Outside the Not So Big House: Creating the Landscape of Home

I add sticky notes to ideas I want to copy. This book was full of sticky notes from cover to cover. Sarah really shows you how to make the outside part of your living space. Highly recommend it.

Sarah Susanka is a great writer and has an amazing eye for the design of homes to get the style you want. I have bought 3 of her books.

My husband and I purchased this book to get ideas for a new home. We want to "bring the outdoors in," and this book is full of ideas to do just that.

I am an interior designer and thought this book was great for exterior ideas. I highly recommend it.

I think the previous reviewer missed the point of this book. The authors are not trying to show "how to place landscaping for the greatest impact" but how to connect the house to its surrounding landscape, and how to use the concepts outlined in the other Not So Big books to shape the garden and landscape. The examples used ARE beautiful, as they should be - they inspire me to do something equally beautiful and extraordinary with my own space, with or without spending a large chunk of cash. If you understand that it's not about the content, but the underlying principles that are being used to shape the space, you can appreciate the beauty, form, and creativity of the spaces shown.

The collaboration of gardening expert and award-winning writer Julie Moir Messervy and residential architecture expert Sarah Susanka, Outside The Not So Big House: Creating The Landscape Of Home is an in-depth guide to creating harmony in one's house and garden. Detailed diagrams and full-color photography illustrate this highly accessible introduction to design concepts; chapters cover how to play off the habitat of the home, how to instill elements of smooth flow and pleasing aesthetics, working elements of nature into personal design, and much more. Outside The Not So Big House is not written as a handyman's how-to book, and does not delve extensively into the mechanics of how to construct and install garden furnishings, or how to plant, grow, water, and protect vegetation; it focuses on learning and applying elements of style to home and garden landscapes, with a wealth of examples for vivid illustration. An excellent inspirational source for gardeners and landscapers seeking to broaden their grasp of appealing designs, Outside The Not So Big House is very strongly recommended reading.