No comments about Atlas of Office Interiors.

5 comments about The Southern Cottage: From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Florida Keys.

1. I'm always interested in how the wealthy spend their money. These "Cottages" are really something! Most people might enjoy thumbing through this book free at a library or on a friends coffee table.



2. Very nice book. I liked it so much I sent an additional copy to a friend in Georgia.



3. This was an absolute page turner for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful pictures and descriptive dialog. The photos were amazing and were varied with many interior, exterior and garden shots. The only dissapointment was coming to the end!



4. Ever since I purchased a turn of the century farmhouse I have been a bit obsessed w/ reading about the history and culture of the south. I enjoyed this book and the photos but most of all I love reading about the people who choose to live a simple life:)There is something magical about this way of life. I feel so lucky to experience living in a historic home and I enjoyed reading the reviewer's home featured in the book! OMG!!!! It is an honor! CONGRATS!!!! I googled and made trips to the local museum in my area and found my farmhouse written about in a history book and it is thrilling beyond words! Hope someday the author chooses to write "The Southern Farmhouse" Hint!:)



5. Susan Sully's "The Southern Cottage" is a beautifully written book, illustrated with stunning photographs of eighteen charming cottages. In the spirit of full disclosure, my home is featured in the book (four pages of text and eight photos). I had never met Susan before she visited me last year. An officer of our local Preservation Society recommended my home, a mid-nineteenth century "story-and-a-jump" cottage rehabilitated to historic preservation standards, to her.
   
   Susan's photos show my house as it is. All of the furniture and other items in her pictures are mine, ones that I use daily. Sometimes I sit in my parlor with Susan's book open on my lap, and think, "what a wonderful testimony to the love and care we've shown to this historic old house."
   
   In addition to capturing the spirit of my house in photographs, Susan has written several pages describing the house (it belonged to my grandparents), our family history (including colonial settlers, sea captains, and shipwrecks), and life today on a barrier island.
   
   So far I have read only a few other sections (each cottage has its own chapter), but if the book captures the spirit of every house as faithfully as mine (and I have every reason to believe it does) this is a book worthy of any bookshelf.

5 comments about The New City Home: Smart Design for Metro Living.

1. Need some ideas for your loft apartment? This book is full of great decorating plans you can put into action.



2. After moving into our new loft in the Pearl District I realized it needed a new "do". It didn't feel right until I did alot of research and made major changes. The New City Home, coupled with a few others fueled the idea bank we now have the place we feel is really US. Nice presentation and beat the expense of an interior designer. After living in the burbs for so long, we feel like we're on vacation everyday.



3. My dream is to own a loft one day and I have been to open house tours and read many books about this subject. I have a very defined taste, concerning how I want a loft to look and how I want to decorate my loft. I have a very contemporary taste in furnishings and I like an open and airy loft. When I first received this book in the mail, I almost quit breathing. It was if the authors had looked into my dreams and thoughts to create this book. This book truly represents the contemporary feel and look that I like so well. I can guarantee you that if you are interested in a contemporary look to your loft, this is your book. I know that I will probably wear this book out, because it is truly an inspirational vision of a modern loft. The photos are beautifully done, the writing is sharp and concise, and the overall quality is outstanding!!



4. Young people today aren't keeping to the small-town or suburban lifestyles of their parents. They're going to the cities to rent studio apartments. Once there, they're likely to end up moving into family-size spaces.

   City planners and administrators are taking this back-to-the-cities trend into consideration. They're trying to make city living appeal to young future owners. One way is by business building up a neighborhood around it, in brownstones; floor-through flats; high-rise apartments; lofts; offbeat converted places such as autoshops and stables; rowhouses; and townhouses.

   Likewise, architects are thinking about the loss of peace, privacy and quiet that usually comes with city living. They're coming up with designs that meet young needs for shelter and express young personalities. The result really is personal space inside, even with such impersonal space outside as "shadowy" concrete buildings.

   This is done by clearly-defined lines, hand-worked materials, soothing planes, and unusual details indoors. It's also by putting in balconies and terraces and opening up roofs and windows to light and views onto deliberately planted small, green spaces. Similarly, not much space inside looks bigger, for example, by using the same materials in and out, such as cedar flooring, fencing and decking.

   THE NEW CITY HOME even brings working spaces inside, while keeping them attractively and cleverly separate from living spaces. In one case, for example, the outside has cottage-style clapboard cladding for the first floor. Indoors, the kitchen and living spaces have a cozy look, what with simple cabinetry, low ceilings and boldly painted colors. The second floor has plywood panels on the outside. Inside, spotlights, skylights, and high ceilings show the upper level to be for work.

   What if the two can't always be separated, as in bathrooms or kitchens? Space isn't clearly personal or work, if it brings in universal design. This means, for example, lever handles to doors and faucets, rocker-panel light switches, and textured non-slip flooring.

   Leslie Plummer Clagett's book is organized and written in an understandable, user-friendly way. Her choice of illustrations works perfectly with what she says. This practical help to city living is rounded out with Elizabeth Franklin's THE FRANKLIN REPORT, NEW YORK CITY 2003: THE INSIDER'S GUIDE TO HOME SERVICES.




5. I've browsed about twenty different contemporary interior books, and I've found this to be most interesting and slightly more inspiring.

   One piece of advice: I don't think any of the contemporary interior books have as much variety as one might expect. Make sure to browse the physical books before making a final decision - don't base you decision on these reviews alone. I've done this with many book on interior design and I've been disappointed.

No comments about Wine Cellar Design.

5 comments about Cath Kidston's In Print: Brilliant Ideas for Using Vintage Fabrics in Your Home.

1. I just adore the pretty pictures and inspiring ideas in this book. If you love Cath Kidstons fabrics, you will love this book. Make yourself a cuppa, grab a plate of cookies and relax with this visually beautiful book.



2. I just love to flip through this book before going to bed. The beautiful pictures relax me, or, give me so many ideas that I can't fall asleep! There are definitely projects that I will try, and some that I won't. That being said, it is worth the price for the photos alone.



3. This was my first experience with Cath Kidston and I give her a "thumbs up". This book is a keeper with beautiful illustrations of fabrics and with inspirational projects, most of which anyone can do. It is well written with interesting inserts.
   Although I'm not "into" the bright, colorful fabrics from the 60's, I loved the faded and pastel ones shown from other eras. As they say: "Take what you need and leave the rest". Besides, in my minds eye I could see those same things in pastel.



4. I love this book for its style and photos and inspirations. Would have enjoyed a little more practical applications.



5. ...this book is for you. There are some great ideas about different ways to use all those wonderful vintage fabric scraps, tablecloths, and curtain panels you just couldn't live without but now need a home. Just the idea of scanning the fabrics (ingenious!) is worth the price alone!

5 comments about Classic Cottages.

1. This is a lovely book offering beautiful photographs of various types of cottages that can be found throughout the country. The author organizes the selections into several different types of cottages (see an earlier review for a great break down of the categories)and offers some history on each. Perfect for getting comfy in your favorite chair and passing a pleasant hour or two!



2. This book does not contain much cottage background material. I was expecting some photographic history from England...none to be found. Many pictures from subdivisions in the US. A cottage is not just what looks cute.



3. My favorite part of the book were the pictures. Nice selection of both the interior and exterior elements of a wide range of cottages. Not an idea book, but an inspiring and relaxing read.



4. If you love driving or walking through towns with charming cottages, then you'll probably love this book. However, I was disappointed that the book is 90-percent exteriors and very, very few interior photographs. This is NOT a book on how to decorate in the "cottage style" but rather how to identify and possibly re-create the cottage look in the shape, form and garden of the house. Many of the homes featured are more unusual examples, such as the storybook or "gnome" style houses.



5. Simple picturesque bungalows, quaint thatched stone and stucco huts, or elaborate marble and plaster palaces - all types of homes have been called a cottage. ~pg. 8
   
   Dreaming about a hideaway bungalow or Victorian mansion seems equally appealing. In "Classic Cottages" an entire world of intricately decorated homes await. The interiors are fascinating on their own and could give you many ideas for decorating. The room from a Seattle, WA home is stunning and the remodeled Victorian home has creative gardening ideas.
   
   The houses are divided into specific categories:
   
   Gingerbread Gems
   Bungalettes
   Gnome Sweet Home
   Rolling Bungalows
   Enclaves
   Contemporary Cottages
   
   If you are dreaming of an escape to simpler times or have been dreaming of a rose-covered romantic bungalow, this might be the book for you. I loved the historical information and the following pictures:
   
   Anne Hathaway's Cottage
   Gothic Rose-covered cottage
   1883 Cape May Homes from New Jersey
   The Lyford House, Tiburon, CA
   Queen Anne jewels with gingerbread ornamentation and stained glass
   Mediterranean-style brick bungalows
   Covered Wagons
   Fairy Tale Cottages
   
   While looking through this book my heart just felt like it was melting. These houses are adorable and it is like a fantasy book of dream houses for the true romantic. I want a castle, but maybe I'd settle for a cottage like the one in Spokane Washington with ivy growing all over the walls.
   
   ~The Rebecca Review

5 comments about Punk House: Interiors in Anarchy.

1. Some art is ephemeral and I find that sad. I suspect that Abby Banks does too. Punk House provides a window into a world that most people will never see in person -- in many ways as mysterious and remote as the Serengeti. Photography is all about access and Ms. Banks was able to get access to 42 homes across the country populated by a an insular and distinct group of people. Her photos are stark and beautiful, the layout simple and attractive -- and the result is all visual, as thick as a Sears catalog. The sad thing about Punk House is that most of these places probably won't exist next year -- it is an ephemeral culture. In photographing them, Ms. Banks has saved some bit of what they were in a style true to the subjects, with great care, and with obvious love. Punk House would have made an incredible zine but it would have been impossible to produce.



2. I don't usually write reviews on Amazon, but I wanted to say something about this book.
   I found Punk House to be one of the most beautiful, colorful depictions of punk life that I've seen outside of the zine world. Living in and visiting some of these houses, they certainly don't feel as vibrantly alive as Abby Banks' photography makes them appear. I was looking over one photo of dirty dishes with a vegan cookbook,mostly torn apart from overuse, and it made me fall in love with the punks again (not that I ever fell out of love, but like you would a lover who you see in a new light after years of relationship).
   So much heart is captured in this book, and so much life. Fleeting life.
   It says somewhere in these pages that 90% of the houses photographed are now gone. Maybe not the house itself, but the people inside and what made it a punk house in the first place-punks.
   So few think to document their lives, thinking that they'll remember or that there will always be time to take pictures. Then, as the years go by, they find that they'd wished they'd at least had a few momentos of a time gone by. Abby Banks took the pictures for us and presented them in a tasteful manner, with permission of those featured, that captures an ongoing moment, a piece of our history, and a slice of life that is usually marginalized at best.
   Punks don't need to see their pictures in print to know they matter. But it doesn't hurt sometimes. Hassled by the power structures that make our lives somewhat on the fringe, we need few reminders that much about our way of life is fleeting.
   I lived in one of the houses featured in this book and had no fewer than 50 roommates over 8 years (not including a dozen or so dogs, 4 cats, mice (some as pets and some living in the walls). Some of the people who lived in our house are in other countries now, some became ex-punks before our eyes, some moved on to other houses, and others simply moved on with their lives. Memories are good, but photos are more clear.
   However, few took pictures or thought much about the unique moment they were living in. That's why Abby Banks' book is so important. It's somewhere between a yearbook, anthropological study, and a beautifully illustrated history book.
   Everyone I have talked to, including many of those that were featured in this book that live in the houses featured, had nothing but praise for this work.
   Criticism from within the elite statospheres of anarcho-punk are certain to come, mainly because of how professional this book looks and because it documents something that some may feel protective of. But I have to say that the professional feel takes little away from how beautiful these photos are. It is not overdone and feels mostly like it was made by punks, which is was. While feeling protective of our culture is understandable, I feel that the fact that Banks documented a piece of our history is worth the very slight "intrusion" into our dirty laundry (literally) to show us realistically portrayed in all of our beauty.
   We're smart, well read, active, and political. All of that is captured here. From the books we're reading to the people we're seeing. And, not to mention, we look good! No use shying away from it. Punk, not only are good people (as Thurston Moore says in his introduction), but we look good. From the dirtiest crust lord to the musician with guitar, we look good.
   This book is a celebration of punk culture for once done by a punk. Not by some corporate jerk trying to make a buck off of us, or some has been aged ex-punk who happened to have glory years at the right time-later to become an accountant and come back to punk when it's profitable. This done by a punk, of punks, and inside their homes. I think that means a lot.
   I highly recommend Punk House to punks and those interested in our culture. Abby Banks Rules!
   Stay punk.



3. You'll be hard pressed to find a real negative reaction to this book. Even supposed "critiques" such as the previous review admit that the content of the book is amazing. This alone should suffice as reason to buy the book. As to the allegations stated under the heading "What We Do Is Secret: For a Reason" I have every reason to believe that they are almost totally unfounded. Having known the author throughout the process of traveling and collecting photographs for the book, I can safely attest that she did everything under the sun to obtain permission from the subjects (a process that took months) and approached the topic with utmost sincerity.
   A recent book tour (that took the author through many anarchist book stores,house shows, and food not bombs feedings) revealed how many people were not only satisfied with the work but also grateful that someone had taken the time and labor to document punk house culture in a tasteful and nonexploitive manner.
   If this book has truly made a lot of people angry, I certainly haven't met them. Nor have I come across any "Beware of Corporate Zinester" bulletins. Perhaps its because most people who've read the book recognize it for what it is; an honest portrait of a unique cultural lifestyle. My guess is that these people have learned enough from 8 years of Karl Rove than to rely on unfounded accusations and "facts by implication".
   Don't Believe the Hype!!! The book is the Real Deal!!!



4. It seems this book has made a lot of people pretty angry. I lived at one of the houses in this book and nobody remembers actually giving permission to use these images in this coffee table book. People, places, and works of art all are printed without giving any context, attribution, or discription. And, of course, it doesn't help matters that it was published by a for-profit corporate publisher. If my housemates had known this, they probably would have not only shown the author the door, but also most likely wheatpasted some sort of "Watch-Out For This Corporate Fake Zinester" flyers all around town like Abby Banks was some sort of convicted sex offender or something. Probably not deservered, but that's what would have happened....
   
   Other people who had their houses featured in this book have expressed similar concerns/feelings/resentments. In fact, some of these people are quite pissed. I suggest you don't bring this topic up at a house show, food not bombs feeding, or the anarachist book fair.
   
   I know getting release forms might not be very punk and maybe not getting permission is actually more anarchy than I'm used to. But I doubt the publisher has the same views on their intellectual property. (I just checked... they require you get their written permission before using the images they own. So much for the golden rule...)
   
   However, despite all that, I bought this book and think it's pretty good. I don't even mind that a picture of me (a picture of a picture, actually. Taken in my kitchen when I wasn't home...) is in it and nobody asked if that was alright. Image quality could be a little better on some of the photos, but the book works as a whole, especially capturing the empheral feel of the punk house moment/movement.
   
   Or something like that. Er, I mean, whatever.



5. Abbie Banks came to my house and took photos of it and put it in the book she is the real deal. She did her dishes when she stayed over and even helped cook. Oi!

1 comments about Stickley's Craftsman Home.

1. This book is a dream if you love Stickley's homes. This book has all of Stickley's plans, and I found it a fascinating read. I really loved dreaming while reading, and the pictures and info were wonderful.

5 comments about Mastering Fine Decorative Paint Techniques.

1. 
   The techniques in this book are so painstakingly explained with text and photos that it's almost as if the authors are looking over your shoulder as you work. The reader will notice many extra tips and suggestions along the way in margins, charts, stylized boxes or picture captions. One feature called "Masterstroke" contains ideas for one a bit more advanced or ambitious.
   
   Mastering Fine Decorative Paint Techniques might be a bit overwhelming for someone who's never tried any of the techniques. It's probably better suited for someone who's done some experimentation with these techniques previously. This is not a book for someone who just wants to sponge a jewelry box or closet wall. At the other end of the spectrum, even an advanced painter should find things of interest here to help him/her fine-tune some techniques.



2. I bought this book as a just in case my other book didn't have all the information I needed but I ended up using this book as my main book to do my house. Great illustrations and explanations.



3. I bought this book in preparation for painting rooms in our first home. Having always rented, I didn't know what all was required in preparing your surface or how to choose the proper application tools. This book started from the beginning and included these topics. The examples throughout the book are marvelous and the directions for achieving such great effects, as stenciling, colorwashing, stippling, sponging, ragging, etc. are easy to understand. The instructions also include applying the these techniques to not only walls, but objects like picture frames, candlesticks and furniture if appropriate. A must have for anyone who is redocorating their home and wants to stretch their budget a little further by using paint techniques.



4. I am a professional faux finisher/muralist, and I really enjoyed this book. I have literally dozens of books on decorative painting techniques, and this is one of my favorites. It's like an encyclopedia- lots of different techniques explained very clearly, with good general info. If you're not sure what type of finish you're looking for, this would be a good book to invest in. Also has a good color reference for help on mixing your own paint colors. Another nice feature is that there are finishes in both water and oil based paints. Some Faux books only deal with oils, which i personally don't like to work with because of the smell and clean-up, etc... If you're looking for a more advanced book, I'd suggest "The Art of Faux" by Pierre Finkelstein.



5. I am currently reading this book as I prepare to redecorate my home using painting techiques. This book is excellant in the volume of information it contains from a discussion of colors, paints, glazes, brushes, and tools to specific techniques such as sponging, ragging, stippling, color washing, etc. I found the contents to be very specific yet simple enough for a beginner like me. The best feature however is the variety of color pictures that accompany each topic. Once I have mastered the simpler techniques, this book will allow me to move on to the more advanced techniques which are also included. Happy painting!

3 comments about Living in the Arts and Crafts Style: Your Complete Home Decorating Guide.

1. This book helped kick off our interest in the Arts and Crafts style. It has a good smattering of examples showing everything from textiles to metalwork, furnishing to wallpapers. It also throws in brief bits of information about the Arts and Crafts movement and some of the "Who's Who" in the movement that were the leaders in the field. The author displays traditional rooms, modern rooms heavily decorated with the style and rooms featuring current adaptations of the style into modern settings. A great beginning book or for quick basic reference. Definitely recommended. If you like this book and want more information about the Arts and Crafts style, I'd also recommend "The Arts and Crafts Movement" (Sommer/Rago), "The Arts and Crafts Companion" (Todd) and "The Beautiful Necessity" (Smith/Yamamoto).



2. This is a good book for the person wanting to know more about the Arts and Craft movement and wanting to remodel, decorate, etc in that style.



3. The Arts and Crafts style reached its zenith in the early twentieth century, just about the time the bungalow house style was spreading across the country. Today we are seeing a lot of bungalow houses built about that time being 'gentrified' into more modern residences as people are moving back into the urban areas and avoiding the commute.
   
   This book is a guide to the styles in which these bungalows may well have been furnished when they were new. It shows furnishings that fit with the built in things like doors, light fixtures, fireplaces. The furnishings feature straight lines, beautiful materials, and honest craftmanship. They just seem to fit well into the bungalow.
   
   
   This book shows the essence of the style, including both original furniture and modern derivations. It also spends a good bit of time talking about the colors that go with the movement. It's an inexpensive book that illustrates a timliness style.