THE NOT SO BIG HOUSE PROTOTYPE 454-3. This beautiful home was designed by architect, Sarah Susanka, for herself. She built it originally to illustrate the ideas she was writing about in her first book in the Not So Big® series. The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live. It is designed to promote a floor plan that is far more appropriate for present day lifestyles, and it is filled with special details that make the house a delight to live in, while living up to it Not So Big® name. Instead of building formal spaces that rarely if ever get used, this house is designed so that every space will be put to good use everyday. Featuring spacious, light-filled rooms, built-ins, and an open floor plan, it embodies the principles of quality and comfort that are at the root of Not So Big® design. The house is designed for a full walk-out lower level, ideal for a visiting guest to enjoy their own private bed and bath, and with excellent home office space with its own exterior entry. In a tiny attic garret, there also a cozy Place of Your Own (or Poyo, as Sarah calls it), accessed by a ship's ladder from the second floor. Like Sarah's other house plans, the Not So Big House Prototype illustrates a play on a theme and variation, with the frequent appearance throughout the house of an archetypal form--the circle. On the second floor, directly above the front door, there is a large translucent window in the shape of a partial circle. The curve of this beautiful form runs through the upstairs bathroom and stairway landing, lending significant drama to the second floor--in a Not So Big® way, of course. The house features adaptable spaces that open to one another, and are designed for everyday use. Long diagonal views give the sense that the house is significantly larger than it really is. The kitchen is the heart of the house, and is designed as an integral part of the main living space. Connected to the living and dining areas, it is a great gathering place for family and friends. The big screen porch is designed to be converted into a main level master bedroom, should one story living ever become a necessity. To this end, the front door has no steps up to the entry, making it ideal for visitors who are mobility impaired. The upper level of the home has a spacious master bedroom and walk-in closet. A large bathroom serves both the master bedroom and second bedroom on the upper level. Rather than build two separate bathrooms, resources are combined to make one spacious, though not over-sized, bathroom that is as beautiful as possible. There are many photographs and descriptions of this home in The Not So Big House, and in the first chapter of Creating the Not So Big House. The house is designed to be highly energy efficient, and to live large without using more resources than are necessary. Sarah tells us that, when her work took her away from Minnesota, where this house was first built, it was one of the hardest things she's ever done to sell it. "It worked beautifully," she told us, "and was a really inspiring place to live." She strongly encourages anyone considering this plan to read The Not So Big House, as it will give a much more complete description of the home's numerous special features than can be enumerated here.