- Paperback: 128 pages
- Publisher: Mitchell Beazley (13 Feb 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1840006919
- ISBN-13: 978-1840006919
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 22 x 1.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,046,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
An inspirational and practical book for anyone setting up home, whether in a small country cottage, urban studio flat or anywhere where space is at a premium. It offers inventive ideas for increasing the amount of living space without the expense of moving house and includes town, country, family and solo living. Jane Graining reveals, room by room, how to achieve stylish results whatever your budget. With ideas on how to use your furniture, fixtures and fittings to best effect, this volume also contains case studies that offer solutions to cope with changing circumstances, such as the arrival of a child or a decision to work from home.
About the Author
Jane Graining is a freelance writer and stylist. She contributes to magazines such as Country Living, Country Homes & Interiors, FX, The Sunday Times Magazine and the Mail on Sunday.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Call that compact,
By
This review is from: Compact Living (Hardcover)
Sadly, the author's idea of what constitutes compact living may not chime with your own. While there are some nice ideas in this, for alcoves, kitchens, etc, it concentrates on the sorts of spaces which lend themselves to mezzanines, spiral staircases, light wells and glass roofs. Not much use for your average flat dweller. Each of the projects was designed by a team of architects, for somebody who could have afforded to buy a house with the fees. There are a few wooly over-statements about design which are highly questionable, like the idea that using patterned materials always makes a space look smaller. And whoever did the conversions between sq feet and sq metres should find another job - the editing's sloppy. If you're going down this route, do what the people featured did, get yourself a good architect and let them sort it out...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews) 87 of 88 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great ideas for remodeling a small space!,
By Annette Messitt - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Compact Living (Hardcover)
Graining's book does a great job of illustrating the architectural challeges of working with small spaces. If you are currently designing/remodeling or building a new modern space...I would recommend this book highly for some unique ways to maximize your square footage. There are great storage ideas, especially for the kitchen and living areas, which require design and construction. Also, there are some excellent ideas for the bathroom that would be especially helpful if you've just begun space planning or picking out fixtures for a remodel or new construction. Unique ways of hiding heating units by making them part of the space, rather than an intrusion, are offered as well. Although, it's not the book's focus, Compact Living offers some ideas for the apartment owner living in a spatially challenged flat. The most helpful tip to apartment owners is Graining's suggestion regarding the use of color to help create zones of living within the space. The book also offers a few great ways to utilize the small spaces that are often forgotten in a seemingly tiny room. Generally, this book is great if you're building or extensively remodeling a small space, but doesn't offer much to apartment owners with little money or control over the structure of their space. 84 of 89 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
All the mod cons.....,
By Dianne Foster "Di" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Compact Living (Hardcover)
Two of my children recently moved into new homes -- one in San Diego (1450 square feet), and the other in Washington DC (1500 square feet & four children). They both have high rents/mortgage payments and modest budgets, so I've been helping them search for clever ways to live in small spaces -- i.e. maximize efficiency, minimize costs, and preserve attractiveness. COMPACT LIVING contains many attractive ideas for economizing on space (for those whose tastes run to modern), but executing these ideas may prove more expensive than the author Jane Graining suggests (at least in the high rent areas!). Graining has attempted to address the needs of both the renter and the home owner, but most of her ideas are better suited to the home owner (whether condo or small house) who can afford to make relatively permanent changes. Some ideas involve clever collapsing furniture which is portable, but the furniture shown is relatively expensive (wall beds, telescoping tables). She provides numerous examples of walls and ceilings opened with skylights and bigger windows and she advocates the use of glass blocks and mirrors for lighting interior areas with remote sources of light. She also suggests bright colors in the form of painted or tiled surfaces can be used to "lighten" a room and make it appear bigger. For example, one idea involves two wall beds housed behind bright enamel red "closet" doors that are separated by a vertical, foot-wide floor to ceiling glass block strip which allows daylight to penetrate into the bathroom beyond. This detailed work is not a minor modification however parsimonious and attractive the use of space. Graining says those who live in small spaces must think vertically, and she offers a number of nifty ideas for employing overhead space to accomodate loft beds, book shelving, cupboards, pantries, closets, stackable appliances, and racks of pots and pans. Many of her illustrations include vertical elements designed by architects and installed by professionals or extremely talented amateurs. Clever and talented folks may be able to copy some of her ideas without breaking the bank, but I am not that clever. 22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Title should be "Compact living... on a limitless renovation budget.",
By Beatrice Izzey "Nanny Dog" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Compact Living (Paperback)
Title should be "Compact living... on a limitless renovation budget."
Everything is designer showroom-perfect on these pages, like an Ikea or Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel catalog. However the spaces lack human reality, such as quirky collections or individualized space needs or child friendly design. You don't even meet the inhabitants. Yes, invest in built in cabinets and fold away stair cases if you own and have the money. Again, these options are unattainable for many struggling to pay the mortgage or are renting. A much better book is Bartolucci's "1000 sqft or less." That features real people with real budgets. I wanted real advice, not catalog advertisements for perfect unattainable ideal design. I was disappointed. But perhaps idealism and extravagance, not realism and cash poor budgets are what most readers want... Hence the popularity of ARchitectural Digest, and why I am so turned off by such mags. |
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