The Stress Free Home: Beautiful Interiors for Serenity and Harmonious Living (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Imagine a moment when you felt completely at peace..." (more)
Key Phrases: Zen Buddhist

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Over the past few years home improvement has come to mean more than fixing leaky faucets, updating kitchens, and adding decks. It’s about creating a feeling as much as a look and this book speaks directly to that need.

The Stress-Free Home shows how to create home environments that are oases for the body, mind, and spirit. It includes beautiful photographs of stress-free zones throughout the home from living rooms that help you unwind to playrooms that bring out the kid in you to master baths that pamper body and soul. The book also includes helpful sidebars for everything from reducing noise pollution to stress-free housekeeping to serenity-building exercises.

Original and inspiring, this is every homeowner’s guide to making his or her house a haven.

About the Author

Jackie Craven is an old-house renovator and a widely published writer who specializes in architecture and home design. She writes a popular home improvement column, "The Fix," for House & Garden magazine and is the author of The Healthy Home. She lives in upstate New York.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Quarry Books; illustrated edition edition (September 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592530028
• ISBN-13: 978-1592530021
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,383,179 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Relaxing Bliss of Your Own Home, November 4, 2004

By	Patricia Robak (New England, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This beautifully-designed book immediately reveals twin pleasures: Jackie Craven's calm, intelligent, informative text, and high-quality photographic imagery of the most harmonious and inviting interiors I've ever seen.

If you aren't totally inspired to simplify, beautify, and personalize your domestic space by the time you glide through the first nine chapters - covering the timeless wisdom of many cultures plus comfort, health, balance, and the gratifying sensual experiences of color, scent, sound, and texture - then you certainly will be after Chapter 10, "Deeper Meanings." Here, the author acknowledges our greatest emotional stressors: "Excess Responsibility", "Insecurity and Worry", "Frustration", "Conflict", "Loss", and "New Beginnings." She expresses an empathetic understanding of the impact of each of these, and offers easy and useful suggestions for improving your personal environment to encourage a soothing and healing atmosphere.

A tranquilizer between two covers, this is a lovely and restorative book which reminds us that our potential to create a peaceful and mindful life begins at home.