Product Description

Outside the Not So Big House extends the principles from The Not So Big House to offer a unified source of design advice about making the indoors and outdoors work together. Through the unique pairing of bestselling author and residential architect Sarah Susanka and landscape designer and award-winning writer Julie Moir Messervy, two highly qualified experts teach us how to think in a new way about designing our outdoor spaces--so they are in keeping with our interior ones.
Outside the Not So Big House gives language to design concepts that unify home and landscape. Two major concepts--make building decisions in the context of the land and make landscape decisions that draw the inside toward the outside--inspire homeowners to attune their homes and property to fit the way we live today.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43400 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-08
• Released on: 2008-01-08
• Format: Illustrated
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 216 pages

Review
"There are gardening books that tell us what to plant and where. And there are architectural design books that tell us how our homes should look. But never the twain seem to meet. At least not until recently, when the two spaces -- home and garden -- wed harmoniously in the new book, "Outside the Not So Big House." The Chicago Tribune


"This beautiful book combines the best qualities of coffee-table attractiveness and excellent advice."
-Christian Science Monitor


"On my scale of one to 10, this outstanding new book rates a solid 10."
-Miami Herald


"A must read"
-House & Garden magazine

About the Author
Julie Moir Messervy is a noted landscape and garden designer, author, lecturer, and principal of Julie Moir Messervy Associates in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Messervy designed the Toronto Music Garden in collaboration with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and gardens for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, Missouri, and the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Garden, Columbus, Ohio. She is a columnist for Fine Gardening magazine and author of three previous books.

She received her BA from Wellesley College and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's School of Architecture, where she received her Master of Architecture and Master in City Planning degrees. She trained with the eminent Japanese garden master Kinsaku Nakane in Kyoto, Japan.

Sarah Susanka has become one of the best known and most highly regarded architects in the United States, and is a leading advocate for the popularization of residential architecture. Her first book, The Not So Big House, topped best-seller charts across the country

Customer Reviews

Beautiful book, but Not So Big - Not
It is a beautiful book that is well written and illustrated. So I'll give it 3 stars. But I don't believe it belongs in the Not So Big series. It feels like false advertising or misrepresentation. I appreciate the concept of connecting the outside and inside, but I expected to see ideas for small gardens/yards in small lots, not small planting areas within large lots and acreage attached to large houses.

Disappointing for a "Not So Big House" fan
I agree with many of the poor reviews by fellow "Not So Big House" thinkers. I was very, very disappointed by the lack of practical information and very few useful principles for "creating the landscape of home".
While I agree with and have used so many of the principles in her other books, this one left me with nothing I can use to landscape my property.
While some of the examples are quite interesting, most are also quite unusual and there is not much to take away for those of us with average-sized, rectangular-shaped lots living in subdivisions filled with tract homes.

You can have a million-dollar view from your home
Prerequisites: You have a house with some space for plants.
Pros: if you wanna block your not so eye-entertaining neighborhood.
Cons: French (glass) windows/doors may have security concerns.

You don't have to have a million-dollar house and 10 acres to have a nice view. The point of this book is "a look from inside out."

Your windows and doors can be a frame looking through your garden, hence the garden/landscape is designed from an inside view of your house, as far as your eyes can reach.

It teaches you how to create a relaxing enjoyment by using your current limited space, landscape, or even a slope with proper plant arrangements.

It greens your house from inside out!!