Customer Reviews

Fence Style: Surround Yourself With Charm & Elegance

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

 

 

Yes a book about fences. Even I was surprised when I picked it up and took it home. I was in a hurry and had a blonde moment because I thought it said French Style. But... it turned out to be a book I actually like.

Just shy of 130 pages it is a book of beautiful photos of all kinds of fences. Some fences are the New England classics and some are wild west and awesome. Some are plain white and some are vivid purple hues.

Then there are instructions on how to build a stone fence , dry retaining wall, wet retaining wall, metal fences, and classic picket, vertical board, stacked rails, post and rail, slat, lattice, basket weave and stake.

On page 86 the issue of lumber grade is discussed. As well as dimensional lumber 24 inches and 2-4 inches thick, boards less than 2 inches thick. And the frosting on the cake is what kind of finish to give the fences and how to apply it.

I love fences myself and the book reminded me of rural fences in Montana and the Dakotas, the fences we see along the coast of California and the hooty tooty fences in areas like Woodside and up in Marine County. The stone fences we saw in Maine and which dot the landscape in the Yorkshire Dales on England.

It's a charming and useful book.

UPDATE April 2002 We are settled into our new Sierra mountain cottage and I am actually using this book as I re-design the fencing and the additional new gates.

This book tried to be two different things and, as a result, accomplished neither. On the one hand, it appears that the authors wanted to publish a book of arty fence photographs (and indeed the book includes a number of lush, imaginative shots), while at the same time offering a how-to guide for fence building. Unfortunately, the how-to portion keeps the book from being a bona fide artistic endeavor, while the space and presentation given to artsy fence portraits prevents the book from ever developing into a sufficiently comprehensive building guide. Bottom line: don't expect this book to deliver an adequate lesson in actual fence-building techniques, if you don't have building skills to begin with; but if you just want to look at pictures of a bunch of other people's fences, you probably won't be too disappointed.