2 comments about The Smart Approach to Window Decor (3rd edition) (Smart Approach).

1. I found this book to be a very useful resource for creating distinctive window treatments. It is extremely comprehensive and covers just about every topic imaginable. It's also well organized and easy to read. There are beautiful photographs on almost every page and plenty of sidebars with useful tips and information. It gave me great ideas not only for windows, but for home decorating in general.



2. I personally find the decorating styles and colors in these photos very appealing. If you "search inside" and look at the table of contents, you'll see that the book covers the design process as well as depictions of various styles.

5 comments about Houses by Mail: A Guide to Houses from Sears, Roebuck and Company.

1. This book probably provides useful information for persons otherwise unfamiliar with this genre of house and architecture, but personally I found two things about it particularly annoying: first, its small size. Many plans are reduced to the point where they might just as well be heavy line diagrams, and second, I find direct reproduction of original text to be far preferable to the uniform re-typing found here. Original text tends to be just as legible and lets the reader know with no uncertainty what is, in fact, original text. In all fairness, I have to say that since I am an architect and very familiar with house plans in general, my review may not apply to all readers. I much prefer the direct reproductions, and without a doubt favor a larger format.



2. I found Houses by Mail to be very helpful and informative.



3. This book is a great collection of designs and illustrations but what disappointed me most was that some houses did not have floor plans at all while some only had a downstairs and no upstairs floor plan illustrated. I was especially disappointed about those without any floorplans since I have seen floorplans elsewhere on the internet on various archive lists, the same goes for interior illustrations which I really expected to be many more of. I hoped it would be a 'Bible' or ultimate reference book to Sears homes but I guess I need to complement it with my own internet research.
   I am not sure if I would recommend it to somebody who has high expectations and such a great love for these old homes like me.



4. I have had this book since it first came out and am now on my fourth copy of it as I have totally abused the others in my search for Sears Homes and while doing research for my book. This book is a valuable source of information and no true Sears Home Lover should be without it. This is the first book ever written about Sears Homes and it is still the one I turn to when I have a question. The author and I have been in many of the same interviews and videos but have never met, I have to rectify this. Let's meet Katherine!!!



5. This book is amazing - actual floor plans, and Sears would send you absolutely everything you need to build whatever house you choose.

No comments about Screwcutting in the Lathe (Workshop Practice Series).

5 comments about Elle Decor: The Grand Book of French Style.

1. I felt that this book was a nice collection of work by French designers. It depicted various French designers work in various styles. It did not however show French style. This was what I was hoping to see.



2. I have many books on style and decor, but this is by far one of my favorites. I love that it includes many facets of French style, not just the ubiquitous, American stereotype of what "French" looks like. Chapter headings read: "Provincial," "Atlantic," "Provence," and "Eclectic" (my favorite) to name a few. The back of the book is dedicated to showcasing the homes of a few Parisian fashion and interior designers, an addition that I quite enjoyed. If you're looking to redecorate or just love looking, this book is for you!



3. Having several books on French style and French Country style, many showcasing homes in France, this book is a huge disappointment. Few of the rooms are stylish, but rather, well just junky. I was looking forward to another look at French style in France, not just the interpretation of such in America. This is a coffee table book for those who have little design sense.



4. I was somewhat disappointed in this book because I was looking for something that would explain the "French Style" of decorating. This is more a book of the homes of Parisian designers, obviously with a lot of money. The rooms in the book are beautifully photographed and I liked the chapter called "Seven Trends for Today." These included brief text and lots of photographs of the Provincial, Provence, Eclectric, Eccentric, Atlantic, Chalet and 1930-40's style trends. There was a brief description of the style trends, but the photos that followed gave good examples.
   
   The remaining two chapters in this book are: Parisian Fashion Designers at Home and Parisian Interior Designers at Home. The problem with this book is the rooms depicted would require someone to have an unlimited budget and/or access to resources for their furnishings.
   
   This book was not helpful in showing the "regular" person how to achieve the French Style in their own home. Most of the text just describes the exquisite items and creations. For example, "A vase- light has been created from minutely worked Venetian glass, and it dominates the sculpted wrought-iron pediment of a play cabinet which was designed by Gilbert Poillerat" which desribes an elaborate vase with flowers out of glass. There were a few rooms where you could probably implement and adapt to be used within your own home, but the "French Style" depicted in these rooms are based on ALL the elements, from the beautiful custom glasswork to the exquisite fabrics and furnishings.
   
   If you are an interior designer who has clients with unlimited funds or are someone with an unlimited budget, you might find this book useful. For those of us who have to stay within a reasonable budget, this is not the book to learn and implement French Style.
   
   What could have elevated this book above 2 stars would have been more informative text on creating the style and not just descriptions of the products and creators of the items in the photographs.



5. This is a wonderful design resource book. The books shows the homes of some of the design world "greats". It is eclectic and not your run of the mill "pretty" interiors, but offers new directions in ways to think about design.

5 comments about California Cottage Style.

1. Superb descriptive writing, delicate exposure of photography, this book is a must for those articulately inbued with historic archectural dignity. Nine prominent California style cottages are revealed with discriminating taste.



2. Great coverage on all of the cottage styles.



3. Nine different California communities of well-loved cottages through photographs are accompanied by text to reflect a time, a place, and a need for shelter, as well as available building materials, traditions and collective memories of their builders and owners in this charming 144 page book. You can understand the duel forces of the charm and challenges of cottage living from brilliant photography and text with intense vibrant historic detail.



4. I never thought a design book would become one of my all-time favorites...but this book is the exception. If you're ready to curl up with a warm cup of tea, a lap blanket and an exceptionally good book, filled with wonderful photographs of charming cottages...this is your ticket. I could not put it down until well past midnight, when I had read it cover-to-cover. Even now I go back to it once a week for enjoyment and inspiration. It makes you really think about the kind of home you want to live in with the people you love most and the kind of home you want your children to remember their childhood in. [Warning: It will make the big, boxy, look-alike, "I've finally made it!", homes you see now even uglier!]



5. A beautiful book. This book is fairly thin; about a half-inch, but not at all skimpy. It includes a very nice range of gorgeous cottage style homes against a sunny California theme. The homes are a nice range of styles from near-log cabin to rustic stone. Landscaping is also shown to good effect. The California title suggests a bit of Disneyland, but much of the architecture and terrain reminded me more of northern California around say, Big Sur country. A very nice book.

1 comments about Choosing Blue: Color You Can Live With.

1. Choosing Blue: Color You Can Live With discusses how to decorate with blue and complimentary combinations to create distinct home styles without experimenting. Success is guaranteed with an approach which pairs design tips with overall insights on mixing and matching complimentary colors. Organized by shades of blue, Choosing Blue provides color photos throughout and plenty of lovely decoration ideas for incorporating blue into an overall home scheme.

5 comments about Small Barn Plans for Owner-Builders.

1. The cover bills it as 'complete' plans for 12 different barns- actually, to get complete plans that would be needed to get building permit do construction or buy materials, you have to order a set form the authors website. The book has nice practical ideas about working with subcontactors, and the designs and sources are quite useful.



2. I found this book to be an excellent source of information. It has greatly helped me do the planning for the construction of my barn.



3. It's marginally useful with hand drawn, black & white diagrams. You do get a sense of what building a horse barn or shed is all about. There are other reference books out there that deal with the subject in a more polished way though.



4. Only basic info on planning a project and included plans are just a teaser to get you to purchase complete plans. There are much better general barn/shed books.



5. It was a good book to prepare for a small barn building project.

5 comments about Mongolian Cloud Houses: How to Make a Yurt and Live Comfortably.

1. This book covers all the bases for homemade yurt living. History, how-to construction manual, reference guide, state-of-the-art catalog for all things in world of yurts (ger). Great pictures and graphics; the original nomadic living bible.



2. Nomadic living in the 21st century can be achieved if your house is flexible and even portable - and MONGOLIAN CLOUD HOUSES: HOW TO MAKE A YURT AND LIVE COMFORTABLE advocates and shows how to construct a yurt using low-cost, natural materials available in either a backyard or wilderness. Step-by-step black and white drawings accompany a yurt history and includes construction alternatives and tips and tricks. A rare 'must' for any interested in alternative do-it-yourself construction.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



3. The author provides excellent resources and instruction on building Mongolian style yurts. Though the text is somewhat dated many of the principles are still applicable today. I recommend this book to any beginner interested in constructing this type of nomadic dwelling.



4. Both the book and the transaction were great. A perfect step by step guide.



5. Mongolian Cloud Houses: How to Make a Yurt and Live Comfortably If you're into simplicity in dwelling and have a piece of land (your own, or unhindered use of some other property) then Mongolian Cloud Houses by Dan Frank Kuehn may be for you. But please note, if you wish to build a yurt similar to Kuehn's specifications, you will also need to glean a fair amount of natural raw materials from that land, as well as have ample time if you intend to build according to the author's specifications. Although not terribly labor intensive in sheer physical construction, building yurts as Kuehn does requires a fair amount of determined patience (a notion of building that is almost heretical in today's culture of "instant gratification" but was widely accepted practice for centuries and firmly reconstituted by many a counter-cultural self-builder of the 1960's and 70's.) In short, this is not the book for you, if you're seeking to get a yurt erected overnight. (If that's the case, pony-up some hard earned dough and go buy a commercially manufactured yurt. Then also hire/recruit a bunch of warm bodies to assist you. Maybe you'll get the thing up in a week, maybe you won't. This IS the book for you, if 1). You are basically building alone or maybe with some help from a friend. 2). You are short of, or very economical with money. 3). You have abundant free time. 4). You want to live simply in the round and wish to work mostly with materials you can gather or scrounge. And finally, 5) You need to have something warm and comfortable yet nomadic (Because a nylon camping tent as your base camp/wilderness home/extra dwelling space just won't cut it.) As a micro building enthusiast, I admire anyone who creates useful organic dwellings and then shares what they know with others. Especially when that knowledge is shared at a most affordable price. As with all Shelter Publications, this book is chockful of useful information. Kuehn's own hand drawn ilustrations are fabulous. The pics of his yurts and his self-evolution from 1976-2006 are delightful. And Jim Macey's b&w photos of Mongolia are a nice addition. It is a valued addition to my homestead and architectural bookshelf.

5 comments about Mary Engelbreit'S Home Companion Book.

1. I used some of the ideas shown in the book to redecorate my daughter's bedroom. Only have one bad thing to say about this book... Once you start redecorating it becomes habit forming and you start branching out into the other rooms....!! YIKES!



2. ME is an inspiration to all of us who love her style without the fuss. Her ideas for the home are simple to obtain and cost very little. I have shared this book with many of my friends, and they too are now hooked.



3. This book is whimsical, inspiring and it just plain makes me happy! I have looked at it so many times, I have almost memorized it. Anyone who is familiar with Mary Engelbreit loves her and her books are absolutely the best. If you want your home to have a fun, colorful, unique look, buy this book.



4. MARY ENGELBREIT'S HOME COMPANION is a delightful book filled with her charming illustrations and beautifully decorated rooms.

   If you're a fan of ME than you'll really enjoy this book. The photographs are good and the book is chock full of uniquely decorated rooms. I honestly have to say that almost every room has something in it that I would like to incorporate into my own home.

   There are fifteen chapters and at the end of each a "project" is presented with instructions called "Watch ME Make It." Some of these are: A Tea Towel Pillow, Hand-Painted Picture Frame, and Birdhouse Bookends. Most of the projects seem to be fairly simple to do. To be honest, I don't usually do projects, but I'm very tempted to try to make several of these.

   I loved looking at how "various collections" are incorporated into the styles of the different rooms. I'm a bit of a collector myself, and it was a treat for me to notice that some items that I have from my own collections are featured in the pictures.

   It may sound odd to say this about a book on decorating, but I found HOME COMPANION to be very uplifting and a joy to read. I think I could live in this book!




5. If you enjoy Mary's illustrations and want to see lots of them, as well as get decorating ideas, then you will probably enjoy this book. While I love the photos of actual rooms and collections, there aren't enough of them. Instead there are too many of the drawings, which can be overwhelmingly cutesy if you're not in the mood.

5 comments about Parenting After Divorce: A Guide to Resolving Conflicts and Meeting Your Children's Needs (Rebuilding Books) (Rebuilding Books; For Divorce and Beyond).

1. This book is a very practical guide and an easy read for all parents who are separated or divorced. It's non-judgemental and gives real life examples with statements by children that are poignant and descriptive.



2. Dr. Stahl presents compelling information for divorcing parents which ultimately helps the true victims of a separating family - the children.



3. Dr. Stahl presents practical, easy to understand advice for divorced parents. He takes complicated terms and makes them easy to understand. He gently helps parents take a look at what they are doing to create problems so they do not just blame the other parent. Most importantly, he tells parents how to gain control of their life for their children's sake.In addition, he presents the child's perspective so parents can re-direct their focus to truly meet their children's needs.



4. As a child custody evaluator and parent educator, I keep a list of books that are helpful to parents in these tough times. I just re-did my list and moved this book to the #1 spot! It is clearly written and dispenses practical, wise advice in a way that is easy to read and digest. A must buy!



5. Dr. Phillip Stahl's Parenting After Divorce: A Guide to Resolving Conflicts and Meeting Your Children's Needs contains great wisdom about managing the difficult task of co-parenting after divorce. Dr. Stahl offers practical advice, sensitively communicated. Drawing on his own extensive experience counseling patients and his mastery of the literature of child development and the impact of divorce on children, Dr. Stahl's book provides an accessible road map to the millions of Moms and Dads who strive to provide the best parenting for their children after divorce.