Customer Reviews

Tauntons Front Yard Idea Book (Taunton Home Idea Books)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My book is so filled with post-its marking which ideas I'll be emulating. It may take awhile, but it'll be worth it if my front yard ends up anywhere near as beautiful as some of these pictures. I'm looking forward to enjoying my front yard in a private garden setting, just like I enjoy my back yard. It's mine to enjoy, not to work like a dog on just for the neighbors benefit!

Editing to add - it is now three years after I originally posted this review. I used many of the ideas learned from this book, and it sparked many of my own! My front yard looks like a park, I love to look out my windows and enjoy. Even a walk to the mailbox has become a serene experience because of the lush gardens and plantings.
People drive through our neighborhood, stop in front of our house and I see them looking and pointing at different gardens, etc. We'll be selling our house to retire in a couple of years, and I feel confident that our place has tremendous "curb appeal" because of what I learned and implemented from this book.

This is a really good first book on front yard gardens and has some excellent pictures. If you're thinking of adding a little life and color to your front yard, striving for some curb appeal or just plain tired of mowing the lawn, pick this up. Easy to read and written in a nice relaxed style, it's a good starter.

I can't begin to say how much I adore this book!! I'm telling you now, if you read this book from cover to cover & allow yourself to digest each & every picture, you'll never look at a front yard the same again. Literally, American is stuck in a rut. I look up & down my street, & all I see are blank, bland, boring lawns!! Wretch! This book has made me realize something that took me directly out of that silly, traditional mindset: I PAY AS MUCH FOR MY FRONT YARD AS I DO MY BACKYARD! This book has motivated me to "reclaim" my front yard for my own use, & I can't wait to have it all in & done! It won't be my neighbor's front yard anymore! It won't look like public domain anymore!!!

A good-looking front yard isn't just a wise investment in your home, it's a gift to your neighborhood. Webber's book is packed with ideas for real families and real houses. For example, the book's chapter "Driveways and Parking" offers ideas on expanding a narrow driveway or parking spot, even parking bays and pull-offs!

Webber uses a logical, easy to follow pattern. First she gets us thinking about our goals for an area, then she provides reliable information, combined with Taunton's characteristically good photography.

All in all, the book's a good investment for any homeowner with a front yard.

This book helps change your perspective on the front yard in general. It talks about the wastefulness of large lawns and tells you how to cover ground in a way that is not only functional for your family but better for the environment. Her advice of what to do if you live in a track neighborhood with only plantings left by the builders is great. She talks about how to transform your yard in such a way that neighbors follow suit instead of looking at you like you've ruined the golf course aesthetic of the neighborhood. Her perspective that the front yard is a semipublic space and how to respect the neighborhood while inspiring them was good. The pictures are great and most of the ideas would blend in with other neighbors while still being origonal and attention getting. Thumbs up.

This book is great if you are looking for new ideas for your front yard. It is loaded with great color pictures and covers all areas of front yard remodel including entries, gardens, ground covers, driveways, paths and steps, stonework, and lighting. It includes directions on how to design a master plan to make the most of your space and help you determine your priorities and budget. A must have book for anyone considering relandscaping a front yard.

This book is help on our design of our new front yarn garden. NO LAWNS NOW!
I will hope to post again with a video of how it comes out but it will be a while until we finish. This book is very helpful. So is the other book Front Yard Gardens, Growing More Then Grass by Primeau.

This was a gift to my son and his wife who bought a house in an area where there may soon be water rationing. They really like the book, and are using some of the ideas. Currently they have nothing but lawn, and would like to get a yard that looks good and can survive on minimum water. It gets very hot in the summer and the grass is very pretty, but needs lots of water to survive!

I love elaborate front yard plantings, but this book just isn't the inspirational guide that Liz Primeau's similar "Front Yard Gardens: Growing More Than Grass" is.

It's a fairly pedestrian, utilitarian book, nothing special. The Primeau alternative actually conveys a sense of the excitement and adventure inherent in de-lawning your front, and the examples shown are more interesting than the bland gardens depicted here in Taunton's offering.

I've read through this once, then returned it to the library. "Front Yard Gardens" I bought, and I've read through it three times. Buy it instead. Do redo your garden, but don't expect Taunton's Front Yard Idea Book to inspire you.

Note: a 3 star ranking from me is actually pretty good; I reserve 4 stars for tremendously good works, and 5 only for the rare few that are or ought to be classic; unfortunately most books published are 2 or less.

I bought the front yard book when I got this and I liked this one toogood info and photos