Books of the Week: Inside the Not So Big House and Outside the Not So Big House

Buy Inside or Outside on Amazon. You can look inside the books.

Check out Sarah Susanka`s website.

I got these books for Christmas (well, using a Christmas gift certificate, anyway), and I spent a very enjoyable evening today going through them. I am quite interested in architecture and design, and have often been irked by the poor quality and indifferent design of many modern houses. I include the house I am living in now in this, as until a couple months ago, our kitchen was literally a hallway with a stove and some counters.

Author Sara Susanka, with design writer Mark Vassallo for Inside and landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy for Outside, explores the idea of turning a house into a functional, comfortable home.

The Not So Big philosophy is to `build better, not bigger.` It is about using the space you have, and making the space you have work for you. Susanka believes that each space in a home should be functional, if not multifunctional, and used every day. this means making each space somewhere where you want to be, and where you can do the things you want to do.

The idea of `home`includes not just indoor space but outdoor as well, and the two areas of a home should be a unified whole that transition smoothly form one to the other.

Home should be beautiful.

The idea behind the books is that of quality over quantity, and each book includes photographs of the interior or landscape of over twenty homes, with notes on what works, why it works, and how you can apply this to your own space.

The only problem is that I now have a serious case of house envy. Ah well, back to my basement suite, and on to bed.

Good night, and good reading.

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