Customer Reviews

Small Spaces: Making the Most of the Space You Have

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

 

 

We are renovating our apartment and this is one of the most useful books I have found. I have returned to it many times for ideas and inspiration. The apartments featured are inspiring and are actually small -- unlike some of the apartments in other books I have read. Some of the ideas were fairly standard in the literature on small spaces, but others were quite innovative. Unlike the previous reader, I found there were lots of practical and comfortable ideas for families with children. I especially like the floor plans and detailing of hidden storage.

I ranked this 4th best of 7 "decorating small spaces" books I bought. One unit featured in it had enough useable ideas for me
that it justified its price. Pros: great photos & blueprints; variety of sizes (300-1,000 sq ft) & tastes shown. Cons: European-NY exclusivity (more on this in my NOTE in review of "Small Apartments"); many featured homes shriek "interior designer," i.e., all about aesthetics rather than liveability (pebble floors, molded plastic chairs, etc.). Speaking of impractical: one of the 8 featured homes is a modernist London dwelling, 11-and-a-half ft. wide, seven stories high, with one room per floor. She should have decorated the owner's elevator, as that must be where he spends all his time.

For all us wannabe designers, this book is inspiring and educational. The photos really give you an idea of how all aspects of a space work together. I especially liked the author's emphasis on storage solutions, which anyone on any budget can take advantage of (though this book tends to focus on apartments that were designed from scratch). As with most of these books, it's mostly apartments that are analyzed, but the book does include a rowhouse that is decorated in a (shock!) tradition style instead of contemporary, which I found refreshing. Not the kind of book you'll read cover to cover, but one you'll pick up and find something new each time.

Read the title really careful and you will see that it is not about living simply in a small space, but more like living with a lot of stuff in a small space.

Since I was seriously looking for a book on Zen or Danish, Swedish simple design in a small space I wanted to check the book out. Thankfully for what I was looking for there were enough examples like The Zones chapter where Zen simplicity examples abound.

Same for the chapter titled Solutions where toward the end of the chapter some nice examples are shown and written about.

Also like page 137 onward where the author lists dozens of resources on where to get more information on examples shown in the photographs.

We are in the process of renovating our apartment, and I found this to be a very useful book. I have read it through several times and keep going back for ideas and inspiration. The apartments featured are inspiring and really are small -- not like those found in some other books. I especially appreciated the floor plans for the apartments and the detailing of hidden storage. While some of the suggestions are fairly standard, others are quite innovative. Unlike the previous reviewer, I found plenty of ideas that are useful for a family with children and lots of spaces that looked quite comfortable and cosy as well as some that were more inclined toward the minimal and funky.

I live in a modest size condo, and my brother has recently purchased one as well. So I was more looking for some good books for my brother, but I couldn't put this one down, and ended up buy another copy for myself.

Some great ideas, and good illustrations.

What I like best about this book is how it shows you to organize your space in ways that deflect from feeling claustrophobic. All the rooms are tasteful and comfortable, and show you that you don't need a lot of expensive "stuff" to have a fantastic small space.