Rating: 
Summary: Build or remodel without remorse.
Review: Great book on arranging floor plans, lighting, etc. For those about to build or renovate learn how to get what you want while staying in your budget.
Rating:
Summary: Build or remodel without remorse.
Review: Great book on arranging floor plans, lighting, etc. For those about to build or renovate learn how to get what you want while staying in your budget.
Rating: 
Summary: Depends on what you are looking for...
Review: I enjoyed Sarah Susanka's other books for their beautiful pictures, hopeful text, and "its so easy, it just takes thinking out of the box" attitude. I was hopeful that this book was aimed more for people like me - a simple homeowner looking for some tips (as opposed to an architect or person designing their own home). While there are some "not so big" solutions for everyday living, such as thinking about your recycling area and making use of space under the stairs, there really isn't anything new or awe-inspiring in this book. Much of the book still has to do with initial design of the space, and other big money expenditures. I still rated this book 4 stars as it is a beautiful, eye-catching read, but the information can also be found on HGTV.
Rating:
Summary: Very helpful
Review: I found this book to be very insightful for me as a new homebuilder. While the book is a collection of magazine articles that Susanka has written in the past, they contain ideas that are refreshing and useful. I have a new direction in the way I think about the design of my house, and I can appreciate the value of maximising space, as well as building the house to suit my particular lifestyle. i would recommend this for any potential homebuilder, or renovator.
Rating:
Summary: A great idea book
Review: If you liked Sarah Susanka's other books, you will love this one. It has specific ideas on designing rooms for the way people live, such as placement of TVs in a home and setting up a place to sort mail. For everyone who has always wanted a window seat, the book addresses design considerations. I will definitely read through this book a couple more times before my house is built.
Rating:
Summary: Susanka's writing is as good or better than her architecture
Review: Once again, Sarah Susanka has taken some pretty basic conceptual problems in home design and explained various solutions to them that are eye-opening to say the least. While this book is a compendium of her "Drawing Board" articles out of Fine Homebuilding Magaine, it gives the reader a real sense of what they can do either through new construction or remodeling to improve their lifestyles as well as their homes.
Bravo, keep on writing Sarah.
Rating:
Summary: Susanka's writing is as good or better than her architecture
Review: Once again, Sarah Susanka has taken some pretty basic conceptual problems in home design and explained various solutions to them that are eye-opening to say the least. While this book is a compendium of her "Drawing Board" articles out of Fine Homebuilding Magaine, it gives the reader a real sense of what they can do either through new construction or remodeling to improve their lifestyles as well as their homes.
Bravo, keep on writing Sarah.
Rating:
Summary: Bigger is not always better...quality counts!
Review: Our guiding philosophy and inspiration. An engaging and intelligent defense of building (and renovating) smarter, not bigger. Sarah Susanke has made a career of promoting traditional design principles in a way that speaks to modern situations (many of us can't afford new, huge houses) and responds to the "McMansions" craze that continues to sweep the US. She has a wonderful sense of how to maximize space for personal use. She advocates for built-in furniture, design built around daily activities, and open light-filled design. She had us at "Most architects are afraid to say...'You don't need an addition, you need a cleaning service." She doesn't want to clean out your bank account. She wants you to make the most of what you have...and if you follow her ideas, you will.
Rating:
Summary: A great idea book
Review: The premise is that the pictures shown are examples of what can be achieved by merely understanding certain underlying principles; the fact is they're simply examples of what can be achieved by hiring professional designers and spending lots of money.
Understandable, I suppose, since no one can be expected to have discovered anything really new, some "rule" that has escaped the notice of the millions of homebuilders before them. What's presented as good design, such as open floor plans, merely reflects current room functions. A hundred years ago, when people were plucking chickens in their kitchens, it would have been a bad design.
But these Not so Big books seem to have been successful, and much of the credit has to go to the excellent book design and the author's cheerful prose.
Rating: 
Summary: NOT SO FAST THERE
Review: This is a kind of talkative version of your typical architecture magazine. The premise is that the pictures shown are examples of what can be achieved by merely understanding certain underlying principles, as described in the text; the fact is they're simply examples of what can be achieved by hiring professional designers and spending lots of money. Understandable, I suppose, since the author has set herself an impossible task: no one can be expected to have discovered anything really new, some "rule" that has escaped the notice of the millions of homebuilders before them. What's presented as good design, such as open floor plans, is really nothing more than what's currently popular. (The Colonists, for instance, couldn't wait to get rid of theirs, in favor of individual rooms and privacy.)
But these Not so Big books seem to have been successful, and much of the credit has to go to the excellent book design and the author's cheerful prose.
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