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Summary: Wonderful for Reading and Photos
Review: I will be building a house in a few years, and this book has significantly changed my thinking process on what we will build. For once, I read a book from cover to cover instead of skipping over the text to view the photos. I have not purchased this book; however, I intend to purchase it for my own library as it was that helpful. This is an excellent read if you are in the market to build or purchase a house.
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Summary: Need architect
Review: We are moving from the Bay Area to Portland, OR, and were struck by how aniseptic all the "castlett's" built out on the west side tend to be. We bought the book after seeing the title in the WSJ, and thought it quite incitefull. We've started thinking about building, and would like to find an architect in Portland that is familiar with these design ideas. Any suggestions? jayajane@aol.com
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Summary: The Not so Big House
Review: Don't be mislead by the title...we are in the process of building a "not so little house" and I found this book very interesting. It opens your mind to different building ideas and options. You start thinking about what you really want in a house not what is "expected"
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Summary: This book made me think differently about house design.
Review: This is a beautiful book with lots of color photos that made me think about how I live and how a new house should make that life more enjoyable. For example, the author suggests setting up an area for processing mail that's close to where you enter the house so that mail doesn't pile up in the table in the entry or on a coffee table somewhere.
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Summary: A Valuable Primer, and Fun To Just Flip Through
Review: This pleasing-to-read, pleasant-to-look-at book offers a tantalizing glimpse of what is possible when trying to make every square foot count in a home, without compromising practicality or comfort. The homes featured in here are, for the most part, neither sprawling nor overly ritzy; however, many plans will require some serious construction or renovation on an existing home. So if you're looking for some pointers on how to make your own Not So Big House seem Not So Small, but without tearing out a wall or two or adding an extension . . . well, you're bound to be a bit frustrated as you ooh and aah in these pages. But fair enough -- it's an architecture book, not a decorating book. To this end, Susanka still provides plenty of sound advice and information on the importance of making little things count, from acoustically isolated rooms to the need for private space, and what it means to Look At The Diagonal of A Room. She also points out how to make a good use of light, and how to determine what your REAL needs are when purchasing a home, as opposed to your PERCEIVED needs. If you're out shopping for your first home -- or are building another -- you'd be hard pressed to find a better primer on what to look for if you're trying to make your space matter. In fact, the homes shown in this book are so much fun to look at that it is sometimes difficult to give each home the time and space that it deserves. Susanka's text is so lively, and keeps things moving so quickly, that you're often left to do a double-take as you wonder whether you're going to get to see other rooms in the house to help pull the whole thing together. Sometimes you do, other times you don't. There are also times when it would have been helpful to see the individual floorplans for some of the houses shown in here. Again, for some we do, and for others, we just get the layout of the rooms in question. There are instances when readers are offered a glimpse of an intriguing room, and then get to see it several times from a number of different angles at a number of places in the book -- and unless you're paying close attention (I finally caught on, in one instance, because of a row of displayed plates that kept showing up), you're not always aware you're seeing the same room from a different perspective. A more consistent use of floorplans might have made things just a bit easier to negotiate. It might also have been nice to have been given just a bit more indication of how much some of these innovative uses of spaces actually cost the homeowner. There's really only one jarring moment in the book -- really, now, wouldn't any architect worth his or her protractor know that television's most famous fictional architect is named MIKE Brady, and NOT Robert Brady? (Susanka misquotes the lyrics to THE BRADY BUNCH theme, too. Ah well.....) But this is all nitpicking, really. Susanka meets her goals in writing this book -- it really IS "A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live" and you will likely find something in here that catches your fancy. Check it out, and leave it lying around for some casual inspiration.
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Summary: I Only Wish That The Book Had No Ending
Review: I'm not in the market for a new home or even thinking about replacing the home we built 25 years ago. Yet I couldn't put this book down and thoroughly enjoyed the author's presentation. The text was outstanding and I was able to relate to the author's expressed viewpoints on home design through the floor plans and photographs presented (which were conveniently placed for the most part on the same page as the related text). I've always remarked that there isn't anything that I wish I had done differently in the design or construction of my home. Having read this book, I know now why I enjoy my home every day of every season.
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Summary: It's the thought process...
Review: To focus on the style or interior decorating aspects of TNSBH is to miss the point. The point is about thinking (first and foremost) and thinking differently before building. This book will be much more valuable if you read through "A Patten Language" which is referenced in the book. This roughly 900 page, 1977 book isn't for the faint-hearted but if you're thinking about building your final home/dream home like we are, it's worth the time and the money to supplement your thoughts. To see another aspect of TNSBH, check out the Life Magazine Dream Home which the firm designed. You can see the high end and the medium-priced version. TNSBH isn't for everyone, but for us the time and the mindset were right.
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Summary: Too Much Frank Lloyd Wright
Review: Susan Susanka is a 'student' of Frank Lloyd Wright and it definitely shows in this book. Although the title of her book implies she is thinking 'small', the content of the pictures shows she is only thinking 'Wright'. Anyone who buys these types of books in order to stimulate their imaginations will be somewhat disappointed unless they too are Wright fans and are looking for Wright-ish inspiration. If you love Victorian, French Country, American Country, Spanish Colonial or industrial modernism; this book will not provide you with visual inspiration. Also, her basic premise is that the modern trend towards really large houses is actually alienating. She is of the opinion that vaulted ceilings make a person feel insignificant. I disagree whole-heartedly. When I am in a room with a vaulted ceiling my spirits rise, you could say my spirit soars to fill the room; it is not a blow to my self-worth.
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Summary: I liked seeing the same house over & over
Review: This is a clever book with important new thoughts and a great deal of depth. I appreciated seeing the same house photographed from many angles and explained from many different perspectives because now I feel like I can really imagine how that house looks. I find it annoying to see just one photo from each house, because I don't really get to understand how all the spaces play together.
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Summary: This author/book needed interior design collaboration.
Review: Although I agree wholeheartedly with the author's premise for this book, I fear she lost waaaaay too many points for her limited repertoire and lack of creativity/imagination in the design of her structures' interiors. I can appreciate her own personal preferences, as documented by the many photographs of her own home, but feel that her ability to stretch into other styles, finishes, etc. is more than a little limited (i.e., arts and crafts style; white or light colored walls with light, natural wood finishes; ship ladders; and 'contemporary' furniture ad nauseum). The audience for her books and lectures, as well as her clients, would be better served if she worked hand in hand with an interior designer who was more in touch with the multiplicity of styles and finishes that are available and currently on the market. The fact that no one can do everything well (thus the need for input from BOTH the architect and interior designer) is highlighted here by the works of an architect who apparently tried to do it all, over and over and over again.
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