Sometimes small changes can have a big impact. But many homeowners looking for more living space still insist on building expensive additions or completely rebuilding their home. In the latest groundbreaking step in the “Not So Big” revolution, previously in hardcover, Sarah Susanka and Marc Vassallo demonstrate how carefully chosen tweaks and simple additions can make a home seem much larger and more inviting. They avoid high-end architectural solutions, focusing instead on how “Not So Big” ideas can dramatically improve even the most modest home. The authors show readers how to think like an architect, so they can accurately assess their home’s shortcomings, apply “Not So Big” principles to their remodeling plan, and phase in their project incrementally over time. With this book, Sarah Susanka once again proves that a little remodeling can go a long way.

About the Author
Best-selling author, architect, and cultural visionary, Sarah Susanka is leading a movement that is redefining the American home. Her “build better, not bigger” approach to residential design has received national media attention, with appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Charlie Rose Show, and NPR’s Diane Rehm Show. Susanka lives in North Carolina.

Marc Vassallo trained as an architect and studied creative writing before embarking on a career in journalism. He is a past Editorial Director of The Taunton Press, author of The Barefoot Home, and co-author with Sarah Susanka of Inside the Not So Big House. His magazine stories and short fiction have been widely published. He lives in Seattle, WA.

Introduction
My not so big remodeling

PART I - The Look of Your House
The exterior
Front entries
Back entries

PART II - Kitchens and Communal Spaces
Kitchens: working within the footprint
Kitchens: borrowing adjacent space
Kitchens: opening up
Kitchens: bumping out
Relocating the kitchen
Kitchens: adding on
Kitchens as catalyst
Living spaces
Basements

PART III - Baths and Personal Spaces
Powder rooms
Bathrooms
Home offices
A place of your own
Bedrooms
Master suites

PART IV - Pulling It All Together
Too bigness
Whole house transformations
Green remodeling
My not so big addition

Credits

For ten years now I've been traveling around the country, describing to eager audiences the attributes and benefits of a Not So Big House – a house that's about one-third smaller than you thought you needed, but filled with the special details that make it completely personal and that give it that feeling of "home" we all crave. Not So Big, I explain, puts the emphasis on quality rather than quantity, and is designed to fit the way we really live today. Everywhere I go, people sit in rapt attention as they come to the startlingly simple realization that a house doesn't have to be bigger to be better.

Once my presentation is over, I'll often be asked questions like "We love your books, but what if we don't want to build new or do a big transformation?" "Can we still make our house Not So Big without having to start over?" and "What can we do if we only have a small amount of money to spend?"

Each time I reassure the questioner that yes, it is possible to stay put and to remodel your existing house incrementally as time and money allow. But the simple clarity of this message is not obvious as people page through my previous books, each of them sporting a plethora of houses most of which have either been built from scratch or revamped from top to toe. Over time, it's become obvious that there is a book missing in the Not So Big House series -- a book that describes these small and less expensive approaches for turning house into home.

That's what you have in your hands now, the book I've wished on many occasions that I had available to help answer these questions about smaller remodeling gestures, or Not So Big Moves as Marc and I call them here. The lessons you'll learn as you read will show you that, no matter your budget, there are things you can do to dramatically improve the place you call home.

What you'll discover as you make your way through the chapters that follow is that the simple but clever ideas for making small moves that have big impact will help you change your ho-hum residence into a place that is a delight to live in. You'll be surprised at how obvious and easy to accomplish many of these ideas are. It is my fervent hope that you'll discover that the house of your dreams is actually hiding right where you live today. All it will take is a little excavation, and some strategic reconfiguring to improve the quality of the place you call home. No matter how plain Jane your abode, there is hope, and there really is a way to turn her plainness into real beauty.

Sarah Susanka
Raleigh, North Carolina