“Houses are usually designed to take advantage of outside views, with much thought given to getting the windows in just the right places. But we also spend a great deal of time looking within the house, which makes the composition of interior views equally important. If these views are thoughtfully composed, the house becomes beautiful to look at, wherever you are.”
Sarah Susanka
When we look at home design books, we’re usually taken with the exterior view first, but it’s the interior views that we live in.
In the Not So Big House, interior views are a priority because these views are the ones we consume more than any other.
I enjoyed the interior views from the reading room to the second-floor stairway in the first home we built. I liked seeing those posts floating upstairs. However, that wasn’t a forethought plan.
The sightline from the reading room to the basement stairs opening was an unpleasant oversight. It appeared like a lost mountainous cavern awaiting a cougar’s den. I hadn’t considered sightlines in this house, except for the view from the front entry.
I understand the notion of open concept and why people like it.
I’ve lived in a southwest-facing home with tons of light and living, dining, and kitchen rooms all essentially in the same room.
Feeling a part of a bigger space, a bunch of people experiencing the same space together seems like a bigger space to enjoy.
As a home-educating family now, we don’t want to be in the same space together all the time. So semi-open space works for us.
- So how will it feel sitting at the island, viewing the slats of the stairs heading upstairs?
- What will I think of seeing through to the main entry from the Great Room?
- Is there enough space in the front entrance for guests to comfortably pass through, and will they have a view into the Great Room, out through to the lake?
Space, and how it is used, overused, or smushed, affect our overall experience of our homes.
The Not So Big House interior views isn’t a theoretical concept for me: the daily consumption of a view has taught me that I want to see a specific something as I go about my life.
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I absolutely agree! I cannot tell you how many times I have rearranged the furniture in the name of having something pleasant or calming in my sightline.