I live in a townhouse in Minnesota that was designed by Ms. Susanka. In theory I think the Not So Big House is a great idea. However, I do have some feedback after living in a house designed as such:
1. The kitchen pantry door is so close to the garage entry door that you cannot open the door from the garage if the pantry door is open.
2. The door to the master bedroom and master bath are so close that you cannot get into the master bathroom if the master bedroom door is open.
3. There is no laundry room, even though it is a 2000 square foot house. There is only a closet just big enough for a washer and drier. I moved from a 1800 square foot house that had plenty of room for a laundry room.
4. Ironically, the kitchen work triangle is about 3 - 4 feet too big. The extra footage would have been better utilized for a laundry room. Therefore we have a "Too Big Kitchen" and no laundry room.
5. Many rooms only have 8 foot ceilings. In today's homes, 9 foot ceilings are frequently used to provide the impression of space without adding square footage. Unfortunatly, this was not done.
6. Windows are too small. This townhouse is on a lake, and has a beautiful lakefront view. Floor to ceiling windows, or higher ceilings with larger windows would have been awesome.
7. The garage can fit two average sized cars, but is not wide enough to fully open my car door. Therefore, I have to turn sideways and squeeze out. Good motivation for not gaining too much weight!
8. There is a shared driveway amoung the townhouses such that if someone is parked behind my garage door, my neighbor cannot pull out of his driveway. It takes a great deal of neighborly coorperations so that we can all get in an out of our homes.
Since this is a townhouse with a homeowners association, we are not allowed to make any changes to the outside.
You may wonder why I bought the home in the firstplace?
First of all, until I actually lived in the house, I didn't know this until I moved in - i.e. not being able to open bathroom door.
Also, the townhouse is in a good location for my job and is on a lake, so I couldn't be too picky about what the floor plan was.
I live in a Not-so-big-house, and my experience is very different. The plan is efficient, and works beautifully. It is, however, a single-family home; and we made several adjustments to the original plans--which were not by Sarah, though we have incorporated many additional "not-so-big" ideas into the house.
We'd be curious to know what townhouse development you're referring to. Sarah has only been involved in one townhouse/condo project, and her involvement was only as a consultant, so minimal. Are you certain that she designed the building you live in? It's possible that it was implied that she designed it personally, when really the designer used her books as a resource for the design, and called it "Not So Big" to increase its attractiveness to buyers.
The things you mention are inconvenient, and it's too bad that you're having to deal with them.
The townhouse development is in the minneapolis suburban area. The seller did tell me that it was designed by Susan and had a few of her books. It would be interesting to find out if it was really designed by her.
However, the fact that the seller told me it was designed by Susan did not influance my purchasing decision whatsoever. I bought the house because of the location, price etc.
The condo project that Sarah was involved in was a remodel. She has not done any new designs of condos or townhouses. A remodel presents its own challenges because often you can only improve on so much of the design, and many things from the original stay the same. Based on your description, it is unlikely to be the same project. There are no similar features, and I'm not seeing that your project was a remodel.
Again, sorry for your troubles with your place, and thanks for posting.
looked at the web site. awesome house. can't wait to vacation and walk by. you guys are lucky!!
quote:
Originally posted by Al: I live in a Not-so-big-house, and my experience is very different. The plan is efficient, and works beautifully. It is, however, a single-family home; and we made several adjustments to the original plans--which were not by Sarah, though we have incorporated many additional "not-so-big" ideas into the house.
We'd be curious to know what townhouse development you're referring to. Sarah has only been involved in one townhouse/condo project, and her involvement was only as a consultant, so minimal.
Are you certain that she designed the building you live in? It's possible that it was implied that she designed it personally, when really the designer used her books as a resource for the design, and called it "Not So Big" to increase its attractiveness to buyers.
Just to chime in... that's definitely very likely. I remember coming across a developer's website once, a guy who I'd never heard of, and in his ad blurb he described himself and Sarah as both "leaders in the Not So Big" movement. Again, I'd never heard of this guy, before or since.
Then you'd click on his development's floor plans, and they'd be for 6000 square foot 'cottages' with tons of large formal areas... pretty obviously not designed with 'Not So Big' principles in mind.
Seems like there's a great deal of untruthfullness, fibbing, and out-and-out lying in the housing and real estate biz, more than is commonly known. Some of these ppl act in ways that'd shock a used car salesman.
