[.ca] The Not So Big House Collection (ISBN 1561586277)

GREAT FOR BUDGET and IDEALISTIC MINDED! yes, both.:
Building a home: GET ALL YOUR DETAILS IN THE CONTRACT PRIOR TO STARTING, (INCLUDING PRICING OUT YOUR ALLOWANCES TO ENSURE THE BUILDER HAS PUT ENOUGH ALLOWANCE IN CONTRACT), MAKE A BUDGET-Detailed, and get these books: These books have been the cornerstone of our building project. True, she has advice that is for both large and small budgets (some of the details are pricey) BUT..the point of the book is spend same money on smaller scale and you will be happier. If you are building a 5,000+ sqft house, you will find these books amusing. But if you want to build a more reasonable size home, these books are great. We built a 4,000 sqft home (includes basement and above garage) and used several tips (lighting, mail area, etc.). My advice: 1. Use a builder with design services (our architects were living too large for our budget and they build homes that are not pratical (waste material in sizing). 2. GET EVERY LITTLE DETAIL UP FRONT IN CONTRACT. This was painful for the builder--he did not want to do it. But we are only 1% over budget and only overbudget b/c we could not nail him down on kitchen allowance and he underestimated our taste. 3. Make lists/clip pictures/and dream everyday. 4. Build for expansion...maybe you cannot afford to get it all now. Set it up for easy adding later. Good Luck!

Using this book if you're on a budget:
I agree that this book isn't as useful as I'd like for those of us who are on a budget when building a house -- we're limited to off-the-rack home designs, and can't afford to have a builder put in all the options available to those who can afford to hire an architect. However, since my spouse and I are pretty handy when it comes to woodworking etc., we will be putting some of the book's principles to use when it comes to building our next house. We've also put some of its ideas into action in our present house, putting in built-ins and other storage spaces that allow us to use the space we have more efficiently. Builders are often happy to make small changes, like moving a wall to enlarge a pantry, at little or no cost. Knowing to look for those sorts of solutions and ask for them have really made our home more user friendly. The houses on either side of ours are the stereotypical "McMansions" that the book is aimed at counteracting, and I see more of them going into developments every day. I never see my neighbors in their three-story great rooms (which have so many windows it's practically a goldfish bowl). The neighbors love our house, which we chose specifically because it had a big kitchen which looks directly onto the living room -- the space is warm, inviting, and definitely used. If more people read and absorbed Sarah Susanka's ideas, they could make informed choices when shopping for a new home, and maybe we'd see fewer of these huge, unfriendly mini-mansions being built.

Good but uneven: first book 4.5 stars; second one 3 stars:
\oThis review of the 2-book collection is a shorter summary of my two longer reviews of each book. For more detail, look at each book review separately. The collection is a good buy, at only about 1/3 more than the "Not So Big House" book alone.\c "The Not So Big House" is an excellent book on efficient use of space and attention to detail to achieve comfort from a house design. The graphics, layout, and text are all uniformly excellent. The book only disappoints at the end, where Susanka throws together too-brief treatments on solar design, environmental concerns, and ways you might save money on your "Not So Big House". You'll notice a pronounced emphasis on Craftsman-type design in the houses depicted -- lots of natural, exposed wood. There are lots of very useful ideas (including double-duty spaces, built-in storage near the point of use, an "away room", and acoustical privacy) that most architectural books present poorly or not at all. "Creating the Not So Big House" is a good book, but in comparison to the first book it's rather a let-down. In the first book most photos were much larger and clearer; in this book some are too small to be very useful. Also, Susanka is not a professional writer, and could have used help here like she got from Kira Obolensky in "The Not So Big House". More architectural styles are represented in this book than in the original, but there aren't many new architectural ideas if you've read the first book (although spatial layering, and themes and variations are both new and useful concepts from this book). Summary: This is a pretty good collection at a decent price. The first book is clearly superior to the second; however, the collection price makes it a reasonable bargain. Get this if you're planning a new house design AND you can afford more attention to detail than standard builder options allow. You'll end up with a personalized, comfortable, Not So Big house with a Not So Small pricetag.

Grewat idea, even better pictures:
This book has given us many ideas for our own home, and although I don't agree with the author's espousal of the wonders of a 'great room' (which I find an expensive trend that really only counts when you live in a one room cottage) I like her ideas about sightlines, storage spaces and the fact that people don't really need as much space as they think they do. The pictures give concrete examples of Susanka's principles, and the book is organized with nice flow.

Small houses for rich people:
I thought this book was supposed to help you construct a very useful and pretty small house on a budget. I was wrong. Instead, it is about not too big houses where you spend tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, on all kinds of architectural extravagances. Perhaps this book could have a subtitle: How to spend a million dollars on a 1,500 square foot house. If you are looking to build a house efficiently and cheaply, this is the wrong book.