Outside the Not So Big House: Creating the Landscape of ... (ISBN 1600850200)

The Rather Big 'Not So Big":
I come away with the feeling that Sarah was lead astray when this book was in development. Many of the houses in previous books in the 'Not So Big' series have been rather expensive even if they have not been that big. At least these books have provided me with ideas in redoing our moderate sized/priced house. In this book I find a 'Not So Big' house with a library, a sitting room, and a sunroom on the first floor in addition to a mudroom, kitchen with eating area, formal dining room and living room. The next house in the book sits on a 4 acre lot. Almost every house in the book has grounds that require hired maintenance professionals. I would imagine that one of the first chapters in Sarah's new book, 'The Not So Big Life', will recommend reducing the square footage of your house and the maintenance required for your grounds. Reducing the square footage of your house will substantially reduce the work needed for upkeep. The 'grounds' could be turned into a native prairie for which God will provide the maintenance. Half of our 1.3 acre lot is native forest looked after by God. The subtitle of the new book is 'Making Room For What Matters'. One of the things that matters for me is making time for things I enjoy by spending as little time as possible 'mowing the lawn'.

You can have a million-dollar view from your home:
Prerequisites: You have a house with some space for plants. Pros: if you wanna block your not so eye-entertaining neighborhood. Cons: French (glass) windows/doors may have security concerns. You don't have to have a million-dollar house and 10 acres to have a nice view. The point of this book is "a look from inside out." Your windows and doors can be a frame looking through your garden, hence the garden/landscape is designed from an inside view of your house, as far as your eyes can reach. It teaches you how to create a relaxing enjoyment by using your current limited space, landscape, or even a slope with proper plant arrangements. It greens your house from inside out!!

A good gardening ideas book for both design professionals and ordinary gardeners:
A house and its garden are different parts of the same overall design. Bestselling author Sarah Susanka and acclaimed landscape designer and award-winning writer Julie Moir Messervy understand this concept. They describe it as "opening up the relationship of indoors and out" and demonstrate it with actual case studies in "Outside the Not So Big House: Creating the Landscape of Home." "Outside the Not So Big House: Creating the Landscape of Home" covers the landscape of home, embracing the habit of home (playing up the corners, borrowing the landscape, the attraction of opposites, a stream of one's own, shelter and embrace), composing journeys (variations on a theme, Japanese journey, parallel paths, the territory of home, the world behind the walls), linking the inside with the out (living lightly on the land, easy living, a landscape of stone, good fences, rooms inside and out), and crafting the elements of nature (gardens of earthly delight, three cabins in a forest, at home on the range, terraces of grass, a cottage in the city). This book does show the influence of Julie Moir Messervy's training with the well-known Japanese garden master Kinsaku Nakane as a Henry Luce Scholar. "Outside the Not So Big House: Creating the Landscape of Home" has 216 pages and many dazzling color interior photos and plans. It is a good gardening ideas book for both design professionals and ordinary gardeners.

Disappointing for a "Not So Big House" fan:
I agree with many of the poor reviews by fellow "Not So Big House" thinkers. I was very, very disappointed by the lack of practical information and very few useful principles for "creating the landscape of home". While I agree with and have used so many of the principles in her other books, this one left me with nothing I can use to landscape my property. While some of the examples are quite interesting, most are also quite unusual and there is not much to take away for those of us with average-sized, rectangular-shaped lots living in subdivisions filled with tract homes.

Beautiful book, but Not So Big - Not:
It is a beautiful book that is well written and illustrated. So I'll give it 3 stars. But I don't believe it belongs in the Not So Big series. It feels like false advertising or misrepresentation. I appreciate the concept of connecting the outside and inside, but I expected to see ideas for small gardens/yards in small lots, not small planting areas within large lots and acreage attached to large houses.