A Very Modest Cottage (Country Living) [Hardcover]

Tereasa Surratt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 6, 2010 | Series: Country Living

The amazing story of the charming little cottage that could—and the woman who rescued it

 

"Tereasa's journey of renovation and resurrection proves that any one of us can make a difference when it comes to preservation." –James Peters, President, Landmarks Illinois

 

When Tereasa Surratt decided to restore a dilapidated old cabin to its original state AND move it 245 miles from Illinois to Wisconsin, everyone said she was crazy. But she saw potential where others saw junk, and knew that with hope and a hammer there is always a way.  To her, this cottage was not just a building, but a precious piece of her childhood and hometown that she was determined to keep alive.

A Very Modest Cottage follows Tereasa’s adventures as she rescues this gone-to-ruin cabin and gives it new life as a guest cottage on the edge of the woods overlooking a peaceful lake. Moreover, she achieved her goal on a budget of around $300. Part how-to guide, part scrapbook, and completely inspiring, this special memoir shows how even the simplest architecture can have a powerful emotional affect...and that when you roll up your sleeves and work to make a dream come true, anything is possible.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Hearst (April 6, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588167976
• ISBN-13: 978-1588167972
• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 9.5 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #176,134 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #51 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Home Improvement & Design > Small Homes & Cottages

More About the Author

Tereasa Surratt spent her first 17 years among the
farms of rural Central Illinois, affording her the opportunity
for a diverse work background, including
watermelon harvester, truck stop waitress, bartender,
mural painter, antique dealer, interior designer,
and most recently author. A Very Modest Cottage is
published by Hearst Books/Sterling Publishing Co.,
Inc. available April 2010. Tereasa's day job is advertising
creative director, creating ad campaigns for
brands like Dove, Suave, Miller, and Sears. In addition
to a lot of obscure industry awards and publications
that no one outside of advertising cares about,
her print and tv work on Dove's 'real curves' Campaign
For Real Beauty has garnered press in every
major pub from People to the Wall Street Journal,
and featured on talk shows from Oprah to Conan to
Letterman. She has served as a panelist at industry
conferences, juried art shows, and mentored creatives
at The Chicago Portfolio School. Tereasa's
renovation and interior design projects have been
featured in Better Homes & Gardens, Country Living,
Chicago Home & Garden and the Chicago Tribune.
Mrs. Surratt cannot decide which of her numerous
personalities to humor: designer, author, art
director, roofer, or thrift store junkie. You can follow
this ongoing struggle at tereasa.com and averymodestcottage.
blogspot.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 72 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Video Review April 5, 2010

By BeachBrights TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Length: 2:22 Mins

This is a story about a love affair with a cottage, it's past and now future. This book would make a great gift for a first time homebuyer or anyone who loves to remodel/restore. Not only will you love the story & photos but the author also writes in detail about restoring and decorating a 1920's cottage - all while being true to the cottage's roots.

Enjoy, it's a very sweet story!

53 of 60 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing November 8, 2010

By Deborah Chester

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

When this book came along, I was thrilled. I loved the premise. It's always been a dream of mine to tackle the challenge of moving a building, especially an endangered one that could be renovated and restored. So I settled down to enjoy this memoir and vicariously share the experience of saving this cute little cottage.

Problem is, this isn't much of a book. Instead, it's a blog in tangible binding. It has the superficiality of a blog, and offers minimal content. As for that vicarious experience I was hoping for, or even some author insight ... well, consider this example: the owner has no direct involvement to share about the move. She was on a business trip in Prague that day, but LOOK! here's a picture of her brother, who did all that work for her. LOOK! here's the map of how far the cabin was moved from here to there.

Okay, I thought, she had to be away during the move, but the book will offer more on the reno and decorating end of things. Nope. She liked a color. She sketched a floor plan. She bought a curtain. LOOK! Here's a picture of her receipt.

Usually I can trust Country Living to publish books that are enjoyable and informative. This one is so shallow and bland that I've struggled to the halfway point. As a reader already very interested in the topic, I feel cheated. If I had wanted to look at someone's blog, then I would have scanned it online and clicked off.

But publishing it? What a waste of paper.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Cabin of Dreams April 9, 2010

By Jon Oye

Format:Hardcover

Did you ever have a favorite place when you were a kid? A place that was always there through the years, reassuring you that all was still right with the world as you grew from childhood to adolescence, to adulthood . . . Did you ever wish you could keep that place, just as you remembered it when you were a kid? This book is about how someone did just that.

First, in the interest of full disclosure, not only am I a coworker and friend of the author, I also contributed a very modest ingredient to this extremely palatable cornucopia of a book . . . and because of this I can attest to what a dedicated, focused worker the author is, making it no surprise that her sweat, toil and tenacity have produced such an appealing labor of love.

This is much more than just a handsomely presented coffee table book; it's also a love letter to a forgotten era, a warm and engaging scrapbook depicting the realization of a dream, and a lively, living journal documenting the adoption and rebirth of a charming roadside hotel cabin from Southern Illinois into an environment seemingly preordained for it in faraway Elkhorn, Wisconsin.

On top of the allure of the unique story, the author also possesses an inherent, professional flair for design that not only reveals itself in the absorbing visual presentation of the book (which she supervised), but also in the creatively chosen, period-appropriate accoutrements with which she has appointed both the cottage and its neighboring buildings in its new home, Camp Wandawega--well-represented in a copious array of rich photographs. She even gives us a vivid taste of what it's like to go along on one of her flea market flights of frugality by which she acquired some of the items that pepper these cordial surroundings. Her unassumingly witty writing style is equally engaging (this, I admit, was a pleasant surprise), perfectly complementing the arcadian images of Americana and intriguing antique tchotchkes which fill Modest Cottage's pages.

It's a feast for the senses and the imagination, with an accent on the visual, a book to keep on the proverbial coffee table for repeated browses as well as showing off to guests.