Garden House: Bringing the Outdoors In (Hardcover)

~ Bonnie Trust Dahan (Author), Sean Sullivan (Photographer) "One of the glories of the garden is the simple peace and respite found there..." (more)
Key Phrases: garden lover, garden house

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In essence, creating a "garden house" means pulling together the best and most comfortable aspects of indoor comforts and combining them with the natural delights of the garden, bringing the outdoors in to create a restorative, uplifting, and comfortable home. In this lushly illustrated idea book, Bonnie Trust Dahan offers a wealth of innovative ideas, designs, and delights: aromatic herbs near the bath, an indoor hammock, a stunning birch log with branches as a coat rack, an outdoor swing on an indoor porch, a rustic potting bench as a kitchen enhancement. Room by room, she takes the reader through a multitude of inventive fantasies that can be realized and created by a person living in a hilltop mansion in the country or a walk-up studio apartment in the heart of a bustling, crowded urban center. Using the many examples shown and described, the reader can customize his or her own dream garden house, and will be inspired to do so by this lovely book. --Mark A. Hetts

Review

'Garden House: Bringing the Outdoors In' [includes] inviting ideas for re-envisioning the home with a gardener's eye-from herbs by the tub to a hammock in the den. -- American Homestyle & Gardening

Home is a natural sanctuary of ease and comfort. The garden soothes the mind and body, invigorating the sense and restoring peace and well-being. Gardenhouse is about blending the two - inviting the outdoors in and creating rooms that bring us closer to the joys of nature.

From the simplest gestures to more elaborate projects, this book offers inspirational ideas for revisioning the home with a gardener's eye. A selection of aromatic herbs placed beside the bathtub will perfume morning showers. Potted plants and a bistro table by a window evoke a sunny outdoor cafe. A hammock hung in a quiet corner makes an ideal spot to nap. Each room in the garden house offers a bright, restorative space that is as simply beautiful as it is airy and refreshing. Gardenhouseis filled with unique and inspiring ways to enhance the experience of home. -Craftworks

Those who love interior decorating love it regardless of the season, but summer can present a dilemma. Sure sprucing up a room has appeal, but in these lazy, hazy days of summer, it just sounds like so much work. Enter Gardenhouse. This book is meant to be savored out on the back porch. It provides inspiration in an eloquent, tranquil manner. At its heart, the book encourages us to bring the outside in; to summon the feeling of garden in the home. Yet it tells us in a whisper, not a shout. The author opens with a remembrance of the garden called Eden, "a place so benign and accommodating there were no boundaries between house and garden." She believes our impulse is to return to that mythic place, to make our home an extension of the natural world.

The book is loosely divided into six sections: Relaxing, Cooking, Dining, Working, Bathing and Dreaming. Bonnie uses simple, often unconventional pieces to illustrate her idea. An old potting shed is given a new life as a kitchen pantry; a rough-hewn shed door becomes a table top; old garden fencing is propped against a wall. Elsewhere, a vine trellis serves a s a towel rack. Plants, not suprisingly, fill the pages. Aside from their aesthetic value, they take in carbon dioxide during the day and emit oxygen at night, and thus are natural air purifiers.

In the end, this is an ideal summer read; no tedious craft projects, simply evocative photography placed with graceful text nudges us closer to creating a gardenhouse of our own. -- Mountain Living

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 120 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (February 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811819108
• ISBN-13: 978-0811819107
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 8.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #737,265 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars evocative, comfortably stylish, gorgeous rooms and pieces, October 30, 1999

By A Customer

I first saw this book in Restoration Hardware, where I was working at the time. It was an *immediate* hit with the style conscious staff. One woman got a dreamy look on her face as she read it "I could live in any of these" and I know exactly what she meant. It is of particular interest to those in Northern California as many of the resources listed in the back are local to us. A charming and keepable book.