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Apartment Therapy's Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces [Hardcover]

Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)

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Book Description

May 11, 2010
Whether you inhabit a studio or a sprawling house with one challenging space, Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, co-founder of the most popular interior design website, Apartment Therapy, will help you transform tiny into totally fabulous.
 
According to Maxwell, size constraints can actually unlock your design creativity and allow you to focus on what’s essential. In this vibrant book, he shares forty small, cool spaces that will change your thinking forever.
 
These apartments and houses demonstrate hundreds of inventive solutions for creating more space in your home, and for making it more comfortable. Leading us through entrances, living rooms, kitchens and dining rooms, bedrooms, home offices, and kids’ rooms, Apartment Therapy’s Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces is brimming with ingenious tips and ideas, such as:
 
•   Shifting the sense of scale through contrasting colors
•   Adding airiness by using transparent collections
•   Utilizing the area under a loft bed for a kitchen and mini-bar
•   Tucking an office with chic vintage doors into an unused bedroom corner
 
In each dwelling Maxwell points out what makes the layout work and what adds style. Most of the “therapy” involves minor tweaks that can be accomplished on a limited budget, such as dividing a room with sheer curtains, turning a door into a desk, or disguising electrical boxes with art displays. An extensive resource guide, including Maxwell’s favorite websites for buying desks, open storage solutions, and much more, will help you turn even the tiniest residence into a place you are always happy to come home to. 
 

Frequently Bought Together

Apartment Therapy's Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces + Apartment Therapy Presents: Real Homes, Real People, Hundreds of Design Solutions + Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure
Price for all three: $53.78

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Part interior designer, part life coach, MAXWELL GILLINGHAM-RYAN is the cofounder of the Apartment Therapy blog network—which gets 3 million unique visitors per month. Frequently quoted in the shelter and mainstream press, Maxwell has been called a “Makeover Guru” by the New York Times. He is the author of Apartment Therapy and Apartment Therapy Presents.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Potter Style; 1 edition (May 11, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0307464601
  • ISBN-13: 978-0307464606
  • Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 1.1 x 9.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #112,370 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Nothing to see or read here folks, save your money. Kathleen  |  3 reviewers made a similar statement
Has great ideas for studios and small apartments . GM11427  |  4 reviewers made a similar statement
Wonderful creative ideas when living in small spaces. David Bursky  |  2 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
491 of 521 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Review by [...]. June 21, 2010
Format:Hardcover
Length: 2:27 Mins
I just did not get it. Take a moment to look at my review...I flip through the pages. Form your own opinion by watching the video :)

~XOXO~
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42 of 43 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars It's (not) related July 5, 2010
Format:Hardcover
Decorating books could be divided between the ones that instruct, and the ones that display. Terence Conran began a different way of discussing how people live in spaces, and AT has been different in that it shows how people live in apartments -- which aren't just small spaces. They are, by definition, smaller parts of a whole space -- a building, a street, a neighborhood, a city. AT led the way for thinking about functional living in apartments - and the entire line of 'landing strip' furniture now available would seem to be their doing.

This book, Apartment Therapy's Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces, unfortunately, doesn't do that -- it shows little snippets and still lifes organized by room (bed, bath, living, etc.) without showing floorplans, and entire spaces. (With the possible exception of the G-R storage space outside the door to their apartment which mentions how they keep the space neat in deference to their neighbors.)Its more decorating porn than erotica: it shows you what someone else does, with no way to draw on those ideas -- rather than excite your own senses about what's possible for you and your space.

For example, the old Gillingham-Ryan pad (as shown in "Apartment Therapy Presents: Real Homes, Real People, Hundreds of Design Solutions") was an object lesson in so many ways: rethink materials for their function, not purpose; expand one area (kitchen) and minimize another (lr) - but together, the sum is greater than the parts. In the bedroom, you need a place to sleep, and a place to store things -- but you don't necessarily need space to walk around.

It's unfortunate -- for all that AT has to say about living in (relatively) small spaces that this book misses the point. Much of what it DOES offer is said elsewhere, and often: get rid of clutter (your stuff)/hide wires/ light colors expand and dark colors. Really: do we need a book to tell us that mirrors can enlarge space?

It's too bad, because, for me, the previous book is a bible: it shows complete apartments, describes who lives there, shows floor plans, etc. The Small Cool contest as shown on AT's website did that, as well. But this book is like too many others: great photos filling lots of pages, and little more.
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34 of 37 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Usual AT publication May 27, 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Gorgeous pictures, of course, as with all AT books. Also as with all AT books, a tad too light on pics of overall setups and arrangments. I'm not against knick knack collections, as they do help complete certain styles of rooms, but I don't go to the AT website, or buy the AT books, to see closeups of other people's knick knacks. I'm there for ideas for solutions that other people have come up with, such as how to make a daybed serve as a couch in the living room...how to decorate a quirky alcove...innovative storage solutions, and so on. I'd prefer if AT would put out more "how this was done" step by step explanations, and more diagrams of some of the great ideas others have come up with.
But I also realize that part of AT is showcasing not just other people's creative ideas, but their personal spaces, thus the closeups and detail shots of the people's personal items.

I'm not as cranky about all of this as I sound - it's just that AT is a fabulous resource for small space solutions, and I personally would prefer more info and diagrams, etc., because I am constantly in search of exactly that.

I appreciate the fact that others are willing to showcase their homes in the first place, because in my opinion, there's not a website out there that is better for getting help and ideas for small space living than AT.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book w/ plenty of photos
This is not the first Apartment Therapy book I've purchased and this one didn't disappoint. The book is laid out nicely and has a wealth of ideas to transform small spaces in your... Read more
Published 1 month ago by azbroker
2.0 out of 5 stars Kind of a Mess
There are a few good ideas, but overall the rooms just look like they are designed from flea markets. And not Paris flea markets. Read more
Published 1 month ago by L. Brown
1.0 out of 5 stars Deceptive Front Cover
I received this book in the mail today and I am returning to Amazon for a full refund.

I was really looking forward to receiving Apartment Therapy's Big Book of Small,... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Kathleen
5.0 out of 5 stars Great ideas
I enjoyed this book. It has many unusual ideas and is very helpful for people decorating and organizing in a small space. Many ideas that I never would've thought of. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Barb Compton
5.0 out of 5 stars Makes Me Want to Move into a Smaller Space!
Super cute ideas for accommodating small spaces but many of the ideas translate to any size space. Highly recommended purchase.
Published 5 months ago by Dot
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational for non-professionals
There was a time where interior design was for those in the business or were able to afford to buy iconic furnishing or hire someone. Read more
Published 10 months ago by the accidental bachelor
3.0 out of 5 stars Nothing new, just smartly done rooms
I didn't find anything innovative or inspiring in this book. There were some smartly organized spaces but they were low on design value for me.
Published 13 months ago by K. Thomas
5.0 out of 5 stars great book for small dwelling :)
thanks to amazon.com and AT.
We live with my man in a one bedroom flat in 'stanbul.
This book is a gift for all the small places dwellers :)
have a nice life.. Read more
Published 14 months ago by toby
5.0 out of 5 stars woohoo!
Got this for my husband for christmas. He's a big fan of the canadian magazine House & Home, & it was recommended in there. He loves it! Read more
Published 15 months ago by miss lady
2.0 out of 5 stars This is such a dissapointment.
I love apartment therapy but this book is such a dissapointment. It doesn't give you a lot of ideas about living in a small apartments. I'll just stick to the online community.
Published 16 months ago by Kathy U.
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