'NOT SO BIG' SOLUTIONS
An architect gives do-it-yourselfers a language to design by
 

	ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF 'NOT SO BIG SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR HOME'
	IN THIS HOUSE, a colonnade that begins outside the house continues inside, serving as a spine that defines the circulation and space and organizes both rooms and views. New windows extend all the way to the roof, letting in more light.

FANS MEETING architect Sarah Susanka on her book tours for "The Not So Big House" and "Creating the Not So Big House" could be counted on to greet her with two comments. First came the praise, "Loved your books," then the plea, "Now about my house . . . Can you help?"

As a matter of fact, she could — and generally did. But what those fans couldn't have known was that they were helping Susanka almost as much as she had helped them. Because back in her office, Susanka drew on those questions for the column she penned for Fine Homebuilding.

Now, the architect has a third book, "Not So Big Solutions for Your Home," a collection of those columns.

"As I've traveled around," says Susanka, "I realized there are people who would like to know how to do some of these things themselves. For example, they might ask, 'If I am trying to figure out where to put my TV or how to create an away room, what are the things I have to consider?' Or, 'Do I have to spend a lot of money to accomplish what you are talking about?'

"Although I know you can implement this stuff fairly simply, most people don't know that. Even for architects and interior designers, these are things we do all the time, but not things we vocalize. I'm trying to give some language to things that can make a house today really work better."

While Susanka's first books were big on beautiful pictures, as well as ideas aimed at achieving the better not bigger way of life, they often left the do-it-yourselfer longing for just a bit more. In this book, the photos share space with practical sketches, ideas expanded into hands-on advice.
 
"Not So Big Solutions for Your Home" is not so much a how-to book as an insider's guide to the ideas behind good design. It's the knowledge that informs the decisions architects and designers make every day. And while it won't create a homebuilder out of the marginally skilled hobbyist, there's enough information here to give even the most uninformed homeowner a solid foundation to build on.

The book begins with site selection, understanding legal restrictions, why a homeowner should always choose the property before the home plan, and how to site the house once it's been selected. Subsequent chapters cover the importance of creating a fully developed exterior, roof construction, window placement and the finer points of the garage/house connection.

That's just section one.

From there, Susanka moves inside, where the discussion turns to design. There's a chapter on mud rooms, creating the gracious entry, designing a pantry and even tips for easy recycling. Susanka also delves into details such as ceiling height and good lighting, and there's an entire section on remodeling.

She's the first to say, however, her ideas are not necessarily new. In the introduction to the book, she writes, "Architects have been working with them since Frank Lloyd Wright introduced the concept of the Usonian House — a house for every man — in the mid-1930s. But what hasn't been available until now is a language with which homeowners, builders, realtors, interior designers and architects can talk to each other about what makes a home work today, and about what makes it sing.

STORAGE SPACE for man and beast alike comes together in a generous mud room adjacent to the family's entry. A free-standing closet partially screens the room from other parts of the house. A nearby half-bath further enhances the mud room's usefulness.

IF YOU'VE GOT THE ROOM, a pantry closet like this one is a good choice. The closet is not as space-efficient as other designs but it has major advantages when it comes to good visibility of stored items.

 

A Home Fair, lectures and tour

"I firmly believe that if we can simply explain to each other what we really want in and from our dwellings, we'll find answers that are less resource-consumptive and far more satisfying to the soul."

ELEMENTS OF STYLE

Sarah Susanka lists these five key elements in tailoring your home to fit your lifestyle:

1. Rethink your existing living spaces and reconfigure them.

For example, design a family room that allows you to do two or three things at the same time. Homeowners often place the TV in an area that broadcasts to the entire house, and no one can hear themselves think. Just considering where to put the TV and how it gets integrated in the house so other things can be happening simultaneously is incredibly important to the well-being of the household.

2. Ask yourself, what new spaces do we need for the things that occupy our lives?

My favorite one is a mail-sorting place. We have so much mail that descends on us, and unless you are pretty good at management you end up being deluged with piles and piles, bills muddled with personal correspondence and junk mail. My suggestion is if you've got a room that doesn't get used often, like a dining room, that can become a mail-sorting place. Ideally, if you have a place where you can walk right into the house and sort, I advocate making a space there.

3. Understand how light works.

You can place windows and skylights to get the maximum daylight and usable light that can both cheer up the space and make the most of what's available. Most people don't realize that. They just pop the window into the wall and assume that's what it will do. How it relates to the ceiling and wall can make a huge difference to how much light comes in. If you place a window right next to a perpendicular wall, the perpendicular wall becomes a reflector so you get a lot more light into the room.

4. Pay attention to the small details.

For example, there are thousands of choices in tile but people will go to the tile store and pick the most expensive tile because they think it's going to get them a beautiful backsplash. It's not the tile itself that is going to give them a beautiful backsplash; it's the design the tile is put into. You can select a very inexpensive tile and create a very nice pattern and have it look just as dramatic as if you'd spent a lot of money.

5. If you're thinking of remodeling or adding on, do you know how big to make the addition?

The most common mistake people make is adding much too much space by building an addition all the way across the back of the house. It ends up being somewhat amorphous and also ruins the space that existed before.

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