Books

Nancy Lancaster: English Country House Style

Average customer rating:

Excellent read
Nancy Lancaster:English County House Style
A classic tale of high style
United States to Great Britain: Shared Style
Adrift in the Cozy, Comfortable, Tasteful English Tradition!

Nancy Lancaster: English Country House Style
Martin Wood
Manufacturer: Frances Lincoln
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

An Affair with a House
Albert Hadley: The Story of America's Preeminent Interior Designer
Winter House
Michael S. Smith: Elements of Style
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ASIN: 0711224293

Book Description

This book examines Nancy's contribution to the arts of interior decoration and garden design by chronicling her own homes and gardens. These are Mirador, a Virginian country house, etc.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent read.......2007-06-27

I truly enjoyed this book. The pictures were excellent quality and representative of the text. For the professional decorator or a person interested in house decoration it is funny and informative. I highly recommend this book.

Nancy Lancaster:English County House Style.......2007-02-09

Book was not what I expected. Book was recommended by a decorator who said Nancy Lancaster was her inspiration so I was expecting more decorating and less biography-like book. It does make an excellent coffee table presentation!!

A classic tale of high style.......2007-01-18

This book is sumptuous and entertaining. Martin Wood weaves a fascinating story of the founder of English County House Style. If you love biography, decorating, and history along with beautiful photographs, renderings, and paintings of exquisitely decorated rooms, this book will fit the bill! A lavish feast for sight and soul.

United States to Great Britain: Shared Style.......2006-08-30

This book takes the reader from the style of America in the early years of the 20th century to the life she created in Britain. Many aspects of style were shared in the two countries, but many are unique to each. It is interesting how Nancy Lancaster blended the two worlds into a grand country style that was appreciated by both. Her childhood home in Virginia was her inspiration throughout her life and helped set the style she was so well known for.

Adrift in the Cozy, Comfortable, Tasteful English Tradition!.......2006-04-10

Martin Wood is an excellent biographer and chronicler of style and in this richly illustrated monograph on Nancy Lancaster he makes use of his own credentials as a garden designer and interior designer to praise the virtues of a lady few of us know.

Nancy Lancaster gained her reputation as a gardener and designer of gardens whose only clear rival has been Gertrude Jekyll. But Martin Wood increases her stature by naming her the creator of the English country house style. His writing style is fluid, humorous, tender and informative, giving all the biographical data about Lancaster's heritage, youth, and life in a manner that makes what seems to be a picture essay become a page-turner novel!

Lancaster devoted herself to recreating the English Country atmosphere, though she was a born and bred American. Her own various homes as well as those of people who engaged her expertise demonstrate how even the most modest dwelling can breed the charm of the English Country house. Her gardens are like dream sequences out of Arthur Rackham and her taste in balancing room space with the gracious furniture and window treatments and light is impeccable. The Book is filled with some very lush photography that takes the time to scrutinize her concepts as well as pleasure the eye over her accomplishments. This is far more than a design book. This is a book about a life and how it extended into creating a personal world of quiet dignity and beauty. Grady Harp, April 06

Average customer rating:

Great Book
Too Primitive!
Ótimo livro sobre casa toscanas
Tuscan Elements
Tuscan Style

Tuscan Elements (Decor Best-Sellers)
Alexandra Black
Manufacturer: Watson-Guptill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

Private Tuscany
Bringing Tuscany Home: Sensuous Style From the Heart of Italy
Tuscan & Andalusian Reflections
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Mediterranean Style: Relaxed Living Inspired by Strong Colors and Natural Materials

ASIN: 0823054802

Book Description

The Tuscan house, whether a simple homestead or expansive villa, has become one of the most sought-after living environments. Its design is virtually unchanged since the Middle Ages, when landowners in the golden hills of Tuscany built country retreats with gardens, porticoes, and loggias. The landowners often drew upon the natural resources of the region-and it is these materials that give the Tuscan house its unique character. Tuscan Elements brings to life the colors, textures, and aesthetics of the Tuscan house-the magnificent stone and marble work; the hardwoods like chestnut, oak, and elm; earthy terra-cotta and brick; and the all-important water feature, used in ponds, fountains, and pools. This unique, visual sourcebook deconstructs the typical Tuscan home and examines its basic components in dazzling detail, from the tiled roof and floor, thick stone exterior walls, and vine-covered loggia to the exposed wooden beams, luminous frescoes, and the sunny courtyard garden with an ancient well or exquisite swimming pool. Filled with extraordinary photos by world-famous interiors photographer Simon McBride, Tuscan Elements emphasizes living life well with a home that nurtures and comforts, accentuates the importance of family and friends, and entertains with good food and drink. For anyone interested in infusing their present home and garden with a little bit of Tuscany, here is a delightful source of never- ending inspiration.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book.......2007-05-06

This book is filled to the top with great quality pictures. Wonderful inspiration for me and our new home which we are doing a Tuscan Theme. Will make a good coffee table book as well :)

Too Primitive!.......2006-07-11

The disigns elements were too rustic for my taste. I was looking for more of a casual elegence.

Ótimo livro sobre casa toscanas.......2006-03-17

Recomendo esse livro para quem, como eu, pretende construir no estilo toscano. Claro está que não se encontra mais tijolos de 300 anos, porém, pode-se ter completa idéia de como é o ar de uma propriedade toscana. Ótimas fotos e boas dicas.

Tuscan Elements.......2005-08-19

This is the best book of its kind that I have seen on basic Tuscan home design elements. Concise descriptions, beautiful photgraphy. I would heartily recommend this book.

Tuscan Style.......2004-12-24

I normally don't buy tabletop table books because I don't feel that they represent a value or add much to my understanding of a subject. Tabletop books full of incredible pictures just do not fully capture my imagination or attention. Consequently, most tabletop books get a cursory flipping through before I put them down.

However, `Tuscan Elements' is more than a book of pretty pictures and it is worth more than just a cursory flipping through. The author, Alexandra Black, has organized her effort to capture the elements of Tuscany. The four elements are stone, wood, earth, and water. These four elements are expressed in the homes, furniture, terracotta, and ponds, respectively, of Tuscany. To stand alongside the pictures of these four elements, Ms. Black takes the time to build a supporting story from a historical and literary point of view. Quoting D.H. Lawrence and Pliny the Younger, the story of how these elements have been woven into the ebb and flow of Tuscan life since before the Roman Empire emerges with an impressive clarity and vividness.

As a lover of Tuscany I am drawn to images of Tuscany and its way of life. The seductive beauty of the Tuscan landscape and the romance of the Tuscan lifestyle as expressed in the prose and images of this tabletop book is the stuff of dreams. This tabletop book provided me the fodder for those dreams and never once disappointed me.

Average customer rating:

Beautiful Photo Essay
An Absolute Beauty! A must read.
Santa Barbara Style is a must have...
A lovely book on Santa Barbara architecture
A should have if you like Spanish Revival architecture

Santa Barbara Style
Kathryn Masson
Manufacturer: Rizzoli International Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

Casa California: Spanish-Style Houses From Santa Barbara to San Clemente
Red-Tile Style
Pure California: 35 Inspiring Houses in the New California Tradition
Napa Valley Style
Tuscan & Andalusian Reflections

ASIN: 0847823741
Release Date: 2001-09-15

Book Description

Santa Barbara. For centuries this temperate, inviting locale has glowed with subtle but unmistakable light-- a beacon of warmth beside the profound blue of the Pacific. From the Chumash, whose predecessors can be traced to 11,000 b.c.e., to the present-day resident, vacationer, and tourist, diverse and countless peoples have been enchanted and enraptured by Santa Barbara's spell.

In Santa Barbara Style, author Kathryn Masson and photographer James Chen, invoke this magic and invite us to walk with them through winding and abundant gardens, onto the grounds of grand estates, and into the great houses of this region. Here we find the work of such architectural luminaries as Addison Mizner, Bertram Goodhue, and Reginald D. Johnson. We wander from the historic adobe mansion Casa de la Guerra-- built in the early-nineteenth century by town patriarch Jose de la Guerra-- to the spectacular, and aptly named, Villa Lucia (House of the Light)-- built in 1989. We are given an intimate look at George Washington Smith's Spanish Colonial Revival masterpiece, Casa del Herrero; and a broad view of Lotusland, the thirty-seven acre horticultural paradise. With each turn of the page, we see the beauty, grace, and style of Santa Barbara.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful Photo Essay.......2007-05-13

This is an amazing photo essay about the Spanish Architecture of Santa Barbara. I own several books like this and this is my favorite.Casa California: Spanish-Style Houses From Santa Barbara to San Clemente

An Absolute Beauty! A must read........2006-05-26

Such a beautiful book, recommended by our architect and builder for obtaining ideas on building a real Spanish Colonial or Revival house. The landscape designs were fantastic as well. Another reader wanted to see "beach shacks" and was disappointed by this book. I lived in Santa Barbara for 6 years and I can tell you have never traveled there. No beach shacks in Santa Barbara. Try along the eastern seaboard coastline.

Santa Barbara Style is a must have..........2005-08-15

Santa Barbara Style is a must have for anyone who has ever had the opportunity to visit this gorgeous city. It is a wonderful reminder of the beauty and serenity that Santa Barbara has become famous for.

Sven Klein - Santa Barbara, CA

A lovely book on Santa Barbara architecture.......2004-06-17

As person who was born and raised in Santa Barbara, this book truly captures the beautiful architectural style and gardens of the city. Santa Barbara Style has a permanent spot on my coffee table and makes me homesick for the incredible homes and lush gardens found in Santa Barbara. This book is a must for anyone who is interested in Spanish and Mediterranean architecture. This is the true style of Santa Barbara!

A should have if you like Spanish Revival architecture.......2004-01-13

Beautifully photographed and interesting historical information. Would have rated it 4 stars if more focus (both text and photographs) were placed on the architecture and details instead of the homes interior. If you like Adam Mizner homes, there is another book with greater focus on Mizner's work in Palm Beach, Florida.

Average customer rating:

$100 Music Score for $63
Please let the book be avalible!

Secret Garden

Manufacturer: Alfred Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

The Secret Garden: Based on the Novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett : Musical Book and Lyrics
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ASIN: 0897241126

Book Description

A Bit of Earth * Clusters of Crocus/Come to My Garden * The Girl I Mean to Be * Hold On * How Could I Ever Know? * If I Had a Fine White Horse * Lily's Eyes * Race You to the Top of the Morning * Round-Shouldered Man * Where In The World * Wick * Winter's on the Wing.

Customer Reviews:

$100 Music Score for $63.......2005-07-20

Fantastic complete score. Looked for it all over the internet and low and behold I found it at Amazon at a fraction of the online and instore price.

Please let the book be avalible!.......2000-10-05

Well I'm looking for the full score of The Secret Garden, so I search everywhere in amazon and this is the most possible one to be the full score. You should buy a record of this musical and you can see there are 28 people's reviews there, everybody loved it after hearing it, and I did.

One day I found out a record in Tower which is another version of The Secret Garden, it's a comic-picture-covered CD and it's expensive. So I ask my father bought me the CD from Amarica, and he bought me this version. I think it great and I can't got ths CD out of my cd player. After that I bought that expensive one of The Secret Garden.... Compare to this, it's like a cheap, soap musical with too much laced background music. ....Mnnn... it's great, I bet...

Romantic Style: Lovely homes, pretty rooms, gentle settings (Better Homes & Gardens)

Average customer rating:

May not be for everybody,but I loved it!
Continually Inspiring ......
So beautiful and filled with ideas
Romance for American homes
What's missing are the "details" ...

Romantic Style: Lovely homes, pretty rooms, gentle settings (Better Homes & Gardens)
Better Homes and Gardens Books
Manufacturer: Better Homes and Gardens
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0696212390

Customer Reviews:

May not be for everybody,but I loved it! .......2007-06-13

This decorating book may not be for everybody, but I SURE DID LOVE IT!

If you are expecting a "HOW TO" decorating book, then this is book may not be for you. However, if you've been looking for a book with wonderful photos of truly romantic (modern) homes, [and with GORGEOUS photos], then you might like this book, as I did.

(Plz note... my stress is on the words :"ROMANTIC MODERN")

This is more or less a coffee-table book. At least that's how I see it.

As with most BETTER HOMES books, this book has gorgeous photos, as stated before.

Once again, I have to say that the stress of this book is on "modern romantic" style decorating.

Continually Inspiring .............2006-11-22

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've referred to and reread this book over the years. It always reinspires me to try to achieve the casual, opulent, lush, intriguing, chic, timeless feelings expressed on the pages of this book. I highly recommend this book to inspire and guide your own decorating vision.

So beautiful and filled with ideas.......2002-08-23

Until I got this book, my favorite decorating book in the last year or so was French Influences. This book is in the same vein as French Influences, but it is shot in what look to be American homes. The European style decorating ideas are translated for you. Not only do I love this book, but so many of my friends pick it up and want it when they come over that I've started giving it as birthday and wedding gifts.

Romance for American homes.......2002-05-08

I had to write my own review because I just read a review from someone who said that the book was about European interiors (or something like that). The book is clearly photographed in American homes and is full of romantic ideas that I can use here in the northeast. I can easily translate the ideas in the book using new furniture and decorative accessories from local stores and from some of my favorite catalogs (like Ballard Designs and Rue de France).

What's missing are the "details" ..........2002-04-29

If you're expecting a DIY 'how-to' of Romantic Style, you will not find it in the pages of this book. Granted, it is filled with beautifully-breathtaking photos of all of the homes showcased but, if you're looking for the "real" how-to "details," they're sorely missing.

Looking at photos is definitely awe-inspiring -- but, I want to hear the 'details' of how each look was achieved ... along with alternative options for creating the same, or similar, looks on anyone's budget. Romantic Style took the form of a somewhat elitist expression of 'lifestyles of the rich and famous' instead of a 'to-the-masses' type read.

And, at least in my circle of friends, acquaintances and design colleagues, very few have the unlimited funds to jet off to Europe, Asia or Africa whenever the urge strikes to bring back antiques, furniture and furnishings to transform their homes into the "romantic style" as most of the homes showcased have described. With a unlimited gold card and frequent access to jet around the world I, too, could create rooms to rival the ones in this book - but, in the real world, it would have been more beneficial if the book had shown a wider range of ideas for achieving the looks -- from budget-conscious - to - carte blanche.

The photos are definitely beautiful, but the true substance leaves something to be desired.

Invisible Gardens: The Search for Modernism in the American Landscape

Average customer rating:

A Very Thorough Presentation

Invisible Gardens: The Search for Modernism in the American Landscape
Peter Walker , and Melanie Simo
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Modern Landscape Architecture: A Critical Review
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ASIN: 0262731169

Book Description

Invisible Gardens is a composite history of the individuals and firms that defined the field of landscape architecture in America from 1925 to 1975, a period that spawned a significant body of work combining social ideas of enduring value with landscapes and gardens that forged a modern aesthetic. The major protagonists include Thomas Church, Roberto Burle Marx, Isamu Noguchi, Luis Barragan, Daniel Urban Kiley, Stanley White, Hideo Sasaki, Ian McHarg, Lawrence Halprin, and Garrett Eckbo.

They were the pioneers of a new profession in America, the first to offer alternatives to the historic landscape and the park tradition, as well as to the suburban sprawl and other unplanned developments of twentieth-century cities and institutions. The work is described against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the Second World War, the postwar recovery, American corporate expansion, and the environmental revolution.

The authors look at unbuilt schemes as well as actual gardens, ranging from tiny backyards and play spaces to urban plazas and corporate villas. Some of the projects discussed already occupy a canonical position in modern landscape architecture; others deserve a similar place but are less well known. The result is a record of landscape architecture's cultural contribution - as distinctly different in history, intent, and procedure from its sister fields of architecture and planning - during the years when it was acquiring professional status and struggling to define a modernist aesthetic out of the startling changes in postwar America.

Customer Reviews:

A Very Thorough Presentation.......2001-06-28

Invisible Gardens is a well-written, lively introduction to the confluence of landscape architecture and modernism during the middle decades of the twentieth century. Although somewhat like a textbook in its style of presentation, the writing throughout is clear, incisive and often quite absorbing. And there are plenty of black and white photos and architectural renderings which accompany the text to enhance its ability to inform. But only twelve colour plates were included in Invisible Gardens. I felt a bit let-down personally by this aspect of the project. I thought the book could have used additional high quality colour plates of the often spectacular commissions under review to balance the density of the text. And to convey visually what often needs to be seen to be properly appreciated.

Mastering Fine Decorative Paint Techniques

Average customer rating:

Well worth the money.
great for all skill levels!
A Great Resource!
Great book for any skill level!
An excellant start for a beginner or a expert...

Mastering Fine Decorative Paint Techniques
Elise Kinkead , and Sharon Ross
Manufacturer: Creative Homeowner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Product Features:

Creative Homeowner Press #279550 Paint Techniques Book
CREATIVE HOMEOWNER PRESS

ASIN: 1580110649

Product Description

Learn how to use the magic of paint to create texture, detail, illusion, and drama in your home. If you are looking for an exciting way to decorate, Mastering Fine Decorative Paint Techniques will show you how with beautiful painted effects that are not just for skilled artists or homeowners who can afford to hire them. With a little patience, practice, and the simple advice offered in this book, anyone can transform an ordinary surface into a delight for the eye. Easy-to-follow techniques include sponging, ragging, stippling, color washing, spattering, combing, creating a sky effect, stenciling, marbling, and wood graining.

Complete step-by-step instructions with color photos of each technique

Over 300 full-color photographs and illustrations

Stunning step-by-step photos and beautiful shots of complete rooms will inspire you to try the elegant effects in your home

Easy-to-read reference format

Comprehensive guide for achieving professional-looking results

Written in a clear and concise manner

Shows even the most inexperienced amateur how to successfully complete a decorative painting project

The book's serious approach to paint techniques appeals to professionals looking for instruction on a specific technique

Softcover, 272 pages

Customer Reviews:

Well worth the money........2006-07-12

The techniques in this book are so painstakingly explained with text and photos that it's almost as if the authors are looking over your shoulder as you work. The reader will notice many extra tips and suggestions along the way in margins, charts, stylized boxes or picture captions. One feature called "Masterstroke" contains ideas for one a bit more advanced or ambitious.

Mastering Fine Decorative Paint Techniques might be a bit overwhelming for someone who's never tried any of the techniques. It's probably better suited for someone who's done some experimentation with these techniques previously. This is not a book for someone who just wants to sponge a jewelry box or closet wall. At the other end of the spectrum, even an advanced painter should find things of interest here to help him/her fine-tune some techniques.

great for all skill levels!.......2006-02-04

I bought this book as a just in case my other book didn't have all the information I needed but I ended up using this book as my main book to do my house. Great illustrations and explanations.

A Great Resource!.......2001-08-02

I bought this book in preparation for painting rooms in our first home. Having always rented, I didn't know what all was required in preparing your surface or how to choose the proper application tools. This book started from the beginning and included these topics. The examples throughout the book are marvelous and the directions for achieving such great effects, as stenciling, colorwashing, stippling, sponging, ragging, etc. are easy to understand. The instructions also include applying the these techniques to not only walls, but objects like picture frames, candlesticks and furniture if appropriate. A must have for anyone who is redocorating their home and wants to stretch their budget a little further by using paint techniques.

Great book for any skill level!.......2001-01-12

I am a professional faux finisher/muralist, and I really enjoyed this book. I have literally dozens of books on decorative painting techniques, and this is one of my favorites. It's like an encyclopedia- lots of different techniques explained very clearly, with good general info. If you're not sure what type of finish you're looking for, this would be a good book to invest in. Also has a good color reference for help on mixing your own paint colors. Another nice feature is that there are finishes in both water and oil based paints. Some Faux books only deal with oils, which i personally don't like to work with because of the smell and clean-up, etc... If you're looking for a more advanced book, I'd suggest "The Art of Faux" by Pierre Finkelstein.

An excellant start for a beginner or a expert..........2000-03-29

I am currently reading this book as I prepare to redecorate my home using painting techiques. This book is excellant in the volume of information it contains from a discussion of colors, paints, glazes, brushes, and tools to specific techniques such as sponging, ragging, stippling, color washing, etc. I found the contents to be very specific yet simple enough for a beginner like me. The best feature however is the variety of color pictures that accompany each topic. Once I have mastered the simpler techniques, this book will allow me to move on to the more advanced techniques which are also included. Happy painting!

The Fence Bible: How to plan, install, and build fences and gates to meet every home style and property need, no matter what size your yard.

Average customer rating:

Pretty Pictures
Excellent purchase - highly recomended
Review from someone who's not known as a handyman
Fences: In thought, word, and deed.
Fully lives up to its name

The Fence Bible: How to plan, install, and build fences and gates to meet every home style and property need, no matter what size your yard.
Jeff Beneke
Manufacturer: Storey Publishing, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Wooden Fences
How to Build Wooden Gates and Picket Fences: 100 Classic Designs

ASIN: 1580175309

Book Description

A fence is more than just a barrier. Used in imaginative ways, it can become an architectural feature that blends well with the style of your house, a landscape element that enhances the appearance of your property, or an accent piece that helps define a part of your yard or garden.

In The Fence Bible hands-on home improvement expert Jeff Beneke provides an in-depth, comprehensive how-to encyclopedia that enables homeowners to choose and build the fences and gates that are best for their landscape--both for appearance and function.

Beneke suggests the appropriate types of fence to keep the swimming pool secure, con fine the livestock, keep deer away from the garden, or create outdoor living spaces. He then discusses the essentials of proper fence design and provides step-by-step illustrated instructions for planning, building, maintaining, and repairing any style of fence.

Beneke covers every kind of fencing: wood, masonry, and metal, as well as shrubs, hedges, and trees.

Whether you have a tiny urban backyard, a sprawling suburban plot, or a small spread in the country, this book is sure to help you find the perfect fence.

Customer Reviews:

Pretty Pictures.......2007-01-17

This book has lots and lots of pretty pictures of fences that are not explained or detailed. There is decent information about rock walls, but otherwise this book really lacks in the substance needed to build fences.

Excellent purchase - highly recomended.......2007-01-16

The author (Jeff Beneke) has a nice way of explaining options in a approachable and casual manner making the project of designing/building a fence and/or gate much more fun. This book is very complete in it's review of latches, hinges, fence options for consideration along with beatiful photography and sketchs to illustrate ideas or concepts.
Even the guys at our local fence supply company where we bought our materials were impressed with this book when I used it to reference a particular piece of hardware.

Review from someone who's not known as a handyman.......2006-07-05

I bought this book to build a 6' privacy fence. I didn't know the first thing about building a fence but this book takes you by the hand and walks you through each step. The author does a great job of keeping things simple for the reader/beginner and includes illustrations and photos to help you envision the process. I keep referring back to sections of this book as I continure to build. Highly reccomend this book to all beginners.

Fences: In thought, word, and deed........2005-09-21

"The Fence Bible: ..." by Jeff Beneke is an excellent, comprehensive guide. The title says it all, and the author delivers. Whether you want to build your own fence, or contract the project out this book can help you get it done right.

Fully lives up to its name.......2005-04-06

Jeff Beneke is an expert woodworker, house renovator, gardener, and author of more than a dozen highly commended home-improvement books designed specifically for the non-specialist general reader wanting to renovate, remodel, or otherwise improve their home and property values. The Fence Bible: How To Plan, Install, And Build Fences And Gates To Meet Every Home Style And Property Need, No Matter What Size Your Yard is Beneke's latest (and in many ways) his best "how to" title to date. This 272 page instruction manual is superbly illustrated with full color photographs and exemplary illustrations from cover to cover. If you want any kind of fencing on any kind of property, then The Fence Bible is the complete reference on how to build one whether you choose wood, stone, brick, concrete, mesh, wrought iron, living hedges, or anything else. Also available in a hardcover format (1580175864, $34.95), The Fence Bible is one reference that fully lives up to its name! Also very highly recommended from Storey Publishing is Peter Jeswald's How To Build Paths, Steps & Footbridges: The Fundamentals Of Planning, Designing, And Constructing Creative Walkways In Your Home Landscape (1580174876, $19.95, paperback; 158017-5759, $29.95, hardcover)

Sun-Drenched Gardens: The Mediterranean Style

Average customer rating:

Vibrating Sun-Drenched Gardens
Good reference book. Wide spectrum of gardens shown
Good overview of the mediterranean garden
Defines the Aesthetic
Showcasing lush, cultivated, verdant gardens

Sun-Drenched Gardens: The Mediterranean Style
Jan Smithen
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Gardens of Italy

ASIN: 0810932903

Book Description

The Mediterranean climate, with its mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers, gave rise to a gardening style that is very much in vogue today. Not only do Mediterranean-style gardens offer gorgeous, fragrant, soothing sanctuaries that are wonderfully easy to maintain, but water-saving planting is environmentally sound and enormously appealing whatever one's region or climatic zone. This lush, seductive volume showcases the distinctive beauty of some 25 gardens in France, Italy, Spain, and California that employ drought-tolerant plants such as agaves and other succulents, wisteria, lavenders, geraniums, and even some roses-and design features such as terraces, arbors, hedges, pergolas, topiary, statuary, decorative tile, and terra-cotta containers-that are hallmarks of the sun-drenched garden aesthetic.

Lucinda Lewis's 200 color photographs, made especially for this book, take the reader through a variety of private and public gardens, some grand and some intimate, while extended captions provide the practical information that gardeners want to know, as well as design ideas that will help them create their own place of escape or enchantment.

Customer Reviews:

Vibrating Sun-Drenched Gardens.......2007-05-26

Sunshine is the most defining element of a mediterranean garden. Pliny the Younger (AD 61-113) wrote of the detached room in his own garden with its cool marble floors. It was open on all sides and covered with vines. He loved to rest in the airy green shade.

In a bright and arid climate, the contrasts provide a breathtaking visual and sensory experience that this book passionately and successfully conveys.

It features ideas such as those based on a French tese with a shady tunnel of green clipped shrubs that function as doorways to sequential rooms, - Italian gardens sliced out of terracing and covered with alluring ancient pietra dura, - niches with terra-cotta figures, grottos, and Southern Californian water features.

The lavishly, and skillfully photographed book is divided into chapters that demonstrate how to achieve the mediterranean look in plantings, introduce shade and water features, create structure with various types of enclosures, design with clipped and pruned greenery, and adroitly use gravel, stone, and other paving materials instead of lawns.

The book is an inspiration and sensory delight.

Good reference book. Wide spectrum of gardens shown.......2005-11-03

This book is serving as a good reference material for me. Living in the a sub-tropical region, where water is short and the hot/dry season is similar to a mediterrean climate I have been successfully using some of the garden ideas to landscape my own garden. I would recommend this book for the garden enthusiast who wants to start a garden where the soil is not idea and water is scarce, or just for some
one who wishes to grow plants which will thrive in subtropical regions.

Good overview of the mediterranean garden.......2005-03-09

Living in Colorado, sun-drenched, low-water gardens are pretty much required (at least in my yard: I have about 10 sq. ft. of shade). This book provides an attractive overview of the Mediterranean garden style using some textual descriptions and many photos, with an emphasis on pics of Italian and southern California gardens. Even though many of the classic Mediterranean garden plants are not hardy for me, this book is still useful for studying the structure and design elements of a Mediterranean garden. My only complaint is that the photos appear washed out. I'm sure this was deliberate --- these are "sun-drenched" gardens, after all --- but it makes the detailed structure and the individual plants difficult to discern.

Defines the Aesthetic.......2004-02-26

This an important work for those concerned with garden design. There are many examples of the Mediterranean Style, with emphasis on French, Italian, and Californian interpretations. The volume is light on text and heavy on pictures (and they are of exceptional quality). At times, the captions neglect to inform the reader of the dominant plant's identity. This is a good introductory volume for the hobbyist and would be a valuable tool for designers to use with clients to clarify and illustrate the style. Great advocacy for use of drought tolerant plants.

Showcasing lush, cultivated, verdant gardens.......2002-12-09

An informative and intrinsically interesting text by Jan Smithen (who teaches the art and science of gardening at the Los Angeles County Arboretum) comprises Sun-Drenched Gardens: The Mediterranean Style. This is a remarkable work which is superbly enhanced with memorably stunning full color images by professional photographer Lucinda Lewis showcasing lush, cultivated, verdant gardens flourishing through the mild winters and dry summers of the Mediterranean climate. Sculpted foliage, antique pots, majestic gazebos and much more fill this captivating, memorably visual tour which is enthusiastically recommended for gardeners, horticulturalists, and the non-specialist general reader.

Behind Adobe Walls: The Hidden Homes and Gardens of Santa Fe and Taos

Average customer rating:

Nice photography!
The photos ARE in color...
I Live Here!
Colorful inspiration
a big disappointment

Behind Adobe Walls: The Hidden Homes and Gardens of Santa Fe and Taos
Landt Dennis
Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0811811646

Amazon.com

Once upon a time these New Mexico towns were rough-and-tumble settlements peopled by drifters and dreamers. Sante Fe and Taos are still very much a cultural rendezvous, but far removed from their humble beginnings; Sante Fe has lately become known as the Beverly Hills of the Southwestern U.S. Among its full-time residents are the Dennises, the husband and wife author-photographer team who host this tour of their neighbors' private homes. The owners and designers weigh in with their own words about creating these eclectic sanctuaries, making it a very personal tour.

Book Description

At last, a beautiful, affordable style book that offers a rare insider's look at the highly personal and innovative aesthetic for which the Southwest is famed. Santa Fe residents Lisl and Landt Dennis have documented eighteen of the most unusual and awe-inspiring homes and gardens of the Santa Fe and Taos area. Meet the owners and designers, tour their homes, and witness the grand vision and loving detail they have devoted to their living spaces. With two hundred gorgeous full-color photographs, Behind Adobe Walls is an essential keepsake for the Southwestern native or visitor, and a visual inspiration for anyone who would like to create their own Santa Fe, wherever they may call home.

Customer Reviews:

Nice photography!.......2006-07-29

I am a native New Mexican and even though the others did comment on how nice a book about "real" New Mexicans would be, I do love this book for the excellent photography. It is on my coffee table now and I just love looking at it!

The photos ARE in color..........2003-08-07

Unfortunately, the sample pages are in black and white. Never fear, they're actually IN COLOR in the actual book!

Got this for my Mom, she loved it!

I Live Here!.......2001-05-01

I would NOT loan out my copy of this book! I live in Taos (moved AFTER reading the book) and have since been to some of these homes, they are wonderful...and not at all pretentious...as one reviewer said. I use this book even today for inspiration in my own Taos home.

Colorful inspiration.......2001-02-21

I was specifically on a quest for inspiration for Santa Fe style decorating with bold color schemes, somewhat off-the-wall furnishing choices and the like. This book fit my needs perfectly, I'm happy to say. I agree with other reviewers that the book is rather limited in scope, but it was exactly what I was looking for. Beautiful photographs, clear writing, overall a very dynamic book.

a big disappointment.......2001-01-28

This book should probably be called "gated communities" rather than "hidden homes" - the homes photographed are the super-expensive vacation retreats of people who only live in the area periodically. These interiors are the work of professional designers, static "museum spaces" for the art collections of movie producers and ex-fashion models. The book is sadly lacking in the integrity and spirit of the people who actually live in the area, where a distinctive architectural and decorative style has evolved over thousands of years of human habitation.

It would be a pleasure to see a book about northern New Mexico houses that are designed, built, or lovingly restored by people who actually live in the area.

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