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Decent books on living in a small house?
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Posted by paulsiu (My Page) on Sat, Jul 18, 09 at 8:13
| I recall seeing a book call "Not so big house" by Sarah Susanka. However, the idea of not so big appears to be around 2500 square feet, big by my standards.
I was thinking. Are there books on living in places that are roughly 1,000 square feet that are less tailored to say a high income person in NYC but may be to someone with a more modest budget?
I have found a series of books by Apartment Therapy, but was wondering if there are other book to look at
Paul
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RE: Decent books on living in a small house?
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Paul,
We must be at a loss for finding books too. No one answering. There are some magazines which cater to small. Not sure if they are still out there. I also did a search on my local library and came up with this one (actually only one): 500 Ideas for Small Spaces : easy solutions for living in 1000 square feet or less
Seldon, Kimberley, 1961-
Summary
All over the world people are discovering the ease and efficiency of small-space living. Who wants the burden and expense of owning a McMansion when smaller spaces can be so much more elegant, practical, and cozy? More and more, baby boomers face the prospect of trading in their large homes for smaller accommodations. Seldon, host of the TV series Design for Living, addresses this issue in a book loaded with color photographs depicting every room of the home, including outdoor spaces. Captions point out the design tricks used to maximize each small space.Ward (Home Therapy: Fast, Easy, Affordable Makeovers) also gives empty nesters a thorough review of how to plan for a move, though she furnishes few photographs. Step by step, she discusses planning for a smaller residence, deciding on the most useful furnishings, getting rid of the excess, and attractively arranging what's left |
RE: Decent books on living in a small house?
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| Susanka's books can be applied to smaller homes. The reality is that few architects design small homes, and that's what she was focusing on -- the design process. But one of the architects featured in her books makes very small homes indeed, and they are quite charming: http://www.rosschapin.com/ The pictures on his site may give you some more ideas. |
RE: Decent books on living in a small house?
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| This isn't a book, but I just came across this website about small house living. There's a link in the first paragraph to her blog also. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Jewel Box Home
RE: Decent books on living in a small house?
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| That's a great site! She has a lot of good ideas, although she still has a bigger house in mind than many of us. And I had to laugh at her dinner party schedule, which starts at 8 PM. Our guests would have to let themselves out, because we would be asleep before dinner was served! We have our parties MUCH earlier, starting around 4 or 5, but her basic ideas are sound. What I saw in her photos was simplicity and no clutter. Whenever we travel, we try to rent a cabin or cottage rather than a hotel room, and for a while, I couldn't figure out what was so relaxing and appealing about these vacation places. It's the lack of clutter! Just what you need, and nothing more. Now, how we're going to train ourselves to live that way, I couldn't tell you LOL! For example, there are two coffee drinkers in our house, but we have about a dozen coffee mugs. We don't use them for company- we have the china set for that. Same goes for all of our other dishes. And so it goes, throughout the house. Lest you think I'm picking on my wife, we are both the same way. I think we'll be doomed to live in clutter the rest of our days! Since I love to write, maybe I need to put together everyone's stories and experiences on small home living- there seems to be a need! |
RE: Decent books on living in a small house?
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I have 1000 sq ft and I have finally realized that if a space is well-designed then it's much more useable. My problem is that I live in a typical cookie cutter home with no imagination in its design.
For instance, who would think that the laundry room should be on the back of the house - where you have to go out the side door, around the house and go into the backyard! I lived like that for years until it occured to me that I could cut a door from the bedroom to the laundry room. Poor design! |
RE: Decent books on living in a small house?
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| I hear ya idie2live. We lived here 13 years before we finally cut a door from the kitchen into the backyard and closed up the door on the side of the house. Moe, Larry, and Curly all had a hand in our house, and it shows. |
RE: Decent books on living in a small house?
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Flgargoyle,
What a great idea. I just read an article that said small is on it's way to be the new elite living, akin to small unique cars. Whether this is true or not will be seen. But we really do need something that actually fits our life style...in writing and photos. I love Chelon's pics posted in the Decorator formum galary. She finds stuff from all over the place and a lot of it is small living ideas. It wouldn't surprise me if there were many of us here willing to share photos. I live in a neighborhood mixed with tiny houses and McMansions. Taking a walk one day I did shoot a bunch of pics. There were so many ideas used for exteriors and they started to look like holiday celebrations. Colors of Easter, Christmas, Valentines Day, Winter whites, etc. I've stopped short of going to open houses, but maybe it is time. Estate sales can get me in, but most have of the smaller homes have'nt had anything done to them since their inception. Write....this may a good economical time to do so. |
RE: Decent books on living in a small house?
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| Let's see... I'd have to travel to Europe and Japan to do 'research' on how people cope with small dwellings. This is going to be a 'tough' job! Seriously, I'm going to start gathering thoughts on living small, both adjusting one's ideas about what you need, and incorporating existing ideas on how to get the most out of the space you do have. As I've mentioned here before, my sister lives in a 700 sq ft co-op in New York, and it's virtually empty! |
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