Customer Reviews

Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home

5 star:		(150)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been waiting for years for Martha Stewart to write this book and I'm very pleased. It is expansive, tells you plainly what to do and what never to do and it has pictures (granted they are in black and white) rather than tiny artsy line drawings like the Home Comforts book. After reading Homekeeping I have finally discovered the easy way to clean my stove top and their is a noticeable difference in my kitchen. It was clean before but now I think it could pass a restaurant health inspection. I own other house keeping books but this one outclasses them all and I think it's really all a person needs. Thanks Martha.

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There are few items like this one.

It is more or less a home companion on how to clean, maintain, do and repair most every item in your home. There is lots of wisdom like we used to pass down from generation to generation, before people stopped listening and families fragmented.

Newly marrieds, new home owners, kids leaving the nest for the first time to college or to live alone, and those wanting to get organized and stay organzied with their home chores and maintenace, will find this book valuable.

It is more than a reference work, although it certainly is that. I actually have enjoyed browsing through it for fun, not just looking for specific information.

I was excited to recieve this book as a gift, as I enjoy taking care of my home and the things in it. However, I feel like this book went far beyond the scope of practical housekeeping. It has gotten good reviews on Amazon, but it is about 500 pages too long for my personal taste. I would never have bought it for myself, nor will I ever purchase it as a gift for anyone else.

The book is heavy and has a really cheap dustjacket that doesn't stay on, making the mere act of opening the book unpleasant. I, too, would have enjoyed color photographs. I don't think it was wrong of readers to expect something just a little more aesthetically pleasing-- it is from Martha Stewart, after all.

This book would have greatly benefitted from page tabs or subtle color-coding along the edge of the pages to mark the different areas of housekeeping the book adresses. At nearly 750 pages, it is really a hassle to have to juggle this five-pound book with its worthless dustjacket in the midst of my chores. Skimming through the index, finding the page, then poring over the information to find what I need to know takes far longer than opening this laptop and searching online for "mustard stain removal", etc. This book is so exhaustive that there have been a few times I've actually forgotten what I'm looking for before I find it.

The book is too broad and comprehensive in areas of little benefit to this reader. Perhaps much of it could have been put in another book altogether, such as a "Homebuilding Handbook" or "Home Renovation Handbook" For one example, Martha writes individual directions on how to clean no less than one dozen different surfaces of kitchen countertop, from laminated plastic to granite to zinc, along with the pros and cons of each type of surface, spanning at least six pages of the book.

On the other hand, when I wanted to know the basic maintenance and cleaning of my regular old coffeemaker,I was out of luck-there's nothing like that in this book. However, I now know the benefits and drawbacks of ten different materials one can choose for their kitchen sink. Ummm...thanks??

(PSST! Hey Martha: If a person invested the kind of money to put a marble countertop or copper sink in their kitchen, wouldn't they already know that it takes special care? Or maybe they are the same people you feel the need to tell "Don't let anybody smoke near your baby." (Page 303, Nursery Safety Guidelines.)

Now, I do not have kids, but I think everybody already knows this, Martha. Those people you see blowing smoke in their baby's face? They know, too, Martha, they just don't _care_).

In short, for me, this book was like a Roomba. It sounded like a good idea, but it was just all over the place. When it did focus on an area, it did so with such intensity that other more important areas were missed entirely, or barely touched on.

I wanted to like this book, but its just more hassle than it is worth. I'll keep relying some favorite housekeeping websites for quicker reference, and if I am absolutely not sure about something, I'll use this book as a backup (and flower press).

Homekeeping Handbook was just too excessive in all the wrong places for me.

Be warned! This is a super heavy book (744 pages). It's like an encyclopedia for the home. It's full of helpful advice and it is really interesting.
The topics are broad. There is almost nothing uncovered. She talks about everything from ironing (how to completely, completely dewrinkle - underside of collar, inside of cuffs, inside of sleevefronts, outside of sleeves, outside of cuffs, inside of yolk etc etc), to stain removal (fix it right away - blot and drown the stain in cool water, blot again, more water, blot, etc), removing wax from tablecloths, and on and on. I especially loved reading on how to clear out the nasty smell in the microwave. I never knew what to do to get rid of that (till now).
It's such a helpful book for everyone - I can't imagine that there'd be someone out there who couldn't gain some insight from Martha's tips. It's easy to follow and find what you are after because she has put everything into specific catagories. So go out and get a copy because it's the perfect gift idea for the holiday's and a must for yourself in your home. I love it a lot.

I just moved out of my parents' home this year and realized that I am next to clueless when it comes to home maintenance. So when I heard about this book I decided to have a look at it and was blown away. This tome covers everything imaginable for every room, and even has a few hints and tips that never would have passed my mind. Granted, I don't currently have every room listed but I might in the future, so it will be excellent for ears to come. This book is a great gift for anyone newly living on their own, anyone who just bought a house, and it would even make a wonderful wedding gift.

I don't know if budgetary considerations led to a decision to produce a book that is in black and white (without full color photos) but that is my only quibble with the book. I'd have preferred a full color version.
However, for sheer quality and detail about all aspects of housekeeping, this one can't be beat. It is chock full of information about all the vital areas of maintaining a home, including seasonal chores - large and small. You'll learn about which products you can safely use on wood floors, how to clean a room properly, top to bottom..etc.
This is going to be a standard on my reference shelf.

Probably the best thing to come out of MSLO since Martha's unfortunate incarceration. (Let's forget the dreadful Martha's Rules book which was just terrible!). This book is an amazing and widereaching encyclopedia that covers every single aspect of homeownership from the different types of mattresses to how to clean your furnace!

This is what Martha does best. A fascinating and enjoyable read. You go, Martha! Welcome back!

I just bought this and sat down for an hour to read. I love it! My mother never taught me how to keep a house (partly because I wouldn't listen) and at the age of 26, I am absolutely frustrated because I don't know how to do this! This book is the equivalent of the Joy of Cooking for housekeepers. It gives instructions for everything: from the very basic (how to dust) to the very specific. I also love it because unlike other housekeeping manuals, it can be used for the upkeep of any living space, from the tiny apartment I live in now to the house I dream of buying (and keeping clean) someday. I will not need to buy another book on housekeeping ever again!

Wow. I thought I knew a lot about housekeeping until I got this book!

It really is a big book! Very heavy, the only annoyance I have with it is that the book cover is acetate with the title printed only on that. I do try to keep the dust covers on my books when they arrive, but I'm not certain this one will stand the test of time.

Like my title says, this is an amazing amount of information contained in this book. It isn't one that I will sit down and read cover to cover but as I'm going through my homekeeping, I'll pull out my book and "see what Martha says" just to make sure I'm not making any costly mistakes.

The book is very detailed. Anyone who can't use at least some of the information from this book is a more amazing person than I've ever known. And for the price, you can't beat all the advice and step-by-step procedures that Martha Stewart provides.

We have finally reached the stage where many of our mothers and even grandmothers were professional women, not homemakers passing their skills to their daughters (and maybe sons). The shadows of the Depression and WWII rationing are gone. We are a convenience society, using everything from prepackaged salad to throw away mops. This is not a Good Thing. But how many of us know the tricks of keeping a cozy, tidy house, without all those conveniences and products, and how to protect the things we own and love from wear and tear?

Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook is the answer, a wonderful encyclopedia of everything you need to know about keeping a house. Covering a wide range of topics, from how to remove stains to how to buy a sofa, this well illustrated volume offers clear instructions and suggestions for all aspects of home care. Well organized, there are sections for each room in the house, for cleaning and maintenance, and for home safety. Granted, there are parts that are a little "over the top" for most of us, for example, how to sort your children's toys, compete with labeling. Good luck! But there are invaluable things, like how to iron that shirt (saving money on a professional cleaner, to boot), and how to fold those impossible fitted sheets into neat bundles. There are even sections on how to fix a lamp, unclog a sink, and start a compost heap. Some things are just touched on, flower arranging, for example, while others are fully treated, such as how to restore a metal lawn chair or what constitutes the basic equipment for a kitchen. And there are pages of resource materials. If you haven't a clue what that stray funny-looking sterling fork you inherited was for, you will find your answer here.

What impressed me the most was that this was not an exercise in product placement. Wherever possible, natural, simple solutions were suggested, like using rubbing alcohol to remove ballpoint pen stains and using lemon juice and salt to clean your good copper pots.

Not everything in this book is for everybody. It is, after all, an encyclopedia. My tool shop is far more complete than Martha's suggested basic tool set. My library is totally organized, but many parts of my home are an exercise in memory retention, and that is enough organization for me. And I didn't need to be told how to set the dials on my washer and drying, but I'll bet somebody who is on their own for the first time (some young man entering college, let's say) needs this sort of information. On the other hand, laundry stains are my Nemesis, and I went staight to Martha for help. And I needed all the basic housecleaning help I could get. I think this book is wonderful, and I expect to make good use of it for years to come.