The repeat got things to stick, even if a little boring - making it easy to understand what the text meant when the illustration giving the example said the same thing word-for-word.Īlso, so many of the owners of the example houses are architects or interior designers - yes, they are the ones who have the talent to create beautiful designs, but sometimes this felt very much like 'pay the experts advertisement' - on the other hand, for a lot of people to achieve the design, paying the experts (if you got the money) is the best choice. I was ambivalent about the 'say everything at least twice' - Once in the text, once in the illustration descriptions, and then usually in the intro/conclusion of each chapter. (Even gives a place to order copies of the blueprints.)

(It even has an 'away room' which currently serves as library, office and guest room.) The house is currently 12 years old, and as we look down the road, we know we have some remodeling in our future, and I hope to employ as many details as possible to have my home be an even better picture of a Not So Big House.Ĭreating the Not So Big House is a lavishly illustrated book with many different archetype house designs drawn from around the country, giving ideas (and possible blueprints) for building the Not So Big house - or remodeling or adding onto. Yes, it is a more quickly slapped together house in the suburbs, but the bones are good. I doubt I will ever be able to build my own home, but I tried to find a house that incorporates principles of the Not So Big House.

I grew up in a home with a rarely used dining and living room, and it just seemed like such a waste to me. In my spare time from age 10-20 (and some beyond), I designed houses for fun. those are big! Yes, they have attended to some details that apply to Not So Big Houses, but really, you couldn't shrink the floor plan just a little more? One thing that really annoys me about this book is that the size of some of the houses are still really big! Really, a 1900 sqft 1-bedroom or a 2300 sqft 2 bedroom. It's so much better to choose the home styles that appeal to me and focus on those or to just browse the pictures, then read the portions that are useful. I have only read it that way once before. I really love this book, but what I don't love is reading it cover to cover.

Creating the not so big house