Reviews (7)

very inspirational & beautiful
This is my favourite book (and I have a big collection as a graduate of Interior Design course). Not bad, but...
I think everyone has their own idea of "small"I would like to see a book that has actual measurements of some of these rooms.I'm sure the cameras are angled to make the rooms look more spacious. On the otherhand, I like color so I enjoyed seeing how other people have used color in their small spaces so you don't feel you have to paint everything white.

Nice Idea/Wish Book
This book's primary appeal to me is the large quantity of very nice photos for ideas of how to design for small spaces. Think of it as the equivalent of a dozen very good "home" magazines all focused on small spaces. Read more

Subjects:  1. Decorating    2. Domestic    3. General    4. Home Improvement / Construction    5. Human factors    6. Interior Design    7. Interior decoration    8. Personal space    9. Psychological aspects    10. Psychology Of Architecture    11. Room layout (Dwellings)   

Reviews (5)

Caryn from California
A GREAT guide that's beneficial and easy to comprehend. The suggestions and tips were common sense things that would have been overlooked at the time of building. A small amount to spend for this book sure equals large savings! The very BEST guide available to provide the BEST to loved ones. Well worth it!

Thank You!
We enjoyed your first book & are eagerly looking forward to this one.Thank you for specifically addressing the issues of cohabitation with your children!

best book ever in print
this book breaks the ice as an alternative to older adults living in homes,the high cost of care facilities.Read more

Subjects:  1. Archetecture, Domestic    2. Designs and plans    3. Dwellings    4. Family/Marriage    5. Personal space    6. Planning    7. Remodeling    8. Architecture, Domestic   

Reviews (1)

This book captures the English countryside.
I went to England for the first time and loved the countryside! It is so vibrant.My own photographs have never turned out very well so I bought this book while I was there to capture the England that I fell in lovewith.It has a wide range of beautifully photographed cottages andgardens.I am online buying 2 more copies as gifts for friends. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cottage gardens    2. England    3. English Garden Design And Planting    4. Garden Design    5. Gardening    6. Gardening/Plants    7. Pictorials    8. Gardens (descriptions, history etc)   

Editorial Review

Glynn has written an exceptional book here, not strictly a "how-to" book and not precisely a novel, but a beautifully, movingly written account of his "compulsion to build" and his experiences as a result of it. This is the quintessential "learning-by-doing" story, giving the reader not only the nuts and bolts of building a house, but pulling one in to a compellingly written, sometimes tragic, sometimes hilarious, but always readable story of one man's obsession to build a house. --Read more

Reviews (5)

Building a Life
Building a home is truly an organic process. By "building" I am not speaking of paying some one or some company to put up a house for you, I am speaking of constructing a house, a home from the ground up to the rafters and beyond with your own two hands.
Not what I'd hoped
The subtitle "The Complusion to Build" was what attracted me to the book after first learning about it in another Chelsea Green publication.I hoped for insightful wisdom about one's motivation to build things out of wood using traditional methods like timberframe.And there are some nice parts about the use of old tools, especially one section where he describes visiting a used tool shop in Maine.But I was dissatisfied with the book because of the constant digressions about the "local yokels."I wasn't interested in reading character studies of a misfit Vet, two junkyard owners, the local Amish families, and assorted others who populate this corner of upstate NY.I was hoping for deeper ruminations about craftsmanship, along the lines of "Grain of Truth: The Ancient Lessons of Craft" by Ross Laird. [That book was better than this one but at the time I didn't like it much either -- see my review about it.] Oh well.At least it was a quick read due to the extremely short chapters.

Much more than housebuilding
This book is every bit as good as all the praise on its back cover, and its additional reviews promise. Thomas Glynn is a clear-headed,self-deprecating, and slyly reverent wise man. Often in this book he seemsnearly egoless. It's part of how good and smart he is, and how well hetells his story.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1935-    2. Anecdotes    3. Construction - General    4. Country life    5. Design & Construction    6. Design and construction    7. Glynn, Thomas,    8. Home Improvement / Construction    9. House & Home    10. Log cabins    11. New York (State)    12. Reference    13. Biography: general    14. Building construction & materials    15. Glynn, Thomas    16. The Environment   

Subjects:  1. Cottage gardens    2. Garden Design    3. Gardening    4. Gardening / Horticulture    5. Gardening/Plants    6. Landscape    7. Plants, Ornamental   

Subjects:  1. Architecture, Domestic    2. Cottages    3. Designs and plans    4. Log cabins    5. Vacation homes   

Subjects:  1. Australia    2. Cottage gardens, English    3. English Garden Design And Planting    4. Flower gardening    5. Flowers    6. Gardening / Horticulture    7. Gardening/Plants    8. Home Gardening    9. Landscape    10. Vegetables   

Reviews (4)

before you write the check......
This small book is a builders check list w/ side notes and clarifications. Very simple and to the point. I have seen similar texts in the log home magazines, but for an all in one place reference its pretty good. This manual tells you how to HAVE SOMEONE ELSE BUILD YOUR HOME, it gives ZERO technical info. Its all about costs, estimates, contractors, sourceing ect...and the tricks and info needed to construct and save money on your project. Many explanations on what is standard, what is an extra. What you will pay extra for what should be included in most situations.I cant see paying the $17.95 cover price, but at less than $10 used its worth it.

Good for what it is
For what it is, this is a good book. It is NOT a prescription for how to build a low-cost log home. Neither does it cover everything you need to know to be your own general contractor. It is a good overview of the steps that go into building a log home including several suggestions for saving money (or getting more for the same money) at every step of the way. And it's a quick read. I read it in one weekend. If you are early in the process of designing a log home this is a good book to start with once you are ready to leave the dream world to take a more realistic look at what is involved - particularly if you are considering being your own general contractor or you just want to know what your general contractor will need to do.

How To Afford Your Own Log Home
this book was an excellent reference for us in our search for a log home and gave great information on what was necessary to get the job done!give it a try if you have always wanted rustic living at its best! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Business/Economics    3. Construction - General    4. Design and construction    5. Finance    6. Housing (Economic Aspects)    7. Log cabins    8. Log cabins and houses    9. Real Estate - Buying/Selling Homes    10. Residential Construction    11. Technology   

Reviews (1)

A Charming Look At Life In The Age Of Horses
Some photo-essays have a cinematic effect. You start to forget that you are leafing through the pages of a book and fall into a world that is at once unfamiliar yet somehow known. As the images pass by you keep hoping that the show will get even better and if you are lucky, sometimes it does.As with French Farmhouses And Cottages which reads like a great movie and kept me surprised with its eccentricity and charm right to the last page. Cottages and out-buildings like these are each absolutely unique and all are situated in settings that epitomise the notion of living in creative harmony with your surroundings. If for no other reason than the structures are always built of the materials that comprise the land of occupancy.Read more

Subjects:  1. Architecture Of Specific Structures    2. Cottages    3. Europe - France    4. Farmhouses    5. France    6. Houses    7. Pictorial works    8. Travel    9. Non-Classifiable   

Reviews (2)

Not your Little House on the Prairie
At 550 pages, this classic social history of the first decades of settlement in Nebraska, Kansas, and the Dakotas is informative, entertaining, sometimes poignant, and one heck of a read. For anyone whose knowledge of this period is as limited as mine, it's also full of surprises -- lots of them. Historian Everett Dick dips into a substantial collection of documents, listed in his 10-page bibliography, and organizes what he's found into 35 chapters, each on a different subject, including the sod house of the title, homesteading, prairie towns, vigilante justice, farmers vs. cattlemen, extremes of weather, Indians, hunting and trapping, the railroad, sports, education, the church, journalism, doctors, lawyers, and entertainment. And that covers only about half of them. A definitive, readable history of real pioneers
This is an excellent account of how our forefathers dealt with the day-to-day struggles in the frontier. Excellent as history, entertaining as drama, it's hard to put down. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. History - General History    2. United States - 19th Century/Old West   

Reviews (3)

Jonathan Johnson: upinmichigan.org review
Jonathan Johnson, Hannah and the Mountain
The evocative prose of a poet
Jonathan Johnston writes with the evocative prose of a poet. He tells the story of his path toward fatherhood and toward the fulfillment of his childhood dream of building his family's cabin home in the mountains of Idaho. He does so with passion and care. The reader sees clearly the autumn twilight as it fills the fields and sees the full moonlight come spilling through the windows of the cabin. On these beautifully written pages the reader learns of the profound love Johathan and his wife Amy share. It is a book I shall love giving so others might come to know this incredible author.

Beautiful, Insightful, Moving Memoir
I am a former student of Jonathan's...in fact, I am one of the students who sat on the lawns of the Western PA College during his Nature in Lit class that he mentions in the book. That was six years ago and I have been a fan of his work ever since.
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Subjects:  1. 1967-    2. 20th century    3. Authors, American    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Death, Grief, Bereavement    9. Design and construction    10. English teachers    11. Homes and haunts    12. Idaho    13. Johnson, Jonathan,    14. Log cabins    15. Parenting - General    16. Personal Memoirs    17. Regional Subjects - West    18. United States    19. American history: from c 1900 -    20. Biography: general    21. Family & relationships    22. The Americas   

Reviews (1)

Cottage Gardens Review
When Country Living puts its name on a book, it is usually chock full of pretty pictures. The new book Cottage Gardens by Toby Musgrave is no exception. Anyone who isn't sure exactly what they want in a garden, but leans toward an informal style, will enjoy flipping through the book for ideas. Also, the garden plans are nicely done. The book is well written, but it is hard to write yet another book on cottage style gardens and come up with much new and exciting information.
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Subjects:  1. Cottage gardening    2. Cottage gardens    3. Garden Design    4. Gardening    5. Gardening / Horticulture    6. Gardening/Plants    7. General    8. Home Gardening    9. Gardening / Garden Design    10. STUDY NOTES - SparkNotes    11. Sale Books   

Subjects:  1. Art / General    2. art, business, home-based, career, painting, creative, artist, homebased, cottage, industry, craft, craftmanship, show, mediums, drawing, commission, studio, work, area,   

Reviews (4)

Best I have found, leaves a few thing out
The best book I have found on the restoration of the traditional log home. Book shows how to restore log homes to their original appearance and even covers such issues as stonework, adding a frame addition that harmonizes with old logs, and the replacement of damaged or unuseable logs. There are a couple of shortcommings: For a book that has the word "Building" (verb)in the title, there is scanty information on the construction of roofs, and almost nothing is said about plumbing or wiring. McRaven is a purist (will not use asphalt shingles on a log home) and clearly has the knowledge,- but I came away feeling a little like the book could have gone further. Still very good in many respects. Highly recommended.

Refer to this book early and often
This is critical book in the collection any builder/restorer should have close at hand. The knowledge McRaven shares from his vast experience is a standout among the limited sources available to the restorer. While I am using several sources for my restoration project, I have referred to this one most.

outstanding reference about square-hewn appalachian-style
After stumbling upon a tattered copy of the earlier version of this book (now out of print) in the local library, I can only say that I called Mcraven several times LD from Germany in 1993 to check on the publish date of the revised edition. Really an excellent book- essential for the shelf of anyone with an interest in the authentic square-hewn type of cabin. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Construction - General    2. Design and construction    3. Do-It-Yourself    4. Home Improvement / Construction    5. House & Home    6. House Plans    7. Log cabins    8. Maintenance and repair    9. Remodeling & Renovation - General    10. Restoration Of Historical Buildings    11. Wood Construction    12. Conservation of buildings & building materials    13. House maintenance   

Subjects:  1. Amateurs' manuals    2. Construction - General    3. Design and construction    4. Log cabins    5. Log-end houses    6. Technology & Industrial Arts   

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Cottages    3. Domestic    4. Farmhouses    5. Great Britain    6. Vernacular Architecture   

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Cottages    3. Domestic    4. England    5. Guide-books    6. Houses    7. Pictorial works    8. Architecture / General   

Reviews (1)

Old Muskoka: Century Cottages & Summer Estates
Fascinating history of Muskoka, although colour pictures and more maps would have been an enahancement. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Architectural & Industrial    2. Architecture    3. Canada - General    4. Cottages    5. Historic Preservation    6. Historic buildings    7. Muskoka (District municipality    8. Muskoka (District municipality)    9. Ontario    10. Photography    11. Subjects & Themes - Travel - World/Canada    12. Vacation homes    13. Architecture / Historic Preservation   

Reviews (5)

Great for the novice
This book, of the 3 I purchased, is the one I refer to most often. It has detailed descirptions of each tree along wiht detailed instructions on care for the tree including maintenance, repotting, propagation, etc. Very easy to understand and has answered the vast majority of my questions.

Great How To Manual for Beginners
Paul Lesniewicz describes the bonsai art with simplicist and skill.Thisbook is full of wonderful photos and great advise.

Good book
This book says everything from how to care for your bonsai, to how to growbonsai from cuttings and seeds.This is a great book for beginners as wellas the experinced grower. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Gardening / Horticulture    2. Gardening/Plants    3. Indoor bonsai    4. Japanese Gardens - Bonsai    5. Bonsai    6. House plants    7. Shrubs & trees