No comments about Future City: Experiment and Utopia in Architecture.

5 comments about Seaside Interiors.

1. Elegantly arranged and edited architecture/design book with focus on seaside homes. Very good coverage of each featured home; excellent organization on the page, with text in English, French, German.

   What sets this book apart is its tremendous variety of taste, environment, ideas, style. Locations really run the gamut; the book is divided into continents, so Africa (for example) gets just as much attention as does Asia. The scope is fabulous: non-chic locations like a rustic cottage on the Baltic Sea, a windswept beach house on the English Channel. The north African featured homes are especially interesting. So there is a beautiful array of styles and ideas on how to highlight a special environment.

   Not a source book (no index or listings of architects and products), but an excellent style book. The photos are first-rate, with beautiful balance of detail shots and whole rooms. Quite a lot of landscaping can be seen, even if it's about "interiors", so that's a bonus.

   Need not be decorating a seaside home to be able to love and even use this book.




2. While I purchased this book on vacation in the charming town of Seaside, Florida, I had the good fortune of actually staying nearby in one of the featured homes--Matarangi. The photos in the book don't begin to do justice to the views and architecture, though in superior coffee table book manner, they do try. The book allows one to travel to far off homes and enter their beauty, while never leaving your own home. However, if the opportunity ever arises to enjoy one of these splendidly represented homes, I heartily recommend it. If not, select this book and start enjoyable seaside travel dreaming via your armchair or backyard chaise today.



3. A really beautiful book for architects, interior decorators and people who are interested in decoration. Filled with lovely pictures and not too much words. A ''must have'', collectors book. It gives you nice ideas, makes you want to redecorate your home and makes you dream of having such lovely houses. Just get it and you'll really enjoy it! It's worth every cent!!!



4. In our search for books on this topic, we came across this one, which we love because it's a great dream book. Our other favorite is Second Home, which is great for both daydreaming and planning. Second Home shows a wider variety of homes around the country (all gorgeous) but blends information on choosing a location, decorating, and so on, into the book. Seaside Interiors gives a lovely look at homes with no information on how to make your second home come true. I like both books. If you can only buy one, then I recommend Second Home instead.



5. This is a magnificent book to add to your coffee table, photography collections, decorating books, or just for the sheer pleasure of the absolutely beautiful photos. The book is a journey in itself; of lovely homes...perhaps of more unique architechture than the average home, but offering wonderful ideas on colors and at the same time showing many pictures of day-to-day living...in the most beautiful of seaside locations that one could imagine. Simply wonderful!

5 comments about Jeffrey Bilhuber's Design Basics: Expert Solutions for Designing the House of Your Dreams.

1. For someone that knows absolutely nothing about putting together a room this book has my highest approval. This is like a crash course in design because he gives you all of the design basics like how to choose color, what kind of furniture to use, how to place your pictures, where to place the furniture, how to make a room look smaller or bigger with all of the above. Plus there's a lot of information on the basics of window treatments, lighting, upholstery. This book was titled very well and I very much recommend it for someone that doesn't have a clue about decorating.



2. ...it gets you thinking about where to spend your precious decorating dollars. (Bilhuber advises against dumping your budget in kitchens and bathrooms in favor of making bigger statements in foyers and living rooms, for example.) I cook almost all my family's meals so I was EXTREMELY tempted to replace the white appliances in a home I recently purchased with stainless steel ones. I have instead decided to spend that money having the home's interior professionally painted and perhaps purchase a new oriental rug for my living room. When I think about which will make a bigger impact (freshly painted walls and a lovely rug in the first room people see or silver GE Profile appliances versus white ones in the rear of the house) it's pretty much a no brainer. I suppose it's fine to throw a wad of dough at a kitchen remodel if you're filthy rich and can also afford to decorate the rest of your house to the hilt. Bilhuber seems to recognize that that's not the case for the bulk of us, however. The book has also inspired me in smaller ways like decorating with ferns and pinpointing paint colors based on my favorite possessions such as the oat-colored cashmere cardigan I always turn to. Now if I could only decide whether to paint my ceilings Benjamin Moore's Atrium White as he suggests or Swiss Coffee, which is my favorite!



3. Bilhuber is obviously a talented designer and the lovely rooms in the book demonstrate this. Getting the basic concepts of design across to his readers somehow didn't gel. He includes some information that seems obvious:
   *Color is the quickest, most powerful, and most economical way to transform your house.
   Add to this, some high-flown statements that really don't help:
   *Even the humblest of materials can be ennobled by design.
   *Design obstacles are nothing more than opportunities.
   I did find helpful ideas like these:
   *Look at favorite items (suede gloves, a Chinese bowl) and let that inspire your room treatment (not pages torn from a magazine).
   *When you feature something, then repeat that design element (maybe through color) elsewhere in the room, so it isn't isolated.
   There is useful information here but maybe too much work to pull it out of the text and picture captions.



4. This book is far more than just a picture book. The instruction in basic design concepts allows you to apply what you learn to novel situations without having to simply copy an idea you see in a picture. I picked up skills from this book, not just ideas.



5. I think most people don't quite understand this book and what it has to offer. (Interior designers included.) If you're looking for "French Country at home" this book it ain't. But if you want to understand and create your unique style, Bilhuber will definitely teach you how to.

4 comments about Houses of the Berkshires, 1870-1930 (The Architecture of Leisure).

1. A beautiful book, beautifully written, about a memorable part of American history, architectural and otherwise.



2. Acanthus is the gold standard publisher of books of this kind and their latest book does not disappoint. Mr. White does a supurb job of selecting wonderful images of these amazing estates and his research is scholarly and highly informative. If you appreciate beautifully crafted books on Gilded Age residential architecture, then I can't imagine you not loving this book. I have never had the pleasure of visiting the Bershires, so I guess this will have to be the next best thing to experiencing in person.



3. Mr. Millen brings up some criticisms that are valid but are misplaced. This is not an ENTIRELY fresh view of the Berkshires but local authors Gilder and Jackson bring to light much fresh architectural and social history. Also, they have found a number of previously unpublished photographs that delight, such as the early view of Naumkeag that appears inside and on the back cover. Ms. Owen's work was groundbreaking, but this work supercedes it, particularly in the great production values for which this publisher is famous.
   Most curious about Mr. Millen's criticism is his desire to see the houses in mid-century ruin. There is romance in ruin, but this exquisite book's goal was to show these great estates in their glory days. Perhaps he should approach the publisher to produce his very own "Berkshires in Ruins" volume. That might indeed be a charming tome and one I would consider buying.
   I highly recommend this book as an intelligent and distinctive coverage of the great houses of Lenox and Stockbridge and environs.



4. I found this to be a well researched and mostly through book covering a wide selection of architectural examples from the Berkshires. It has a good mix of numerous previously published historical photos (the Lenox Library put out a photography book of note, too) but also many photos I have not seen before. While many of the properties are still standing today few of the photographs used are current, which is a shame, and fewer still are from the middle of the last century.
   
   The title is more sterile in comparison to the almost Bible-like reference on the Berkshire estates, Carole Owens' "Berkshires Cottages: A Vanishing Era" from 1984. The Owens title came out when architecturally the "Inland Newport" was just starting to awaken from years of abuse and neglect of many of these delightful white elephants of the Gilded Age. Now this title, "Houses of the Berkshires", is being released when the area couldn't be any more desirable and vibrant with almost none of the remaining and covered Berkshires `cottages' in any state of disrepair. A large exception is the in-restoration Rotch & Tilden designed Ventfort Hall. It would be nice, as a means to better appreciate these homes, to also share in such a book as this the state to which many of these homes sank before they rebounded to the condition they are in today.
   
   The book is more brief then I'd prefer on some homes, but often those noted residences have been far better covered in books devoted to the architect or the family. Case in point, Elm Court was best detailed in the 1991 book "The Vanderbilts and the Gilded Age: Architectural Aspirations, 1879-1901" and High Lawn in the 2003 title, "The Architecture of Delano & Aldrich". Although the latter seems to be a place forever cloaked in mystery matching its beautiful fa?ade and vast feudal landholdings.
   
   Published by Acanthus Press who republished the brilliant architect Harrie Thomas Lindeberg's 1940 original "Domestic Architecture" as well as an assortment of reflective regional focused titles with areas of wealth and architectural significance. Among those titles is the delightful "The Main Line: Country Houses of Philadelphia's Storied Suburb, 1870-1930". This book is recommendable for those who enjoy grand domestic architecture mated with true landscaping skill which should be preserved and harkens back to a time when having money did result in good taste - at least for the Berkshires.

5 comments about Building Stairs (For Pros by Pros).

1. They must work perfectly every time they are used for the life of the house because someone can be horribly injured or worse, including the builder. Not for a DIY project and I was alarmed by what this volume left out. A DIY stairs project would be painting trimming an interior staircase, or tacking down some mats. I do not feel the book is unsafe, just grossly incomplete.
   
   Sorry, I have to rate the book at 1 star. Zero wasn't an option.
   
   Hire a licensed builder with time in rate.



2. The book addressed building stair-related structures that were just not relevant to standard stair building needs...



3. So I don't know why I bought this book without reading the previous reviews. I usually check those first and avoid books like this. It had too many types of stairs to be documented and not enough detail for each one. I would have rather had just three basic types of stairs covered in detail than all of the types in here. The writer appeared to be showing off.
   
   Still, it did show me what I needed to purchase (bending rail) and had about two pages worth of useful information. I finished my curved baluster, but I see flaws in my work. I am a pretty ambitious DIYer and I would not recommend that anyone try doing this but a professional. This book did not give enough detail or complete instructions to help me through the rough spots.



4. As an installer by trade, I urge anyone interested in learning the construction of stairs to consult another book. I wish I had read the other readers comments before I wasted my money on this book.



5. I have a large amount of admiration for the Taunton Press. Fine Homebuilding is quality magazine and the For Pros books have been worth the money. This book is a poor collection of disjointed FH articles that have no cogent flow to them. I should know better than to buy books by "Editors," but I made a mistake here. William Spence's "Constructing Staircases, Balustrades & Landings," while not a perfect book, is much better than this collection.
   
   Taunton's "For Pros" books on Electrical (Caldwell) and Plumbing (Hemp) are well worth the money, particularly Caldwell's offering.

1 comments about Color Idea Book (Idea Books).

1. This book is great if you can't decide what color to paint a room! Love it!

4 comments about Redesigning the American Dream: Gender, Housing, and Family Life.

1. This book touches on a recognized problem, but is just a bunch of complaining and finger pointing without offering up real solutions. instead of pleading with men to change or architects to change, or city planner to change. Why not as the women to change? Marry a man that helps out with the kids and house, have too much to do? Don't have kids. Don't like the way cities / houses are designed? Design them differently. Want to change gender rolls? Raise your son in a way that will effect a change. Of course women are discriminated against, not the first or last group to have this problem, a group never got pulled out of it by someone else, the only way to do it is by yourself. This book should have been 50 pages long.



2. I re-read some of the chapters of this book, hoping to be able let her argument convince me that the way our homes are currently designed and geographically situated are founded on a sexist world view, creating significant detriment to society. I am not certain she was much help though. This is a pretty serious flaw since I am sympathetic to her thesis. Her arguments in support of her thesis are disjointed and use out of date information.
   
   One interesting feature of the book is that, where other authors would at most provide a couple alternatives or one encompassing school of thought as a solution, she briefly traces scores of possible alternatives. Most are only briefly mentioned, enough maybe to urge the reader to search out more information elsewhere.



3. This is the best book about architecture that I ever read. Although I am not a feminist, it revealed to me the relationship between a building and the society that produced it -- a revelation that seven years at architecture schools (Yale and Princeton) did not provide. Any designer who want to design for another person needs to understand the hidden cultural codes that influence their creation of a built environment. Reading this book was the best way for me to understand what impact social biases can have in design.



4. This book reads like a few (mostly mediocre) magazine articles pasted together- one chapter talks about the history of homes (and how every conceivable domestic arrangement ever invented turned out badly for women), another criticizes suburbia for isolating women (not really true now, since suburban women generally have cars), another talks about experiments in infill housing, another criticizes cities for being hostile to women - but I could never figure out exactly what this book was about, or what Hayden liked other than a few small-scale housing experiments here and there.

2 comments about Plan of Chicago.

1. It's hard for me to argue with what was said above. As a student of architectural history, I am as smitten with Burnham's plan as the next person. I do have one caveat with this otherwise fine reproduction: Oftentimes I found the illustrations to be a bit washed out. This gave me great difficulty whilst trying to examine them for a research paper I was assembling. As a result I had to get my hands on an original copy, with the beautiful watercolors still wonderfully intact. As it stands, however, this is a fine volume and worthy of anyone's collection.



2. The most notable aspect of the 1909 Plan of Chicago was that the author's (Daniel Burnham) profession was not exclusively city planning. He was a business man. He viewed his plan for the City of Chicago as the best way to create an exceptional business and civic environment. It worked! Many elements of modern downtown Chicago that make it a truly great, world class city, are a direct result of Burnham's vision. For it is the grand vision that stirs the soul of mankind and allows a "planning document" -- normally a thick document, full of data, which sits on a shelf and collects dust -- to be embraced by an entire community. This is a must read for contemporary city planners, business men and government officials that want to "make it happen" in their communities. MAKE NO SMALL PLANS

1 comments about A Vision of a Living World: The Nature of Order, Book 3.

1. Alexander's long-awaited third book in the four-volume Nature of Order series finally provides a practical guide to creating great places based on his concepts of "centers", "wholeness" and "structure-preserving transformations."
   
   Page after page of photos and diagrams give weight to Alexander's process-oriented approach to building.
   
   This tome should be required reading for anyone who has wondered whether there is a way to reinvent our cities and suburbs away from "sprawl" and into vibrant, living places.

5 comments about Small Spaces: Stylish Ideas for Making More of Less in the Home.

1. This book is so ingenious that it inspired me to change careers, and make a few changes around the house myself.



2. The title should be "build built-in furniture to get rid of your space problems."
   
   I think the ideas are worth considering: sure, if you have chairs for desks and vanities that slide right in, you can save a lot of space. Yes, build little drawers out of the stair case, and nifty pull out cabinets everywhere. Certainly having less furniture and more built -ins is the best way to reduce clutter. Yes, build underground "closets" in your floorboards and crawl space.
   
   However, for most young people and for renters, the solutions are not practical because of lack of investment capital or long term plan for a space. Hiring carpenters to construct these designs would be of prohibitive cost for most, except for the wealthy.
   
   I see from this book that Schindler and Neutra and all the modernists got lots of their ideas from the Japanese built-in solution.



3. I ranked this next to the bottom of 7 "decorating small spaces" books I bought. This author is a contradiction in terms: a minimalist who loves complexity! If you like Asian, bare-bones, neutral-hued decor & have construction skills, you may like the extensively detailed drawings of intricate building projects (i.e, a nine-part modular table-seating-storage unit with more uses than anyone would possibly give it) & the helpful photos. But you'll still be irked that sq. footage is never given. If you're like me (American condo owner), you'll find this book, written for and featuring Japanese homeowners, not adaptable to your needs in any way.



4. As someone whose prospective first house is likely to be small--and even smaller inside--I've been looking around for useful ideas that will help me choose a home into which my Stuff will fit. (That's not just stuff; that's George Carlin-type STUFF, and it requires serious storage.) We're not just talking a smaller McMansion, but homes where the master bedroom is, on average, 10'x9' with badly placed doorways.

   Azby Brown's book was an education in understanding the options even a small or oddly shaped space can afford. Though most of the actual implementations discussed would certainly work better in a Japanese home than in a '50s era raised ranch, the *ideas* are the thing. And these ideas are outstanding. Every inch of space is used to beautiful effect. Every opportunity is considered.

   Especially choose this book if you're planning to remodel, as expert contractors and cabinetmakers will benefit from these pages; nevertheless, _Small Spaces_ is for anyone who still thinks that light neutrals and pint-sized furnishings are the only way to manage.




5. Azby Brown lives in Japan, and has written a number of books about Japanese design, or carpentry, from the perspective of a close observer.

   This book deals with design and product approaches to living in small spaces without clutter. The premise is that the smaller a space is, the more it needs to appear empty if living in it is to be fully comfortable and satisfying. This isn't a book on how to load more gear into more "storage solutions", though some unusual solutions like underfloor storage are elaborated.

   Granted a lot of this stuff is not going to be transferable to American houses, and some of the details, like miraculously small appliances are not even well illustrated (most ilustration are very good). But then there is a huge market for books covering professionally created 25 000 square foot spaces in Carmel by the Sea, or whatever, and I am not likely to fully implement ideas from those books either. Frankly adapting the spirit of this book is much more likely