In fact, she was looking at a very large home on a smaller lot and yet the proportioned doors and windows, the soft colored paint and balanced landscape made the home look like it had been comfortably nestled on the land for decades. Smaller homes come with their own challenges. While these houses are often easier to make homey, too many designers try to stuff all the conventional rooms found in bigger homes into the lesser space. This can make a house seem cluttered and convince owners that they need bigger houses when in fact, all they really need is redesigned space. Smaller homes built to suit today's casual lifestyles can be just as open and spacious feeling as the giant next door.
People never go into living rooms.
For those who have the opportunity to start from scratch, the possibilities for a house that fits today's less formal lifestyle are abundant. Not So Big House by architect Sarah Susanka. Ms. Susanka makes the case with picture after picture, design after design of homes that make all the space count. The homes are architecturally creative and make you want to step inside to see what's next. They wanted more space to accommodate their growing family, but because they did not know how to communicate their ideas they ended up with an oversized house that still fell short of their needs.