Cottage: America's Favorite Home Inside and Out [Hardcover]

M. Caren Connolly (Author), Louis Wasserman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 20, 2005

"Cottage: America's Favorite Home Inside and Out" celebrates the romance and simplicity that give cottage homes their endless appeal. With inspiring locations, colorful gardens, cozy interiors, and intriguing nooks and crannies, the 24 cottages featured in this unique collection are sure to delight with equal measures of charm and diversity. Illustrated with spectacular photographs and watercolor drawings, the cottages span the country from Florida to the Pacific Northwest, with stops along the way at a converted schoolhouse in Missouri, a prefab cottage in Wisconsin, a straw-bale cottage in California, and a cottage community in Washington state.
Whether new or remodeled, permanent home or weekend getaway, each of the cottages is intimately scaled, seamlessly linked to the landscape, and brimming with personal detail...all good reasons why the cottage remains America's favorite home, inside and out.
"Cottages delight our eyes, warm our hearts, and soothe our souls. The fact is, at some point in our lives we all need them. If there's a cottage in your future, you'll find an abundance of inspiration and information in this book. No way will you get to the last page without have sketched out plans for your own 'someday' cottage!"
--Jim Tolpin, Author of "The New Cottage Home," contributing editor, "Cottage Living" magazine

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Cottage: America's Favorite Home Inside and Out," by M. Caren Connolly and Louis Wasserman helps keep the mood - and fun - of summer alive."
"- Chicago Daily Herald
"
"M. Caren Connolly and Louis Wasserman take cottage lovers on a tour of American cottages in Cottage. It offers interesting notes about traditional details in each cottage's design, plus gives a primer on basic elements of cottage style."
"- Orlando Sentinel
""Cottage, M. Caren Connolly and Louis Wasserman's third book....is by far the most charming...The book features wonderful photographs that detail the wide range of this genre, from old to new, from big to small, from rustic to slick, and from all parts of the country."
"- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
""Cottage pays homage to those humble abodes but they also give us a peek into cottages that have morphed into substantive year round homes....This is a fun book, filled with ideas for cottage owners and those who just want to make their own homes feel more like a cottage."
"- Hartford Courant
"

About the Author

Landscape architect M. Caren Connolly and architect Louis Wasserman, both graduates of Harvard's School of Design, share a passion for American design and an architectural studio in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their previous books include two volumes in the Updating Classic America series (also published by The Taunton Press): Bungalows and Ranches.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 202 pages
• Publisher: Taunton Press; First Edition edition (September 20, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561587311
• ISBN-13: 978-1561587315
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #542,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cottage: America's Favorite Home Inside & Out, January 14, 2006

By 

Susan (ROHNERT PARK, US, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cottage: America's Favorite Home Inside and Out (Hardcover)

This is a high quality, pretty book. The photographs are lovely and the authors obviously put some effort into this project. BUT I would NOT automatically recommend this cottage book to cottage-loving friends. There is a very sterile feel to all of the "cottages" that remind me more of a metropolitan apartment, rather than a cozy cottage. This may appeal greatly to many people and that if fine. I personally prefer the cottage books that show not only exceptional restoration and decorating, but also that bring out the whimsy, individualism, and sense of home in the most comforting, warm and intimate way. The cottages in this book look like show homes. Something to impress vistors with. The writing is a bit pretentious, though maybe that is unfair because I didn't read much....didn't want to. For those who like a more funky or artistic cottage style, this book may not be for you. Check it out of the library first before buying if you are the more bolder, whimiscal, individualist, artistic type of cottage loving person. If you like sterile and non-controversial you would probably like this book.

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Large ego statements; only a few cottages, November 2, 2006

By 

Diogenes (long beach, wa United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cottage: America's Favorite Home Inside and Out (Hardcover)

If you are looking for small scale, cozy cottages you will be disappointed. For example, at page 37 there is a very comtemporary box style, three story structure, perhaps 2,800 square feet; the facade is deceptively board and batten, painted barn red. The living/dining/kitchen is one big open room, perhaps 36' by 14' with a 16' high ceiling. One outside wall, 36 by 16, is glass, which is impressive, but not conducive to an intimate, cozy milieu.

At page 77 there is a three story prefab 'art moderne' structure that makes an impressive architectural statement, but it is by no stretch a "cottage".

At page 187 is a remodeled barn: it's three stories, all open inside, ceilings 16 feet or more high, with a wall of glass. It's certainly not a cottage. It doesn't even look much like a barn anymore.


The book cover suggests "each of the cottages is intimately scaled, seamlessly linked to the landscape...", which is just merchandising, promotional nonsense. For the most part these structures are just large houses, ego statements for the owner and architect. The authors are revisionists, changing the meaning of 'cottage' to include whatever they wished to put in their book.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Boring, boring, June 5, 2006

By 

K. Weiss "cottage style lover" (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cottage: America's Favorite Home Inside and Out (Hardcover)

I love cottage style and have a nice collection of books. Based on consumer reviews I bought it and boy was I disappointed. It was, to say the least, a snooze as far as the photos go. Since I cannot afford to buy a home presently, I love to get lost in the photos of a wonderfully photographed book. This is NOT one of them.