Customer Reviews

Decorating Small Spaces: Live Large in Any Space (Better Homes & Gardens)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am giving this book only one star as I expected more from Better Homes & Gardens; their books are consistently excellent, but this one is a stinker.

If you pick up a book about cats, it should feature cats. But when it comes to small spaces, it seems any home will do even if it's 3000 square feet. "Small spaces" is obvious a relative concept, depending on what you're used to. To me, a small space is any home which has a decided lack of closets, or storage areas. Bedrooms are small and difficult to make functional; children have no basement to play in, the kitchen has a puny eating area, etc. There wasn't a single picture in this book which impressed or inspired me.

To show readers pictures of homes which appear large, airy, and identical to any home found in any design magazine, is just not useful at all. I highly recommend Taunton Press' Storage Idea Book - it is inspirational and jam packed with great visuals.

I ranked seven "decorating small spaces" books, and reviewed and ranked them. That was before I found this book, which is the best of the lot. Useable ideas not only for every room but for every nook and cranny...excellent photos...helpful illustrations...this book has it all.

This book is a GREAT tool for making your house a home. It's loaded with tips and basic principles that will improve any room. Decorating Small Spaces teaches its reader the "rules" and then actually shows how to break them with style. For instance deep colors on the wall of a small room might actually make it seem larger because the walls appear to recede.

Starting with basic principles-color, furniture placement, storage, etc-the book then goes room-by-room showing how those principles can work. There are pictures to exemplify these principles on almost every page.

This book won't show you how to organize a kitchen drawer or books on a shelf, but it will show you how to arrange everything in a room to make the room more spacious.

I highly recommend this book. It has helped me transform my awkward small condo into a beautiful & livable home.

I gave this 4 stars on the wealth of large, colorful photos and the ideas you can get from those.
Had to knock off one star for the difficulty of reading the text. Sentences 25 to 35 words long are difficult to digest (and I have a masters degree). The photo captions are grouped together, forcing the eye to jump back and forth trying to see what is being described. Even the picture captions are such dense text that they require re-reading to figure out what the author is saying. By page 100, I'd abandoned the text and just examined the photos.
There are some great ideas to be gleaned from this book. I liked the sliding mirror that revealed a television inset into a bedroom wall. Also great was the hidden storage in stair treads. It's too bad that the text just didn't flow well.

I gave this 4 stars on the wealth of large, colorful photos and the ideas you can get from those.
Had to knock off one star for the difficulty of reading the text. Sentences 25 to 35 words long are difficult to digest (and I have a masters degree). The photo captions are grouped together, forcing the eye to jump back and forth trying to see what is being described. Even the picture captions are such dense text that they require re-reading to figure out what the author is saying. By page 100, I'd abandoned the text and just examined the photos.
There are some great ideas to be gleaned from this book. I liked the sliding mirror that revealed a television inset into a bedroom wall. Also great was the hidden storage in stair treads. It's too bad that the text just didn't flow well.

The book's strong points are the photos and some of the practical tips and ideas. It's not an easy read so I don't see myself reading it again, but I will flip through it from time to time to get ideas from the pictures.

We are moving from a big old house to a smaller but more modern home. This book has been very helpfull in relieving the anxiety of re-accommodating our 5 member family in the new more limited area. We intend to apply some of the great ideas provided for bedrooms, bath rooms, kitchens. It is full of easy to grasp concepts such as - - accent the vertical, switch to glass doors, keep the eye wandering -- and many others.

There are some good areas in the book, but overall its more about living cluttered not large in any space, much less a small space. For me the book seems to be aimed toward middle America who needs lots of stuff, rather than a peaceful simple abode. To many of the rooms shown have to much 'stuff'.

Very few of the rooms with windows shown have windows that are unblocked and allowing light to bathe the room. Something those of us who live in small cottages know makes for a bright and cheery place. Instead they often have shelves with stuff on them or stuff on the windowsills themselves. What I call dust catchers.

And on page 114 there is a loft style bed for a child yet the child shown is a toddler whom I would never put in a bed almost five feet off the ground. But its a great design for an older child. And there are a few simple and lovely places shown but not enough for my tastes and needs, since I am checking books out not because I want to look at pretty pictures, but because I need some ideas for a place I am planning on building

I am so excited about this book. It's just what my husband and I needed. The book combines style with practicality. What I mean is that the photos show rooms that are current and stylish and and even inspiring and the writing explains how I can use those ideas in our home. An excellent book. Handsome and helpful.

I think the book is worthwhile...even if just for the photos...in the case of those that have some concept of how to put things together or make those photos come to life. I was inspired by several pictures that I plan to implement. However there may be those who find the book is lacking in detail as to how to create some of the purposed ideas...so in that respect it may be frustrating. The book doesn't focus enough in my opinion on small spaces...as much as it does on being more organized & utilizing creative organizational methods to enhance a space. It appears that some of the rooms could be categorized as medium to large in some cases...so I deducted points for BH&G for not sticking to the main so called objective of the book. Overall I'd recommend the book though...however try finding it on sale to ease your conscience.