-million people bought this ground-breaking book when it was published in Fall 1998. Since then, the books simple message -- that quality should come before quantity -- has started a movement in home design. Homeowners now know to expect more. And the people responsible for building our homes have also gotten the message. Architects and builders around the country report clients showing up with dog-eared copies of The Not So Big House, pages marked to a favorite section.

Why are we drawn more to smaller, more personal spaces than to larger, more expansive ones? At parties, why do we spend more time in the kitchen and family rooms than we do in the formal living and dining rooms? What makes the sunny, intimate breakfast nook more inviting than the vaulted spaciousness of a cathedral-ceiling great room? The Not So Big House proposes clear, workable guidelines for creating homes that serve both our spiritual needs and our material requirements, whether for a couple with no children, a family, empty nesters, or one person alone.

In 1938, Life magazine commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design a dream home for America. The result was the Usonian house, an enduring model of modest-sized residential architecture. Now, Sarah Susanka, architect and principal with Mulfinger, Susanka, Mahady & Partners, the firm selected to design the 1999 Life Dream House, brings Wright's same common-sense, human-scale design principles to our generation. Consider which rooms in your house you use and enjoy most, and you have a sense of the essential principles of The Not So Big House. Whether you seek comfort and calm or activity and energy at home, The Not So Big House offers a place for every mood.