Plans from Creating The Not So Big House

Plans for many of the homes featured in Sarah's book Creating The Not So Big House are available for you to purchase and build your very own Not So Big House. For further images and details, see the corresponding chapter in the book. Unless listed below, the plan is not available for sale.

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Sarah Susanka's House (SS-2444)
Architect: Sarah Susanka
Sarah Susanka designed and built her own home in Minnesota as a Not So Big House prototype. It contains most of the concepts described in both "The Not So Big House" and "Creating the Not So Big House." It can be built either as a two story home, without basement, or as shown in both books, with a lower level. You can see more photographs of Sarah's house by clicking here.
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A Timeless Classic (TWO-01)
Architect: Peter Twombly
This is a house without any tall spaces. It's a very simplestructure and form, elegantly detailed with a minimum of fanfare. It's notostentatious. It's not trying to be clever, unique or outrageous. It's simplybeautiful and comfortable.
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The Essence of Home (ECK-01)
Architect: Jeremiah Eck
Based on images from the past but with a contemporary twist, this house is almost symmetrical but not quite. With its darker base, white second-story dormers, bold green roof, and central chimney, it is distinctive but familiar. It resonates with the archetypes that say "Home."
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A Farmhouse for Our Time (JL-983)
Architect: Jean Rehkamp Larson
This home, also called "Field of Dreams" at Healthy Home Plans, is specifically intended to look like it belongs to the land in its agrarian past. Its form revives the simplicity and good proportions of classic North American farmhouses.
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Affordable Comfort
Architect: Ross Chapin
This house presents another view of the archetypal qualities that speak to us of home. It has a steep roof with living space below, a magnificent brick chimney, a front dormer with a focal window, and a central front door under its own sheltering roof. Although the form of this house is simple, the dark green trim, corner boards, and columns highlight its shape and bring out its personality.
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Playfully Sustainable (MON-01)
Architect: Ted Montgomery
This house is a model of what's possible when you integrate a concern for energy efficiency with an irrepressible flair for invention.
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One Phase at a Time (KNI-01)
Architect: Robert Knight
This house was designed and built in two phases. The first phase served as a vacation home, and over time, it became a year-round residence. The first phase was an almost square house with a hip roof and lots of windows and skylights to bring in the light and views. The addition added bedrooms and a bathroom but left the heart of the original floor plan untouched.
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Southern Comfort (MOS-01)
Designer: Eric Moser
Many people are captivated by the look of older homes, with their simple gabled roofs and gracious front porches. The main floor layout is hardly what you'd expect to find in a house with such a traditional exterior.
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An Accessible House for One (PRE-01)
Architect: Geoffrey Prentiss
By designing an open plan and building in only the most crucial elements from the beginning, you can create a house that will be easy to remodel as needs change.
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A Place of Cool Remove (TYL-01)
Architect: Sharon Tyler Hoover
Although we typically think of comfort in terms of cozy alcoves and light-filled living spaces, on a practical level, creating comfort also encompasses issues of heating and cooling.
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Elegant Simplicity (EST-01)
Architect: James Estes
This home is a study in simplicity. Created with an unerring eye for proportion and a careful execution of classic details, this house captivates anyone who enters it. It gracefully illustrates how beauty can be the result of economy of means and how a plan does not have to be complex to have impact.
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Pears and Cherries Cottage
Architect: Ross Chapin
Filled with simple but beautifully designed details reminiscent of the bungalows of the Arts and Crafts movement, this cottage exemplifies what building Not So Big is all about. View plan details and purchase plans».

Hilltop Cottage
Architect: Ross Chapin
By spending less on the overall square footage, there's more money available to make a place that's comfortable, well-crafted, and personal. View plan details and purchase plans».

Life Dream House: Back to Basics (LDH-1999-B)
Architect: Mulfinger, Susanka, Mahady & Partners (now SALA Architects)
This version of the 1999 Life Dream House is one of integrity and personality while pared down to its most basic elements. The form and detailing is very simple. Standard materials are used, both inside and out.
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Life Dream House: The Whole Nine Yards (LDH-1999-W)
Architect: Mulfinger, Susanka, Mahady & Partners (now SALA Architects)
In this version of the 1999 Life Dream House, by crafting every surface and sculpting every space, the whole house becomes a work of art, as well as an extraordinarily comfortable place to live. This is an intimate house, a house that embraces both it inhabitants and guests with its presence.
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