From how to determine lighting needs to where to position the bed, from how to hang a curtain to where to place a towel hook, Linsley helps first-time home owners suggestions in a refreshingly clear tone.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Consider the circumstances that most first-time home buyers find themselves in. For weeks or months, they've been assaulted by choices, ending with the biggest, most nerve-wracking purchasing decision of their lives. They've already spent enough dough to rival a hamburger-bun factory, and now they've got to figure out where, in the vast cavern that is their new home, to put the meager belongings they've accumulated. Suddenly the house that looked so wonderful with those other people's furniture just looks ... empty. Yet most new homeowners also don't want to go further into debt, nor do they want to live with the shoddy results of bargain-basement decorating.
Leslie Linsley comes to the rescue with First Home, written expressly for those furnishing and decorating a house or apartment for the first time. Linsley's room-by-room approach is focused, relaxed, and helpful, and she stresses repeatedly that it doesn't all have to happen at once: "Don't be in a hurry and don't be embarrassed if your house or apartment is filled with empty space for a while. Take your time." Thinking, planning, buying the pieces that are most important first--what Linsley dubs the "I-can't-live-without-a-bed" items--and living in the space for a while before deciding exactly how to fill it help ensure that each room will reflect your personal style and go easy on your overall budget.
Linsley covers all the practical aspects of choosing a room's permanent and semipermanent fixtures--wall and floor coverings, lighting, furniture, window treatments, storage, hardware, and accessories--thoroughly and sensibly, always making a case for both high quality and good value: "Comfort is more important than anything. If it looks good but feels wrong, it won't last."
She gives great rules of thumb for space planning and furniture placement (e.g., allow three feet for opening drawers, and two to three feet for pulling dining chairs away from the table). Small tips in the margins offer everything from where to find online advice for wallpapering to a list of the toll-free phone numbers for major appliance manufacturers. Perhaps the book's only weak point is the sidebar tips from professional designers, which are too brief and oblique to be truly helpful. But Linsley's own advice is so solidly on the mark as to make this a near-perfect choice not only for first-time decorators but also for those considering a new look for their living space. --Barrie Trinkle
From Library Journal
These two books provide an overall guide for amateurs to decorating one's home. Dano, star of the NBC soap opera Another World, gives examples of styles from sporty to classic, with information on flooring, window treatments, and wall coverings. In each chapter she suggests the furnishings needed to create a desired style and offers anecdotes on the successes and failures she has experienced that reinforce the sound decorating advice. Linsley (Leslie Linsley's 15-Minute Decorating Ideas, LJ 5/15/96) directs her professional decorating advice to those who are just starting out. Rather than using lots of pictures, Linsley suggests ways to find one's own style and gives her recommendations on how to achieve it. Both books are highly recommended for public libraries. [Dano's book was previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/97.]
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Ideas and Very Helpful,
By
This review is from: First Home: A Decorating Guide and Source Book for the First Time Around (Paperback)
I checked out this book from the library to "preview" it. My husband and I are planning on buying our first house in less than two months. I wanted to see what type of advice the author gave before I went out and spent the money on a book. (We are on quite a tight budget, my husband is finishing school.) I thought this book gave me lots of "direction" and helpful advice on where to start. Although, I do disagree with the author about the bedroom being the most important place to decorate. I believe the kitchen is the most important. But that is a matter of personal opinion. She gave me lots of ideas about how to go about furnishing a room etc. The only problem with this book that I can see is that there is no real help when it comes to choosing colors for room and no "instructions" on where to place furniture. I think a little more "insturction" in classical placement and color would have made the book a little better. On the whole it is a very helpful book and high on my list of things to buy when we do get our new (first) house.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not very meat-y.,
By teebeezee (Colorado Springs, CO USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: First Home: A Decorating Guide and Source Book for the First Time Around (Paperback)
This book could easily have been half the number of pages for several reasons. Besides using larger print (which is okay by me) and lots of b&w drawings, she only uses about 2/3 of the page for text, so there's quite a bit of blank space. Mainly though, I got tired of her repeating the same information. For example, when she talks about cabinets, she tells you the same stuff in the chapters on kitchens and home offices. She repeats the information about lighting in the bathroom and living room chapters. Also, she likes to decorate with white and often recommends that color scheme, which doesn't seem very practical to me. Overall, I learned a couple of things about decorating and picked up a few tips, but unless you really don't know anything at all about decorating, I would keep looking for a book with more depth and detail.
1.0 out of 5 stars
This book sucks!,
By A Customer
This review is from: First Home: A Decorating Guide and Source Book for the First Time Around (Paperback)
I ended up returning this very disappointing book. It's all black and white, with no color. How can a decorating book be effective in black and white? The advice seemed very outdated and the book was boring. Don't waste your money!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
