Customer Reviews

House Beautiful Small Spaces

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

 

 

This book offers many unique ideas for those who want to redecorate a small home or apartment- provided that they have lots of money to do what the book suggests. Its a good book to have when looking for ideas on how to make the most of odd, small spaces. The photos are beautiful, clear and filled with elegant design ideas. Unfortunately it isn't a very practical book for someone like the broke college student looking for frugal decorating tips and do-it-yourself space saving ideas for a small studio or apartment to prevent it from looking like an eyesore. Since I happen to fall into this category, I regret that I can't find much use for this book at the moment.

My husband and I don't have a lot of money. We live in a one-bedroom apartment in Cincinnati. But if you're accustomed to making expensive ideas work for a miniscule budget, it's a perfect book. True, most of the designers featured in the book live in Manhattan (which is woefully expensive; those great apartments you see in movies or on TV are actually more in the price range of folks making near six figures), and some of the ideas really weren't my style, but if you do a little reading between the lines, you get good basic ideas on how to maximize your space.

Truth be told, not all of the ideas used were that expensive. Slipcovers for chairs and sofas abounded, old furniture was given new life with decorative painting. Remember two things as you go through the beautiful settings: 1) these were done by artistic designers and certainly a good portion of these things were done by hand as opposed to bought, and 2) gorgeous, tasteful items don't have to cost an arm and a leg if you look in the right places.

This is, by far, the best book I've found on decorating small spaces. I pick it up again and again, and it always inspires me. It illustrates different techniques you can use to create the illusion of more space, maximize space, or create a cozy space. Although the styles are expensive, many of the techniques can be used even with a small budget, i.e., using mirrors, patterned wallpaper, furniture you can see through, hanging curtains above window frames, etc.

This book has taught me some design principles I've been able to put into practice. I love looking at the beautiful photos. Very inspiring, useful, and fun.

This book contains many stunning photos and presents a lot of intriguing ideas. But it also brings out the final question: If you can afford that much on design why not move to a bigger space? A more appropriate title would be: Decorating Small Spaces in Expensive Cities (where you are too tired to move).

a fine book for people who happen to have small spaces AND a lot of money -- like only those crammed into Manhattan apartments.

This book has become one of my all-time favorites. The photos are beautiful and the book offers helpful advice on how to maximize space in a room without sacrificing style.
Even the tiniest of spaces provides an opportunity for storage, display or utility with no wasted space to spare.

If you are a small-home owner, as I am, this book should delight you. I've kept it handy and have referred to it on quite a few occasions to spark my creativity or stimulate ideas that I could (and still can) easily implement in my home. Unlike many other decorating books, this was a great read as well. I enjoyed it from cover-to-cover.
Renters, this book is geared more toward home owners so I would suggest seeking it out from a library to enjoy the ideas without spending the extra cash.

While this book has been in print quite a while, it is still pertinent today. I purchased it because a friend lives in one of the homes featured.

After reading the last review, I decided to look at this book in the bookstore before ordering. I'm glad I did, because I will NOT be ordering the book after all. What a waste. Nothing there. A bunch of pretty little pictures of places that don't relate to my home or life or "stuff" at all. And I live in a pricey suburb.