Customer Reviews

Small House, Big Style (Better Homes & Gardens)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I wasn't going to write an amazon review until I read an earlier review from someone who thought the book did not offer "actionable tips." I DISAGREE completely. The book is a fun read and filled with stylish (and varied) homes from around the country, but it is giving me one idea after another for making the most of tight spaces. (In our part of the country, we cannot afford a large home.) I have gotten and used several storage ideas, but what I like best are the room arranging ideas and tips on color. This is a 5-star book all around.

How refreshing this book is. It starts with an intriguing little house on a traffic island somewhere in California. I must have studied the pictures of that house a thousand times by now. But it has ideas, from storage to room arranging, for homes of somewhere around 2500 square feet or less. The square footage is listed with each house. Many are between 1000 and 2000 square feet. It's about time. McMansions in my neck of the woods are running 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 square feet.. Obscene. I wish more builders and architects would get on board with reasonable home sizes again. This book proves that a small house of 2500 square feet or less can live big.

You'll love the common sense ideas, gorgeous pictures and helpful decorating hints in this latest Better Homes and Garden book. They feature a good selection of decorating styles for most classic smaller homes (under 2500sq.ft.) in different areas of the country. I'm currently redecorating my livingroom and was inspired for fabric choices and colors. I like mixing several style of accessories and the book shows you how to do that without tackiness. It will remain a good reference.

Fantastic ideas, beautiful pictures and lots of different layouts. This is also a fabulous book if your thinking of remodeling or putting an addition on an existing home.
Well worth the money!

What a fantastic book....if you live in a small house as I do..1450 sq ft...you need to read this book. Paula so gracefully...& consistently encourages us throughout her book that small is beautiful...& you CAN have the gorgeous well decorated house you crave without letting size get in the way. Her creative ideas are astounding backed by multitudes of small house make-overs brimming with inspiration that's actually useful to those of us who are not rich..yet would like to have the nicest furnishings we can afford. She starts the book off with the premise that we need to STOP dreaming of a bigger house...& start getting bigger inspirations...which is exactly what this book accomplishes so successfully. I no longer long for a bigger house...& I'm in the process now.. of making my small house ...beautiful in every way. Hats off to you Paula for a job well done...wish more decorating books were as grass roots as yours...& delivered what they promise as yours does.

This book is as helpful as I would expect from a name like Better Homes and Gardens, but it has some surprises too because it includes a wide range of homes, from the expected to the unexpected. It got my attention right away because it opens with an ocean-view home built on a kind of traffic island between three streets in California. There are cool '50s ranches as well as more common modern-day houses and lots of info on making spaces feel bigger and work harder.

What made this book well worth the money to me was the fact that it was interesting and very current in the kinds of home designs it portrayed yet it has helpful, lasting ideas too. A modern architectural thread runs throughout the homes shown which gives the book a currrent look.

I was not impressed with this book. I suppose I should have just gone to the store so that I could have glanced through it before I purchased it. While there were ideas for small houses, they were very specific to the style of the house. (modern, traditional, eclectic, etc.) So, if you have a house that fits the architectural style, maybe this would be a good book to get. I felt that while the pictures were nice, and it was interesting to see what people do with their space, this did not give me any usable ideas for my own 1500 sq. ft. home. (or anyone in my neighborhood really) I am sure that people around the nation share some of the architecture of these houses, but not many. There is one house that is built in San Diego County that sits on a triangle-shaped piece of land. The architect designed the house specifically for that space. I am not sure this idea would help anyone unless they had a triangular piece of property. So, if I was anyone looking at this book to purchase, purchase it used, or check it out at the library, or go look at it at the store first.

I THOUGHT SOME OF THE ROOMS LOOKED NICE, BUT THE BOOK BASICLY SHOWED YOU WHAT THEY COULD DO WITH A ROOM, NOT REALLY ANY GREAT IDEAS FOR YOU TO TRY ON YOUR OWN. I GUESS I WAS LOOKING FOR A HOW TO BOOK AND THIS WAS NOT IT. SOME OF THE IDEAS LOOKED EXPENSIVE.

Bigger is not always better. It's refreshing to find little houses that live big while embodying style and comfort. This book has aged well. My first copy got water damaged, but my design library just wasn't complete without it, so I reordered.

Good thing. All these years later, many of the interiors still feel fresh. Even if the furnishings or wainscotting in the cottages seem dated to you (I think they seem classic in context), the floor plans and basic ideas are good.

It's particularly fun to see creative solutions for storage challenges. But, the absolute best reason to buy this book are the teeny, tiny closet-sized houses on handkerchief sized lots. Must see to believe. Brilliant!