Literature? Philosophy? Movies, even?
Nah. No time. We’re all too busy obsessing over our last house (“Could I have sold it for more?”), our current house (“Would blue walls work in the kitchen?”) and our next house (“Honey, they’re now saying Golden is hip”). And of course, we never stop contemplating the ever-inflating bubble. Some of us thrill to the thought of its pop. Others bite their nails.
But hey, while real-estate fever might curtail your Tolstoy reading, don’t let it sour you on books altogether.
Here’s a smattering of some current books that, like Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn, will only feed your hunger for more, More, MORE about home and hearth.
“Attention to Detail,” by Suzanne Trocme; Stewart, Tabori & Chang.
If you want pretty pictures of spare rooms in extremely expensive houses, this book is for you. Otherwise – not so much. Somebody really into modern architecture and its complementary approaches to interior design might find this book useful, but otherwise, it’s all a bit intimidating and confusing.
“The House You Build,” by Duo Dickinson; The Taunton Press.
Yes, you can spend the day being led around by a Realtor, visiting shag-carpeted kitchens and mirrored bedroom walls. Or you can tour model homes in new subdivisions. Or, you can build your own house.
This book is a gem, offering small stories about what different people were looking for in a new house, and what they did to build the houses of their dreams. Few of the houses were mansions – many, in fact, were built on tight budgets.
“Everything and the Kitchen Sink,” by Janice Anne Costa and Daina Manning; Andrews McMeel Publishing.
Kitchens used to be purely functional – the indoor equivalent of garages. But now they’re the heart of most homes, and when many of us dream about renovating the house, we’re thinking about our kitchens.
This book is a great first step. Read it before you start calling designers and contractors for plans and bids, and you’ll have more vision about what you want your kitchen to look like, and more confidence when dealing with professionals.
“Celebrating the American Home,” by Joanne Kellar Bouknight; The Taunton Press.
A bookshelf? Nope. This one belongs on the coffee table, a book for leafing through, and not necessarily reading. It offers 50 homes from 50 American architects, most of them enviable, many of them – but not all – reserved for the cash-happiest of us. Either way, it’s a good source for shelter inspiration.
“How to Build With Bamboo,” by Jo Scheer; Gibbs Smith
A clock, earrings, a bed frame, a porch swing – bamboo can be used to make all of it, and this book gives you the step-by-step plans. Bamboo is fairly cheap, easy to work with, and wildly replenishable. If you’ve got the urge to craft, and you want something a little different, check out bamboo.
“House Transformed,” by Matthew Schoenherr; The Taunton Press.
The old “before, and after” routine works in so many contexts (think cosmetic surgery, weight loss, muscle-building). We’ll take it too for houses. For many of us, buying a beat-up house and then renovating it into something arresting is the cheapest – and maybe most satisfying – way to go. This book details nearly 20 house makeovers, and in each case, the “before/after” difference is startling.
“The Very Small Home,” by Azby Brown; Kodansha International
The subtitle, “Japanese Ideas for Living Well in Limited Space,” excited us, but instead of offering practicality (for example, “How Tokyo families squeeze three children into one small bedroom – and make it seem spacious!”) it went for style. Pretty pictures. White walls galore. We went to the book looking for ways to leverage our limited space into something … greater. We finished it without a single practical idea of how to transform our space.
Staff writer Douglas Brown can be reached at 303-820-1395 or djbrown@denverpost.com.
