Customer Reviews

Second Home: Find Your Place in the Fun (Better Homes and Gardens(R))

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is a decent resource for a person furnishing their first or second home, but it's not a good manual for creating your second home. The photograph angles capture walls, windows, and furnishings, but fail to show the quality of the living space. There are very few exterior photographs and many of them appear to be from the 3/4 angle. There are no floor plans or building details. If you're looking for interior decorating ideas, this is a decent reference. If you're looking for creative planning ideas for building your first or second home, you'll want a more comprehensive reference.

First, why was this book sohard to find on amazon? I only found it by accident when I searched for vacation home books. It's hard to explain the appeal of this wonderful book. It's inspiring.It's dreamy.My best friend said, "You aren't planning bo buy a second home now, are you?" I said, "No not yet. But we hope to someday." So, this is a "someday" kind of book with yummy photos of great second homes that real people own. It is a beautiful, big book. Beyond that, it's a book that gives me hope, because it includes very practical tips on everything related to second home buying, building, remodeling, and decorating. I like to dream within the world of what's really possible, and this book makes me believe that my second home dream really can come true. Someday. In the meantime, I'm doing what the book promises and getting away just by looking through the book.

We live part-time on a big lake here in Missouri, and now I will know what to do when visitors inevitably ask the usual questions, like "However did you find this place?" "How did you know this spot was right for you?" and soon. I can hand them this book to look at and learn from, because it will help them figure out how they can find their own "getaway home." (They'll have to buy their own book, though. I am hanging onto this one!) This book is so beautiful. I'm sure it will end up on lots of coffee tables at our lake and at vacation home spots around the country, because it's the kind of book you can pick up and spend the afternoon with. Thte pictures are worth the book's price. But more than that, the book has all kinds of helpful tips on finding your own place or decorating it. I think there is information on having a second home built, too. I wish I had had this when we were scouring the countryside for our weekend house, because we didn't know where to start. I can think of a few friends who I will give a copy of this book to for Christmas.It's gorgeous.

A lot of books on this subject have a travelogue quality as they take you from place to place. This book does that. But it also has a personal quality that is unique. From cover to cover, the author stops to give information that I can use to shop for real estate or even to decorate. What I haven't seen other reviewers mention is the unique chapter (this is what I think is so much fun) that is actually feeding my daydreams with open-ended questions about where I might like to live, what kind of view I really want (and does my husband agree with that or not). That fun chapter has lots of great pictures of homes as well as second-home settings. One question asks something about where I see myself walking in my second home dreams, which is a fun thought--some possible answers, illustrated with pictures, are a golf course, a snow-covered path, a garden, and that sort of thing. It was fun to compare my answers with my husband's. The book has an interactive quality that other getaway and vacation home books do not have. I highly recommend this.

This is the best book on vacation homes that I have found. I have looked long and hard for such a book, and I usually come up with books that are either about building a log home or those about locations that have nothing to do with my life. In contrast, this book does it all. I am so inspired by the homes featured, and my husband keeps grabbing the book away from me. Beyond the great photography are all the helpful tips on choosing, building,and decorating a second home. I can afford to dream about our second home, because this book makes me believe that I can make the dream come true.

I wouldn't call this book Second Home. I would call this book Getaway Home or Rural Home. More than a handsome style book, this includes lots of information and tips on shopping for real estate, especially if you are considering a move out of the city or suburbs. I learned a lot about how to evaluate a region or a small town and what to look for in services and amenities. This is a very timely book for people who are seriously considering a move away from cities or suburbs at this time.

I don't think this book has gotten a lot of press, but it's getting good word of mouth publicity. I saw it on a friend's coffee table, she had heard of it from a friend of a friend, and so on. When I saw it at my friend's house, I dashed out to the bookstore, but they were sold out, so I went to amazon. (Should have started at amazon. I learned my lesson.) The book is a great value because I can just flip through it and relax but when something grabs my attention, I can read all about it. I bookmarked a house with nautical style decor because that's what I want for our bedroom. My husband wants a lake place, and he got all excited when he read about the architect who had a manufactured home company build a custom cottage he had designed. Didn't know that was possible. As I said, there's lots in this book for everyone.

I saw this on my neighbor's coffee table and had to get a copy for myself. The photography puts me right into getaway homes and settings from coast to coast. We may have a second home someday, but for now I am escaping into this book.

What a lovely book. As an owner of a small cottage in the mountains of Vermont, I am always eager to collect further ideas and inspirations for my own ressurrection/renovation of my getaway property. While so many books are lovely to look at but almost impossible to achieve (unless you're Donald Trump), SECOND HOMES provide a wide collection of relaxing images and vacation houses. Even if you don't own a second home, this book will relax and inspire with images of what everyone's summer can--and should--be.

Bravo!

I looked at this book at a bookstore several times before I finally ordered it from amazon. I am not in the market for a second home, but I am looking for great ideas for the well-designed, charming, smaller cottage we hope to build. We are so dissatisfied with all the plans builders are showing us and need alternatives. This book is full of wonderful small and midsized homes that have charm and character. We have decided that we want a "vacation type" house wherever we end up building. To us, that means something cozy and warm and functional with lots of windows and a casual, welcoming feeling,whoch is what we are finding on page after page in this Second Home book. I think they should have named this book Great Little Houses No Matter Where You Live.