Furniture Books

You can always tell a book that's been written by someone who knows what (s)he's talking about--and Edward Heddy obviously does. This is a fun, friendly, interesting read. It's a little like having a very helpful, very congenial expert mason by your side as you build. Full of tips only a professional could offer, this book is an invaluable resource for the DIYer. If you're interested in bricklaying and your can get your hands on this book, do!

This is a good introduction to brick and masonry projects around the house. it was written by a retired masonry contractor in a very easy to read manner that inspires confidence. Highly recommended.

This book has many different photos with designs from around the world. First of its kind that has such a variety in designs.It is put together in an organized way and easy to read.
I really enjoyed reading it and looking thru thousands of very tastefully chosen photos.
I will recommend this book to anyone , not only designers.

Wonderful ideas and examples of western/cowboy interiors for every room of the house. Great index in the back of the book. However, the authors should have included where to buy and or locate the different pictured products next to the items for easy access!

The pictures are high quality and provide a real sense of "Cowboy Country." The listings on the back of the book provide all the manufacturers, retailers that you can contact to order cowboy artifacts. I had been searching for a book with a Ralph Lauren look to decorate our new home. The information and history was very interesting and informative.

The book is well written and has great illustrations and especially good information on products for the beginner. It really shows how much fun textile surface design can be however I must stress that if you have done much work with surface design at all, this book will not be very challenging. It is a great book for beginners!.

What a lot of great ideas in this book. The instructions were easy to follow, and the designs were so beautiful. I am just a beginner with designing for my home, but with this book I know I can do it. Thanks for the wonderful book.

This is a wonderful book with a lot of different projects, techniques and styles. It is great for anyone wanting to add special touches and effects to their home.

The book starts out overview of materials including color photos of all the tools you will need. There is also guide to mixing paints and a great chart on various materials for painting. There are many wonderful effects that can be achieved by adding your own pigments or otherwise modifying standard off the shelf paints. Numerous techniques follow including colorwashing, dry brushing, rubbing off, sponging, graining, aging, stippling, combing, stucco, embossing, stenciling, stamping and creating a few stone finishes. There are also instructions for painting on glass and using masks or resists such as wax.

Over 25 projects are included for walls, floors, windows, furniture and accessories as well. Some projects include striped Greek vases, checkerboard wall, slot-machine counter front, and colorwashed flowers, daisy-strewn floorboards, cork-tile games floor, and a mosaic border. My favorite projects were the whimsical window frame, fossil tabletop and a beautiful Japanese style fabric screen. There are also some great design motifs such as shells, artichokes, and boats. Conveniently, small templates, which you can enlarge, are included for all the projects.

Most of the projects use latex or acrylic paint, only a few use oils. Step-by-step directions are given for each of these techniques or projects. Close-up photos show each technique in a few different colors and recipes are given for each one. Some of the effects and projects have pictures of finished rooms or objects done with them.

Almost all of the techniques here, and more, are also covered in Chronicle's companion book, Paint Recipes. What sets this book apart is that it is project oriented, focusing on the application of the recipes to the many decorative projects I've described. This is a great source of technical know how and artistic inspiration.

This book is packed with innovative ideas for simple paint makeovers. I normally do not involve myself with painting tasks and even my own projects turned out nicely.
The only thing that might have helped is more of an explaination on what kind of and where to purchase some of the paints and quality brushes.
This is a BUY book. It would make a wonderful gift for people who like to work with there hands around the home.

The directions given in this book for making and customizing the various items displayed in the book are very clear. The materials list is handy and complete. A wide range of items is included, from tiling floors to plastic casting for ceiling decoration, with furniture and accessories to fill the rooms in between those customized floors and ceilings.

Using this book, you can make the basic furniture, or customize ready-made pieces with gilt, paint, or upholstery. There are also directions for creating and re-creating accessories, such as lamps, mirrors, picture frames, etc. Or you can create smaller accessories, such as pots, bowls, or fruit.

If you like (or can do) needlework, draperies, rugs, cushions, and upholstery are possible.

Overall, the book provides a very good 'how-to' for various aspects of finishing and furnishing a dollhouse. With a little imagination, many of the ideas in this book can be adapted to your style of decor.

I enjoy this book because it has very easy to follow instructions. Illustrations and accompanying descriptions are excellent. There are a wealth of projects to choose from (decorative, craft items, making/customizing furniture,etc.) which makes this book one that I can always refer to.

I came across this book among many others on the same topic, and found the photographed lamps to be exceptionally beautiful. The patterns are very well centred on the pages, making photocopying accurate and easy. The paper is of good quality, and, unlike some, only one side of the paper is used. Although a smaller book than some, I am sure you will find, as I did, that it is a very welcome addition to your pattern library. I would highly recommend this book to anyone making lamps. both beginners and those with more experience.

I gave this book a 4 because when I went to my stained glass dealer, she told me she no longer carried this book, because the designs were so difficult to make. Many users wound up frustrated trying to create the intricate glass pieces featured in this book. A grinder is a must.

However, on that note, I am in the process of making a lamp from this book and I am a rank beginner. There are absolutely beautiful designs in here. So much for listening to good advice.

For the beginner, without another reference, this book will not be enough. There is very sparse instructions obviously assuming a non-beginner level. You get only the patterns (full size). This is great, as you don't have to mess with enlarging. The designs are well centered, so easy to copy and have nothing on the back.

Another thing to note, is that the designs don't specify how many sides the shade will have so there is no finished dimensions or hardware notation. This is really up to you.

With all those negative notes, I can't stress enough how interesting some of these patterns are. Besides Irises, Rose and Gardenias, there are many geometric designs as well as bird designs in this book. If you have the skill go for it.

"Frank Lloyd Wright's Dining Rooms," by Carla Lind, is one of a series of "mini-books," each of which spotlights a particular facet of Wright's amazing career. This volume contains many excellent full color photographs of dining rooms and furniture designed by the master architect. Other useful features in the book are Lind's interesting text, a series of sidebar quotes from Wright and others, and a bibliography.

Lind describes how Wright's dining rooms, over the course of his career, mirrored societal changes. Houses pictured in the book include the Rosenbaum house, Taliesin West, Fallingwater, and others. Each photo demonstrates Wright's mastery of color, space, form, and light. If you are interested in the work of Wright or in home design in general, you might really enjoy this book.

My wife and I are big fans of Arts and Crafts decor and are currently planning to build a timber frame home in which the designs seen in this book will definitely be an influence on our design. The interiors in the book are warm and inviting and are definitely not run of the mill. For Frank Lloyd Wright fans, this should be a part of your collection.

Pagaing through this oversized coffee-table book is a delight.

It contains over 800 pages with more than 1300 beautifully colored photographs supplemented with black-and-white pen-and-ink drawings.

The book contains photos not only of furniture of three centuries of styles in several European countries, but also the interiors in which the furniture is placed. And the text material focuses on the aesthetic and stylistic aspects as well as the historical aspects.

This enjoyable book is one of the best of its kind that I have seen, and I recommend it to all readers interested in interior decoration. It is well worth the price.

The collaborating authors have done a truly fantastic job.

This is a well written book in light of the fact there are different authors for each section. Beware that this book's focus is on Europe--there is no discussion of America or other places outside of Europe. One thing that struck me was the vastness of the furniture world. For example, Chippendale and Hepplewhite each warrant no more than a few paragraphs.

One thing that I found annoying was the focus on the pinnacle of furniture making. I am more interested in furniture owned by average folks, not the crazy over-the-top stuff of royalty. I've never had a client request a bedroom in the the style of Louis the XVI because it would take an army of craftsmen and millions of dollars to recreate the bedroom.

The book has several chapters on interiors. These discussions are nice but again, the focus is on the pinnacle of interior design.

I was disappointed about the discussion of Art Nouveau. The author, Ornella Selvafolta, spends many pages discussing painting and architecture. This discussion did not contribute to what I wanted to know--i.e. furniture design. The same thing goes for the section on Art Deco which was authored by Selvafolta also.

Excellent projects and good basic skills. Each skill is taught as needed--when you need a router table for one of the projects, he shows you how to build a router table. Also so good insights to less beginnery items--sharpening and using a scraper, for example.

My one star off is for the fact that measurements shown in the diagram for the first project (desk organizer) do not match the measurements given in the text! Very disconcerting for the beginner this book is aimed at.

Furniture You Can Build: Projects That Hone Your Skills by expert carpentry and craftsman Joe Hurst-Wajszczuk provides a definitive understanding of woodworking and craftsmanship of particular pieces collectively compiled to assist one the novice carpenter in bettering and furthering their skills as a woodworker. Introducing readers to simple, yet beautiful and impressive pieces, Furniture You Can Build deftly showcases and provides step-by-step instructions for creating desks, bookcases, beds, blanket boxes and more. Furniture You Can Build is very highly recommended to all so-it-yourself weekend enthusiasts and hobbyists looking for woodworking projects that will easily enable them to follow and produce the pristine pieces they see laid out in the pages of this impressive "how to" guide.