1 comments about Ideas for Great Bedrooms (Ideas for Great Rooms).

1. It was great because the kids and i had lots of fun doing it together. Some of the things they altered from the book (i.e- colors and patterns). They enjoyed getting to chose the way they wanted there bedroom to look. My three 11 year old daughters made their rooms look dreamy with soft colors and glitters and sparkles everywhere. My two sons prefered a more personalized look. One liking sports, combined pictures paterns and colors to form a very upbeat and active setting. The other, prefered to be on the computer. He decorated his room with wall paint, and wires and lots of other high tech things. Take in mind none of this was the least bit hazardous. My house turned out to be a place where the kids liked to be and just plain comfortable, a place to relax.

5 comments about Casa Mexicana: The Architecture, Design, and Style of Mexico.

1. If you don't read Spanish then consider this book just a picture book. It would be nice if somewhere it had been mentioned that this book is NOT IN ENGLISH. The pictures are OK.



2. Well, the book does have some nice photos. My copy is in english. However, it really falls short of what was promised. First, there is virtualy nothing in it about architecture. Very few photos of buildings, houses, etc. at all. It's just a collection of photos of the interiors of homes designed by famous people. I was very disappointed. For example, it goes on and on about european homes in mexico -- what does that have to do with mexican styles? If you are looking for a book that is basically a Home & Garden magazine with 270 pages then buy it. Like i said earlier - some nice photos. If you wanted somethign else, then search on. Cause this may leave you unsatisfied.



3. I am a Mexican woman studying in the USA. I read a commentary above saying that these are European houses, they are not. We were conquered by the Spaniards centuries ago and thus the architectural style blended creating a "Mexican Style". This so called Mexican style includes european traces with Indian influences. This book represents Mexican houses that complies with this style. Obviously you can find native houses following Indian design, but for sure not in any Mexican metropoli.



4. I bought my copy because of the name, since I am FACINATED with interior design and decorating ideas with ANYTHING Mexican. My text IS in English, and if I would have known it was available in Spanish I would have preferred to have it that way!!

   Anyway, this book DOES show the enormous VARIETY of what can truly be called "Mexican": from indigenous homes to still functioning haciendas to colonial-style buildings to the Broque French influence so many of the wealthy class favored before the revolution.

   However, for me, it is just too cold, too sterile, for the Mexico I know and love. The colonial and Baroque-influenced homes look more like museums. They look like something only the extraordinarily wealthy could ever even dream of, and are far removed from the comfy, cozy, antique-filled hotels featured in "Mexicolor" or "Mexicasa". There is also a huge, AD NAUSEUM section on modern Mexican architecture -which I LOATHE- and a whole chapter on American, Chicano influenced houses -which I could CARE LESS about. All in all, I have my few favorite pages, which I love and look at repeatedly, but the majority of the book consists of large sections that I skip in their entirety. If you are looking for a treatise on the gamut of architectural styles in the country of Mexico, this is probably a good choice. If you want a book on Mexican interior design and decoration with a passion for things Mexican, this is NOT going to be your first choice.




5. This is the best book I've seen on Mexican houses..comprehensive and are they beautifully photographed! and all kinds of examples, from the very oldest colonial, Porfirian, to modern. I
   am so glad I got a copy, and too, that I found out about the book, as I wasnt aware of it when it was published some twenty years ago.

5 comments about Studio Apartments: Big Ideas for Small Spaces.

1. Excellent combinations of photos and drawings to show off the features of these fantastic units. Before and after plans illustrate how design potentials can be optimized and achieved...



2. This is one of my favorite design books. I notice some other reviewers have complained that the apartments shown in this book are beyond their budget (alas, mine too). However, the concepts can be applied with less spendy solutions, and let's face it: a book filled with photos of ordinary spaces would lack the magic that this book possesses and would inspire fewer people (if any) to dream about their own space.



3. Okay, maybe I'm biased or old-fashioned or both, but I don't find the apartments shown in BIG IDEAS FOR SMALL SPACES-STUDIO APARTMENTS attractive. The authors are both men with a great deal of knowledge about design, and I am sure their ideas will appeal mostly to men.

   The examples shown are minimalist, modern, angular, and seem to belong to hard-working types who drop in only to sleep. For the most part these apartments are lacking in color which is the single most important element in decorating as far as I am concerned. Although the authors show some colorful ideas in their section on "cozy" apartments, for the most part their idea of making a place more homey seems to be adding books on shelves, chunky ashtrays, and sports trophies. In addition to cold, angular furniture and clunky "knickknacks", the minimalist rooms are often without curtains and/or have walls that are downright stark. One idea of "lightening" shows a curtain with a "porthole" in it that allows one to "look out" at the view.

   If you're a guy looking for a book on how to decorate an appartment with a modernist "masculine" look this may be the book for you. One other note: the book was printed in China and the photographs looks like those in 1950s era books even though the publication date is 2000.




4. I thought the styles and ideas are wonderful, if you have modern taste with creative resources to pay for the remodeling of your studio apartment. Granted, most the apartments displayed were from individual that could afford to spend a good sum of money to remodel, however, I was able to get good ideas to re-decorate my studio apartment in South Beach (Miami Beach, Florida). The benefit to buying this book was that I did not have to buy 10-20 Architecture magazines in order to acquire ideas. I was able to duplicate a bath room in this book,without "breaking the bank"-if you have the time to research and compare costs.
   
   For example, I shopped on E-bay(vessels sinks/best prices for modern fixtures and sinks: www.aquaimports.com), Home Depot(only the bath tub)and "leg work" for the bathroom tiles (Modern little colorful tiles) (Spanish Tiles Corp, located in Miami, Fl)-called many contractors. Please remember before starting any project, check with your buildings and local zoning requirements, to under-go the projects seen in this book. If you are wondering, no I am not rich, but I did "cash in" my 401K in order to buy the apartment and remodel it, it was better than leaving it in the "stock market."



5. All of the spaces shown except one(Which also happens to be the only one under 800 sq ft) are very modern. Over all the pictures and layouts were nice, but to me kind of cold. I think it mentions casual modern, didn't see too much of that! If you like looking at ultra modern and expensive, larger than 1000 sq ft lofts, then buy this book!

1 comments about Kitchens: Good Ideas.

1. This is a great source for minimalist/urban kitchen inspiration. It is solely a picture book. I was a little disappointed when I went to the websites listed in the manufacturer directory. All are located in Europe and didn't appear to have much in the way of sourcing in the US.

No comments about 500 Solutions for Working at Home.

No comments about Bathrooms (Home Front).

3 comments about Daughters of Painted Ladies: 2.

1. After I read and enjoyed this beautiful book I painted my home in Victorian style and soon many houses in Ushuaia Tierra del Fuego Argentina, also change the "white walls, black roof" they ever were.Thanks! Virgini



2. "Daughters of Painted Ladies" is a beautiful tribute to restored Victorian houses from throughout the United States. Full-color photographs by Douglas Keister are complemented by the commentaries of Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen.

   The book focuses on what the authors call the "Colorist Movement" in historic house restoration. In other words, every one of the homes pictured has been painted "in three or more contrasting colors" that "bring out the decorative ruffles and flourishes" of each structure. So if your idea of a Victorian home is a dull, gloomy old mansion in a state of disrepair, be prepared to have that stereotype blown away. These "painted ladies" are some of the most vibrant and beautiful homes I have ever seen.

   The book captures many different Victorian era styles: Italianate, Second Empire, Steamboat Gothic, Queen Anne, Octagon, Stick, and Victorian eclectic. And don't miss the special appearance by "Lucy," the elephant-shaped house built by James Lafferty. The colorist approach to these homes truly accentuates the varied vocabulary of Victorian architecture, with its towers, covered verandas, neoclassical pillars, oriel windows, decorated verge boards, and other fanciful details.

   The book concludes with some helpful tips and resources for those interested in creating their own painted lady. If you are a lover of Victorian era architecture, buy this spectacular book and prepare to indulge in a decadent symphony of visual splendor.




3. Here Pomada, with co-author Michael Larsen and photographer Douglas Keister, branches out from her San Francisco roots in search of Painted Ladies in other regions of the country--and finds them. Once again she shows houses of all sizes, degrees of elaboration, and amounts of gaudiness--the quietly lavender Blackberry Inn of Camden, ME, the darkly splendiferous English Queen Anne at 130 Mt. Vernon St., Boston, beach cottages on Martha's Vineyard, a vividly red church in West End, NJ, a crisp turqouise-and-cream confection from Cape May, a wondrously porched house in Savannah, GA, even a brick eclectic in Milwaukee. One wonderful little gem on p. 89 is an Aspen, CO, cottage whose front-porch gable comprises a blending rainbow of 25 colors--"14 blues of the sky and oranges from the sunset." The Morey Mansion of Redlands, the Carson Mansion of Eureka, and several Main Street buildings are here too. Pomada even contrived to get permission to show some interiors from a Portland house. These lovely houses will set you dreaming even if you don't own one of the same vintage yourself.

No comments about The Best of Today's Kitchen Design.

1 comments about Little Book of Log Cabins: How to Build and Furnish Them (Dover Pictorial Archive).

1. This book is a nice facsimile of a very early (read: pre-modern tech) period that will show you some sketches of different cabins. I think the next step is to go buy a good axe.

5 comments about Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water.

1. Of all the books on Fallingwater, this is the best when you want to know about how the house came into being. I have 2 copies of the book, one that accompanies me on all my travelling, and one to keep in my library. I have at least read it 8 to 10 times, and already look forward to the next time. The black and white photography is quite good, although the book would even be better with some color takes. Hoffman did a great job researching on the subject, and reading the book, it occurs that this was no easy task to get everything in order, chronoligically.



2. This book is one of the best I have seen for describing in detail the challenges of creating one of America's architectural landmarks. Anyone who reads this book will be reminded of Thomas Edison's comment about genius being 99 percent perspiration and 1 percent inspiration.

   Fallingwater came as a commission after one of the longest dry spells of Frank Lloyd Wright's career. Despite having no work to do, no money, and few prospects, Mr. Wright dawdled with the project while trying to sell his client, Edgar Kaufmann, as many other projects as possible. Contemporary accounts suggest that Wright only began sketching something on paper when Mr. Kaufmann was about to arrive at Taliesin in Wisconsin, where Wright did his work.

   Mr. Kaufman was not an easy client. He was the head of a major department store, and was used to getting his own way. Client and architect often clashed, with bent feelings on both sides. Independent "experts" got involved who also added to the controversy, mistakes, and misunderstandings. Mr. Kaufmann deserves credit, though, for sticking with Wright as the costs soared way above the original budget for this most unique house.

   Interestingly, the two were brought together by Mr. Kaufmann's son who had come to study with Wright in Taliesin. The book contains a brief introduction by Edgar Kaufmann, Jr. who ultimately gave the home to a local nature conservancy.

   Even without the challenges of the human relationships, Fallingwater was a most ambitious commission. In a remote part of the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania, Fallingwater is sited on top of a waterfall. The potential for the water to undermine the house is enormous. Mr. Wright also wanted to keep as many of the original rocks and trees as possible. The site survey was often wrong, and the designs had to be adjusted to reflect the reality. The design also provided other unusual problems, and the first cantilever was built incorrectly due to changes made under Mr. Kaufmann's direction.

   The book contains a wealth of maps, letters, summaries of interviews with those who worked on the project, drawings, plans, and photographs of the work in progress in black and white. This detail brings the challenges to life in a very real way.

   The fascinating part of this book to me is that Fallingwater's final effects are the opposite of its creation. The home seems to float above the water, like a mirage. It seems to exude tranquility and peace. Yet, its every stage of movement toward becoming a reality was like a Sumo wrestling match with enormous heavyweight egos and ideas colliding at high speed and with little regard for the impact on the other fellow.

   As much as I love Fallingwater, I love understanding more about how it was created even more. Anyone who wants to leave a mark of greatness behind should read this book.

   After you finish thinking through the implications of Mr. Wright's vision and ways of implementing it, I suggest that you think about your own personal life and work. Where are you lacking in vision? Where are you lacking in the processes to implement worthwhile visions?

   Turn your dreams into beautiful realities . . . for everyone!




3. This is an historical books about this house but all the pictures are in B & W. And it's so sad for such a masterpiece of frank Lloyd Wright.



4. EXCELLENT HISTORY OF THE BUILDING OF FALLINGWATER. MANY INSIGHTS INTO THE CHARACTER OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT.



5. 
   Forget everything you know about building a house--a dream house--and read this book. If you are a Wright fan, then you will relish every page and delight in knowing about how various aspects of the most famous house in the world came to be built.
   
   No doubt you will enjoy knowing that the final work was indeed a collaborative effort between Mr. Wright (who had strong opinions about everything) and Mr. Kaufman who was if anything, one of those ideal clients in the vein of Darwin Martin before him and Hib Johnson soon thereafter. Some of the most celebrated details of the building were Edgar Sr.'s input (i.e. no gold leaf paint on the parapets, routing out the stone and letting the glass simply meld into it). These things help make the house what it is.
   
   The story--it must be true, it has been told by so many and so often--of the house's design springing from the master's hand as Mr. K. was on his short drive to Taliesin, is worth savoring.
   
   The role of the Taliesin apprentice on site as clerk of the works is important to note--Mr. Wright would use this concept again and again for the remainder of his life, to assure that what was built was what he had in mind. In many cases the apprentice became almost adopted-family to the clients and their association became lifelong.
   
   Mr. Hoffmann is to be congratulated again and again for giving us this marvelous record of the building of Fallingwater.