The Not So Big House

I love these books by Sarah Susanka. My sister Beth introduced me to the series and we've been browsing through them at her house in Brooklyn Park, which I'll get into in another post. I'm particularly fond of Susanka's attention to detail and her appreciation for woodwork.

"The Not So Big House books by Sarah Susanka bring to light a new way of thinking about what makes a place feel like home—characteristics that many people desire of their homes and their lives, but haven't known how to verbalize.

How big is Not So Big? Not So Big doesn't mean small. It means not as big as you thought you needed. But as a rule of thumb, a Not So Big House is approximately a third smaller than your original goal but about the same price as your original budget. The magic is that although the house is smaller in square footage, it actually feels much bigger."

On her site she lists recommended readings. Here are a few I want to get to:

Get Your House Right by Marianne Cusato

The New Cottage Home by John Tolpin (reminds me of Tolken, especially after seeing the photo below in the book preview)

House as a Mirror of Self by Clare Cooper Marcus

The chapters in House as a Mirror of Self that I'm interested in are:

Chapter 2 - The Special Places of Childhood

Chapter 3 - Growing Up: Self-Expression in the Homes of Adulthood

Chapter 5 - Become More Fully Ourselves: Evolving Self-Image as Reflected in Our Homes

Chapter 8 - Where to Live? Self-Image and Location

Chapter 9 - The Lost House: Disruptions in the Bonding with Homes

Chapter 10 - Beyond the House-as-Ego: The Call of the Soul