I just love Sarah Susanka. She really gets it right when it comes to houses. Her Not So Big House series of books just rocks. Her whole premise is that new houses being built are far too big, and the spaces inside them end up being impersonal and unusable. And that a lot of older houses are not built for the way we live today, with someone in the kitchen cooking while chatting with their family or guests. Susanka’s solution is the Not So Big House, which really makes the best use of a small amount of space.

I love her suggestions for cozy nooks, especially the book nooks where you can hide away and relax or read, while looking out the window. And closed-in porches where you can enjoy fresh air even in the rain or the dead of summer with mosquitos all around. In today’s world of McMansions her approach is so refreshing, to move to a more sustainable method of building and maintaining houses.