Customer Reviews

Dream Cottages : 25 Plans for Retreats, Cabins, and Beach Houses

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

 

 

I am an investor in cottage properties and buy everything in this catagory I can get my hands on. In 20 years I have not seen such a great collection of interesting and well thought out designs. The author accompanies her designs with information which is pratical and obviously well seasoned.

I would recommend this book to anyone considering recreational construction. I also discovered that these plans and many others are available at a very reasonable cost through their toll free number or via the internet.

Refreshing!

Length:: 1:48 Mins

Hopefully my video review will give you a better glimpse inside this book. Book reviews are subjective and just because I am not thrilled with a book, doesn't mean someone else will not love it. This book was hard for me to get excited about and cottage homes are my favorite. I also own a small residential construction company that builds cottage type homes, this book just did not do it for me. Maybe it was the lack of detail or maybe it was the way the book was laid out...I just had a hard time with this book.

This lovely book proves that a picture is worth a thousand words. I am in the beginning stages of planning my dream retirement home, and I have been looking for a few select books to convey the sense of style I want. This book is the best I have found so far. Tredway's designs are very well thought out -both beautiful AND liveable looking. There are lots of photos of completed structures along with the floor plans and elevations. Please note that as of 11/03/01, the web-site listed in the book is not working. Highly recommended book.

Although there are pictures scattered throughout the book, they are mainly of small details and accents, rather than a total view of the houses. Also, it seemed that some of the pictures were not even of the design that was being featured. I found it difficult to get any perspective of relative dimensions or the overall feel of the design from simple line drawings and floor plans. Perhaps a better book for someone more familiar with architectural drawings than for someone just starting out and looking for inspiration. Finally, not many of the designs were of what I would call a cottage, with square footage at, or higher than most average homes.

An excellent rendering of architectural style combined with leisure homes. Space, size and style are excellent. A good choice to reveiw your needs and choose a design typical of your area, as well, I believe the author will custom design a project.

The book was okay, not quite what I thought it was going to. It does have some interesting plans, but not what I was looking for.

Nicely illustrated exteriors and floor plans, good photographs, lots of suggestions, and a bit of education thrown in. Well worth reading.

We found the book somewhat helpful in planning our own house. While we were very impressed with some of the innovative designs, we did not necessarily see a relevance to our own building desires and needs.

There are some ok ideas in this book but it suffers greatly from a cramped layout. It's not easy to browse and most of the photo are cropped so close one almost feels claustrophobic just flipping through the pages