Home by Design: Transforming Your House into Home

by Sarah Susanka

In Home by Design , Sarah Susanka presents the 30 key design concepts that can be applied to any home - no matter what the style or size. Using 28 of the best designed homes from around the country, Susanka brings these concepts to life with 150 powerful and inspirational from something as simple as placing a rug under a table to renovating a whole second floor. Home by Design shows homeowners a new way to look at their spaces and provides ideas for how to make each home reach its full potential.

Genres: Architecture, Design, Nonfiction, How To, Reference, Home Improvement, Construction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published March 11, 2004

About the author

Sarah Susanka is a bestselling author, architect, and cultural visionary. Her "build better, not bigger" approach to residential architecture has been embraced across the country, and her "Not So Big" philosophy has sparked an international dialogue, evolving beyond our houses and into how we inhabit our lives. In addition to sharing her insights with Oprah Winfrey and Charlie Rose, Susanka has been named a "Fast 50" innovator by Fast Company, a "top newsmaker" by Newsweek, an "innovator in American culture" by U.S.News & World Report, and is this year's recipient of the Anne Morrow Lindbergh Award for "outstanding individual achievement, a spirit of initiative, and work that exemplifies great dedication toward making positive contributions to our world."

Sarah is a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects, and a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council. The author of seven books, Susanka resides in North Carolina.

Reviews

[Jenifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Residential design. Aimed at people who are designing a home or remodeling a space. The design concepts were solid and well presented. The photos of the homes are gorgeous and illustrate what timeless architectural design looks like. This was enjoyable to page through.

Physical copy from Springville Library

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plentiful typos in a book about attention to detail were amusing, but also confusing. I like Susanka’s work, but this book felt rushed to the presses and the photos that were supposed to help illustrate points were often poorly chosen or placed.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Susanka's warm, visually welcoming, human-scale residential design style suits me entirely. Surfaces, textures, lines of sight, sizes and heights of spaces, materials, and other elements harmonize to activate all the homey feelings.

[Richard]

I can recommend this book to anyone who is going to do home remodeling on their own or hire contractors https://oasisbuildersinc.com/. The information in the book is presented very consistently. The book is suitable for both professional designers and beginners.

[Kim Veach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though this is an older book, the concepts are excellent. Particularly useful if you are remodeling or building a home.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring...

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Susanka's book on architectural details. I liked the comparison photos of spaces with and without certain features. A lot of the rest ran together.

[Erika RS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike Susanka's "Not So Big" books, this book looks at the fundamental principles of good home design without taking a particular angle such as "Not So Big". This is both a strength and a weakness.

It is a strength because you get the principles in distilled form. This makes it a lot easier to go back to the book when you want to remember what Susanka said about something like "light". In the "Not So Big" books, these principles tended to be more scattered. However, it's also a weakness because it is harder to see how the principles work together. However, the book strikes a good balance overall.

One feature of this book that I enjoyed was the use of modified pictures. The book would present a room and, to illustrate a point, compare it with a modified version which made only a small change (e.g., changing a color, removing a detail). The small change made a big difference in the feel of the room and really helps to illustrate the importance of details.

This book reminds me of the wonderful Patterns of Home: The Ten Essentials of Enduring Design (my review). If I did not already own that book, I would probably buy this one. And if I owned this one, I probably would not buy that one. (Note: I eventually ended up with both.)

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely love Sarah Susanka for her focus on creating a house that will meet our needs not necessarily a huge house. I highly recommend her books to anyone looking to better utilize their existing home or looking to buy or build a new home. One negative of Susanka's books is that she shows a strong preference to Craftsman style woodwork in every book and that architectural style becomes a bit repetitive, however all of her books are full of great ideas.

This book focuses on the design concepts used in a house and how they affect your impression of the space. Concepts include; use of a variety of ceiling heights, wall thickness, public vs. private spaces, and walking towards light. Susanka uses layouts and photographs to explain the concepts.

[Celia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got interested in Christopher Alexander's Pattern Language as working in the spatial science I was always interested and how the arrangement of spaces and especially public spaces effects your feeling for certain places and also how spatial arrangement can influences how you behave and inter personal relationships between people such as the importance of public spaces in building community. Though I never really got his houses part. Sarah Susanka is heavily influenced by Christopher Alexander's work. In her not so big house she talks about less space and more quality. I never really got what she meant by quality before reading this book. This book describes more the details that improves the quality of a space and gives a better understanding her other books.

[Candy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was tickled to learn that I have a "4th dimension" in my house. I didn't have a name for it, but now I do!
I have read other books by Sarah Susanka, and loved them. What I especially liked about this one is the organization of features that make a house a home, and the photo examples of each principle.
You could just read about the pictures and get the idea, but the text fleshes out what the pictures illustrate.

[Jan Deelstra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Susanka's got a deserving "Coffee Table" edition with this one! Not just a collection of pretty photographs, this is actually a volume that boasts a lot of decorating instruction in easy to follow format. It's a nice addition to the toolbox of decorators and simply those who enjoy the decorator's touch.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have enjoyed reading this and learning about design, but wish she could apply these principles to many styles. Most of the pictures seem to be a variation on one or two themes. There must be similar principles of good design in other styles of architecture.

[g-na · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book outlining design elements found in architecture, and exactly how design works and why those elements are good. After reading this I was able to go into houses and realize why a house was designed well (or poorly). Highly recommended.

[Del · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mweh. think it might be a good book if it weren't so technical? I might have just Susanka'd myself right out by the time I read this book, too.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love, love this book. It's by far my favorite book for
home design.

[carl theaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ideas about what to do where in the house. Great pics, makes you think,
and then think, mmm maybe I need another house?

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like her look. I like her style.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is essentially a summary of all the points in more detail in other books. If you're looking for one Susanka book to rule them all, this is it.

[bumblethunderbeast · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the concepts in here were important to think about. The images that showed what she meant were fantastic!

[Donzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. If I could pick a person to design a home for me, Sarah Susanka would be it!

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non-Fiction; Home Improvement
4 stars

[Kaethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty pictures and clear explanations of aspects of home design.

[Keishua · Rating 2 out of 5]

definitely written for those who have cash to burn bit some good principles for the rest of us.

[Ginger Heskett]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14355420

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful photos and ideas but NOT accessible for anyone but the wealthiest among us.

[Jerome · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book of ideas for giving a small home some style.

[Dianne]

The best home design book I have ever read.