Building our Not So Big House

Building a house has been something we've wanted to do since before we got married. We have notebooks of ideas and sketches. At first we wanted to build a post and beam house, and even got so far as designing one. Unfortunately our bank could not make the numbers work. Over the years, we became acquainted with Sarah Susanka's "Not So Big House" books. We loved some of the ideas she had about doing more with less, simplicity, and beauty. We wanted to build a home.

We ended up building the house featured on the cover of her book "Creating the Not So Big House." While 2400 square feet, it feels very spacious (especially since we moved from an old Vermont cape). We use every room in the house, every day. We have views and light streaming into every window. It's cozy in the winter and breezy in the summer. The best part about it, for us, is the central core of bookcases surrounding all three sides of the fireplace.


Our housebuilding saga, however, was not simple or beautiful. The saga includes a contractor who mismanaged his and our money, began to do shoddy work, and had to be fired. We're now finishing the house on our own--a long process with stress on all of us.

Would we do it again? Maybe. Ask us again when we've finally finished!