Compact Living [Hardcover]

Jane Graining (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1999

If only I had an extra bedroom...bigger closets...a larger kitchen...more storage! We all want more space, but frankly, the size of our home is restricted by what we can afford. And what people can afford these days is getting smaller and smaller.

Compact Living lets you expand your space without moving. Room by room, this book reveals how to achieve stylish results on any budget. It contains over 300 color photographs of real homes designed by architects who bring verve and style to tiny areas.

Urban dwellers, who often live in closets called "apartments," will appreciate advice on how to best utilize wall and floor space, lighting, and color. Problem areas can be transformed by planning inventively, cheating perspective, and playing with new technology. The book also includes unusual diminutive country homes, and sheds and beach huts that have been transformed into vacation homes, home offices, or playrooms.

The simplicity of a tiny home really can be an advantage, and Compact Living shines as an inspiring guide to the possibilities of a small space.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jane Graining is a freelance writer and stylist. She contributes to magazines such as Country Living, Country Homes & Interiors, FX, The Sunday Times Magazine and the Mail on Sunday. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Soma Books; No Amer edition (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579590268
• ISBN-13: 978-1579590260
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 9.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,033,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great ideas for remodeling a small space!, May 4, 2000

By 

Annette Messitt (Chicago, IL, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Compact Living (Hardcover)

Graining's book does a great job of illustrating the architectural challeges of working with small spaces. If you are currently designing/remodeling or building a new modern space...I would recommend this book highly for some unique ways to maximize your square footage. There are great storage ideas, especially for the kitchen and living areas, which require design and construction. Also, there are some excellent ideas for the bathroom that would be especially helpful if you've just begun space planning or picking out fixtures for a remodel or new construction. Unique ways of hiding heating units by making them part of the space, rather than an intrusion, are offered as well.

Although, it's not the book's focus, Compact Living offers some ideas for the apartment owner living in a spatially challenged flat. The most helpful tip to apartment owners is Graining's suggestion regarding the use of color to help create zones of living within the space. The book also offers a few great ways to utilize the small spaces that are often forgotten in a seemingly tiny room.

Generally, this book is great if you're building or extensively remodeling a small space, but doesn't offer much to apartment owners with little money or control over the structure of their space.

84 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars All the mod cons....., February 14, 2002

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Compact Living (Hardcover)

Two of my children recently moved into new homes -- one in San Diego (1450 square feet), and the other in Washington DC (1500 square feet & four children). They both have high rents/mortgage payments and modest budgets, so I've been helping them search for clever ways to live in small spaces -- i.e. maximize efficiency, minimize costs, and preserve attractiveness. COMPACT LIVING contains many attractive ideas for economizing on space (for those whose tastes run to modern), but executing these ideas may prove more expensive than the author Jane Graining suggests (at least in the high rent areas!).

Graining has attempted to address the needs of both the renter and the home owner, but most of her ideas are better suited to the home owner (whether condo or small house) who can afford to make relatively permanent changes. Some ideas involve clever collapsing furniture which is portable, but the furniture shown is relatively expensive (wall beds, telescoping tables).

She provides numerous examples of walls and ceilings opened with skylights and bigger windows and she advocates the use of glass blocks and mirrors for lighting interior areas with remote sources of light. She also suggests bright colors in the form of painted or tiled surfaces can be used to "lighten" a room and make it appear bigger. For example, one idea involves two wall beds housed behind bright enamel red "closet" doors that are separated by a vertical, foot-wide floor to ceiling glass block strip which allows daylight to penetrate into the bathroom beyond. This detailed work is not a minor modification however parsimonious and attractive the use of space.

Graining says those who live in small spaces must think vertically, and she offers a number of nifty ideas for employing overhead space to accomodate loft beds, book shelving, cupboards, pantries, closets, stackable appliances, and racks of pots and pans. Many of her illustrations include vertical elements designed by architects and installed by professionals or extremely talented amateurs. Clever and talented folks may be able to copy some of her ideas without breaking the bank, but I am not that clever.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Title should be "Compact living... on a limitless renovation budget.", March 21, 2006

By 

Beatrice Izzey "Nanny Dog" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Compact Living (Paperback)

Title should be "Compact living... on a limitless renovation budget."

Everything is designer showroom-perfect on these pages, like an Ikea or Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel catalog.

However the spaces lack human reality, such as quirky collections or individualized space needs or child friendly design. You don't even meet the inhabitants.

Yes, invest in built in cabinets and fold away stair cases if you own and have the money. Again, these options are unattainable for many struggling to pay the mortgage or are renting.

A much better book is Bartolucci's "1000 sqft or less." That features real people with real budgets.

I wanted real advice, not catalog advertisements for perfect unattainable ideal design. I was disappointed. But perhaps idealism and extravagance, not realism and cash poor budgets are what most readers want... Hence the popularity of ARchitectural Digest, and why I am so turned off by such mags.