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The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka Review: A Groundbreaking Blueprint for Thoughtful Home Design
Sarah Susanka's The Not So Big House is a bestselling architecture and home-design book that makes the case for building and remodeling around quality rather than square footage — a philosophy that reshaped how many Americans think about residential space. The expanded edition, published by The Taunton Press, adds a new introduction and new chapter to the original, giving both new and returning readers fresh material alongside Susanka's foundational argument.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Homeowners in the early stages of planning a build or remodel who want a clear, principle-driven framework for prioritizing quality, comfort, and intentionality over raw square footage.
Worth it if
You're rethinking your living space and want both a vocabulary and a set of concrete design strategies to guide conversations with architects and builders — or simply to articulate what you actually want from a home.
Skip if
You need granular technical guidance — permitting processes, contractor negotiations, or detailed budget management — as the book is a design-philosophy primer, not a construction or project-management manual.
What readers & critics say
Thriftbooks describes the book as having "created a groundswell of interest among homeowners, architects, and builders" when it first appeared in 1998, and Buildersbook.com notes that Susanka "started a revolution in home design" with its deceptively simple message that quality should always come before quantity. StoryGraph readers echo this, calling it a genuinely helpful resource for rethinking how you actually live in and use your home, while also noting that the book's advice is most accessible to those with the means to build.
Sources: ThriftBooks, BuildersBook, StoryGraph4.3from 215 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
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The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live is Sarah Susanka's landmark argument that American homeowners are better served by smaller, more intentionally designed spaces than by chasing square footage — a philosophy grounded in her professional experience as a residential architect. The expanded edition, published by The Taunton Press, adds a new introduction and chapter, making it both a foundational text and a practical guide for anyone planning to build or remodel. It is best suited to homeowners and design-curious readers willing to rethink their priorities; those seeking granular construction budgets or contractor-level logistics will need to look elsewhere.
- Is it worth reading?
- For homeowners in the early stages of a build or remodel, or for design-curious readers who want a framework for evaluating space, The Not So Big House is a clarifying and practical read that has demonstrated staying power over more than two decades. Susanka's argument that a well-designed smaller home can outperform a poorly designed larger one is a useful counterweight to the square-footage benchmarks that still dominate real estate listings and builder marketing. Readers seeking granular budgeting or contractor-level guidance will need supplementary resources, and those already fluent in quality-focused residential design may find the foundational argument covers familiar ground.
- Similar books
- Readers drawn to The Not So Big House's argument for intentional, quality-focused living spaces will find kindred thinking in several related titles. Myquillyn Smith's Cozy Minimalist Home shares the emphasis on purposeful design over accumulation, while Whitney Leigh Morris's Small Space Style makes a practical case for maximizing limited square footage with care and creativity. Maxwell Ryan's Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure approaches the same question of making a home feel right from a room-by-room, process-driven angle. For deeper architectural philosophy, Alain de Botton's The Architecture of Happiness and Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language are natural companions, though those titles are not currently in the LuvemBooks catalogue.
- Who should read this?
- The Not So Big House is best suited to homeowners in the early stages of a build or remodel, to design-curious readers who want a framework for evaluating residential space, and to anyone who has stood in a large, expensive house and felt that something was missing. It is also a strong fit for those who want the vocabulary to communicate their priorities to architects and builders. The book is less directly useful for renters, those in heavily constrained housing situations, or professionals already well-versed in quality-focused residential design.
- About Sarah Susanka
- Sarah Susanka is an English-born, American-based architect, an author of nine best-selling books, and a public speaker.
- What is the 'Not So Big' philosophy?
- The Not So Big philosophy is Susanka's argument that quality should come before quantity in the places where people live their private lives. Rather than building larger, she contends that homeowners would be better served by redirecting the same budget away from unused square footage and toward craftsmanship, comfort, and intentionality — creating homes that genuinely reflect how people actually live. The philosophy has been credited with giving homeowners the language to articulate to architects and builders the kind of house they actually want, and it expanded well beyond the original book into an entire design movement and series of follow-up titles.
- What are the book's limitations?
- The Not So Big House is not a technical construction or project-management guide — readers seeking granular budgeting, contractor negotiations, or permitting guidance will need supplementary resources. Its practical utility is also most immediate for those with the means and context to build or significantly remodel, which limits its applicability for renters or those in heavily constrained housing situations. Readers already well-versed in quality-focused residential design, or professionals in residential architecture, may find that even the expanded edition's additions cover familiar territory.
Summarize this book
Is it worth reading?
Who should read this?
About Sarah Susanka
What is the 'Not So Big' philosophy?
What are the book's limitations?
Summarize this book
The Not So Big House makes the case that the sprawling, oversized homes dominating American residential construction are, for most people, the wrong answer. Residential architect Sarah Susanka argues that homeowners would be better served by redirecting their budgets away from unused square footage and toward craftsmanship, comfort, and intentionality. The book is structured as both an argument and a practical guide, offering specific design strategies for anyone planning to build, remodel, or rethink a living space. The expanded edition, published by The Taunton Press, adds a new introduction and a new chapter, providing updated thinking alongside the foundational quality-over-quantity philosophy.
Follow up
Does it spawn a series?
What's new in the expanded edition?
Is it a practical guide or a philosophy book?
Synthesized from verified book data & published reviews · How we review
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Age & Reading Level
Recommended age
Adult
Reading level
Adult
who it suits
Skip if you need a step-by-step construction manual with budgeting, permitting, and contractor-management guidance.
Our Review
A bestselling classic that reshaped American residential design, The Not So Big House remains a clarifying and practical argument for prioritizing quality over quantity in the places people call home.
What the Book Is and What It Argues
The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live by Sarah Susanka front cover
At its core, The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live is an architecture and home-design book built around a single, pointed thesis: that the sprawling, oversized homes dominating American residential construction are, for most people, the wrong answer. Author Sarah Susanka — a residential architect who holds a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Minnesota and is widely regarded as one of the leading residential architects in the United States — argues that homeowners would be better served by smaller, more carefully designed spaces that genuinely reflect how they live. The book is not a polemic against modest means; it is a call to redirect the same budget away from unused square footage and toward craftsmanship, comfort, and intentionality. The central premise, stated plainly throughout, is that quality should come before quantity in the places where people live their private lives.
The Book's Place in Architecture and Design Culture
First published before the expanded edition that The Taunton Press released on September 15, 2009, The Not So Big House has, over more than two decades, been described as a groundbreaking and revolutionary work in American home design. Susanka's author site credits the book with giving homeowners the language they need to articulate to architects and builders the kind of house they actually want — a practical, cultural impact that goes beyond the page. The book spawned a full series of follow-up titles, including Creating the Not So Big House, which applies its principles across 25 real homes, and The Not So Big Life, which extends the quality-over-quantity framework from architecture into how people inhabit their days. That a single book's guiding idea could expand into an entire design philosophy and book series signals the degree to which Susanka's argument found a genuine audience.
Strengths: Clarity of Argument and Practical Design Strategies
Where design manifestos often float in the abstract, The Not So Big House is structured to be actionable. The book focuses on specific design strategies — the kinds of decisions that transform an ordinary house into something that functions as a true home — and is organized as both an argument and a practical guide for anyone planning to build, remodel, or rethink a living space. Susanka's background as a practicing residential architect grounds the discussion: the strategies she outlines come from professional experience with how domestic space actually functions. The 10th anniversary expanded edition, which the book's verified publication record corresponds to, also includes a new introduction and a new chapter, offering readers both historical context for the Not So Big movement and updated thinking from Susanka herself.
Limitations and Who May Find It Frustrating
Readers approaching The Not So Big House as a step-by-step construction manual or a project-management guide are likely to find themselves wanting more granular technical detail. The book is designed to reframe how readers think about residential design and to equip them with vocabulary and principles — not to walk them through permitting, contractor negotiations, or budget spreadsheets. Those already converted to the quality-over-quantity philosophy, or professionals working in residential architecture, may find that the foundational argument covers familiar ground, even with the expanded edition's additions. The book is also most directly useful to readers who have the means and context to build or significantly remodel; those in rentals or otherwise constrained situations may appreciate the philosophy while having limited ability to act on it.
Who This Book Is For Today
More than two decades after its original publication, The Not So Big House holds relevance in a moment when housing costs, environmental concerns, and a broader cultural rethinking of consumption have made the question of "how much house do we really need?" More pointed than ever. Susanka's argument that a well-designed smaller home can outperform a poorly designed larger one is a useful counterweight to the square-footage benchmarks that still dominate real estate listings and builder marketing. The book is well suited to homeowners in the early stages of a build or remodel, to design-curious readers who want a framework for evaluating space, and to anyone who has stood in a large, expensive house and felt, inexplicably, that something was missing. For that audience, Susanka's blueprint offers both a diagnosis and a direction.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
- 1
- 2
abramsbooks.com
- Further reading
- 3
Sarah Susanka, Wikipedia
- 4
susanka.com
- 5
- 6
beta.thestorygraph.com
- 7
- 8
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