Sometimes you don't have to go anywhere. It's true that the concept of "escaping" should be something that all of us can find in our own homes and reader Tessa Walker sent us a great email tipping us off to Susan Susanka's book, The Not-So-Big House.
"For those with a smaller travel budget but a bigger apartment, Sarah Susanka offers a wonderful vision for bringing the Escape home in her concept of an "Away Room" outlined in her well received books on the Not-So-Big House. An architect who champions unifying living, dining, and kitchen spaces into single designs for living, Susanka makes a point of also providing each house or apartment with one public room that has visual and acoustical privacy...
Susanka frames the concept of the Away Room within discussions of designing houses, not of retrofitting apartments, but her careful inclusion of a quiet, protected social space is perhaps even more needed in smaller living spaces.
Perhaps not a subject appropriate early in the month while people are still in vacation mode, but later on as we settle back in for another year of work or school it might be fun to consider the benefits of creating an "escape place" right at home.
Especially for those of us living in limited space, how could we create a sheltered nook adjacent to our main social space? A window-seat? Part of a hallway? A loveseat screened with bookshelves on one side of a kitchen? How and where could you create a space to perch with a book while your partner cooks dinner, or for a small group to withdraw into their own conversation at your next party?
Reading AT has been a treat lately, especially with the addition of
the Green site. Thanks, and keep up the fine work."
-Tessa Walker
Brattleboro, VT
This is an absolutely wonderful book: as is the follow-up--Creating the not-so-big house. Susankah does quite a bit of writing in Taunton Press publications: her ideas on using trim to unify and demarcate space are also worth studying.
view Alana in Canada's profile
She rules, especially for us homeowners. Basically, she advocates building a smaller house than you thought you needed, but using the same budget to create a better house. Some of her other books may be better suited for the apartment dweller.
Such as:
"Inside the Not So Big House: Discovering the details..."
"Not So Big Solutions for Your Home"
"Natural Remodeling for the Not So Green House"
List of her books:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/105-0833752-1961202?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=susanka
view Jon_B's profile
We are a family of six living in a not-so-big house--not because we can't afford a large home, but because we believe in living with a smaller footprint in a house that has architectural integrity and in being a close family. Our children share bedrooms...we have one bathroom...we actually use our dining room and our living room every single day. This is why apartmenttherapy appeals so much to me (I'm an addict)--though I am not an apartment dweller or a NYer, I haven't found any other sites that address the solutions to living with style and comfort in a small space quite like AT does.
(hmmmm, could there be a housetherapy in the future?)
We live in Pittsburgh, where we could afford a large new house in the suburbs--real estate is very affordable here--but we live in a 75 year-old small bungalow in an urban neighborhood. I know it is a bit of a red herring issue on this site since most New Yorkers are forced to live in a small apartment because of cost-of-living issues. I live in a small house because I CHOOSE to, not because I HAVE to. There is a trend all over this country of people who are deciding to live small with quality instead of quantity--and not just empty-nesters, but young families who want to raise children to be responsible citizens of the planet....I don't mean to sound pedantic, this is just something I care about.
view polkadot's profile
Susan Susanka was on a talk show several years ago and I ran out the following day to buy her book. She is truly a genius and worth knowing about her design and philosophy.
view right angle's profile
i love the not so big house theory and own all the books. i have even gone through them with a highlighter and marked my favorite pasages and made notes in the margins. i am currently living in a not so big house with a terrible layout and we are using susan's ideas to remodel it without adding to it.
view akbuilt's profile
I love her books, I've been checking them all out of the library this summer - they can get a little repetitive to read all at once because they all discuss the same basic principles, but they're full of neat ideas, and beautiful pictures.
view Rosie's profile
Polkadot--that's why I love Apt:therapy too. Well said.
We too could move to the burb's (though 50 years ago when this house was built, this was the burbs, lol!) for what this ridiculous house is worth--I'd have twice the square footage (and half the yard) but the house would probably be torn down and some monstrosity put up in its place (as has happened down the block).
Thanks for the other titles JonB. I was having a brain freeze.
view Alana in Canada's profile
I'm wondering how close Maxwell's book is to Susanka's new one:
"The Not So Big Life: Making Room for What Really Matters"
Sorry, haven't read either....
view Jon_B's profile
Check out "A Pattern Language" by Christopher Alexander and company...part of the inspiration behind Susanka's work.
view krister's profile
Totally brilliant woman who questioned why the houses we built were failing to fit the way we live now. She's also a delightful speaker if you ever have the opportunity to listen!
view Cate's profile
Well, I got a copy of the Not-So-Big Life from the library and I'm reading it. It's nothing like Maxwell's book: it's more like Dr. Phil's "Life Strategies" without the harshness and mockery. I've finished Chapter four so far (though as we're supposed to do long, lengthly, self-exploratory excercises in every chapter I'm cheating by not doing them right now). Actually, her style is closer to, I forget her name, Julia, Julie? something who wrote "The Artist's Way."
It seems to an excellent book for what it is: a way to explore your life and changing it to pare down to the essentials of what make you alive and give you meaning.
She has a web-site devoted to it, complete with forums, should you want to check it out: http://www.notsobiglife.com/
I sort of wish it had more to do with living in my home. As well, she does use "home" as a metaphor for this process: for example, "Removing the clutter" isn't about physical stuff, but patterns of behaviour that keep us stuck in our lives, "Interior spaces" and the architectural concept of creating vistas between one room and another is about listening to your dreams, etc.
view Alana in Canada's profile