Furniture Books

The plans are described and drawn well. The style tends to lean more towards country or crafts, but the designs are well done. You could easily change the wood from pine to cherry, maple, oak or mahogany and get a different look. The important thing is that the furniture in this book is designed well.

I was very impressed with the quality of the photographs in this book. For a project with this much detail, a picture is worth more than 1000 words and I feel that the construction process is covered in great detail. The book has very little actual text, more like a step by step collection of photographs with captions and details. At the end of the book, a set of plans is included for use in the construction process.

This is a good book if you are interested in learning how to french polish. The author seems to have a great deal of experience in dying and french polishing and covers both in this book. Also, there is some information on pore filling. Other topics such as varnish, oils, and lacquers are not covered well. So, if you are looking for a good french polish method that works, this is it, if you are looking for information on a different finish, look elsewhere.

collector's guide about dolls

A very good guidebook, with lots of great information, less good as a look-up reference. The vintage catalog reprints are extremely helpful to the collector. The organization is a bit odd, with bookends arranged according to casting type. That would be fine if the index was detailed enough to let you quickly find a particular piece. Instead, you get a subject (e.g., "Indians") followed by a long list of page numbers that you have to search through, a cumbersome, slow process that gets old in a hurry. But nevertheless this is a book the collector needs to own.

I am doing a Victorian dollhouse and
I got this book out of the library
just to see if it would be of help
to me in planning my furnishings. It turns out
that the author has gone room by
room, describing the use,
appearance and items you would
expect to find in each. It is
exactly what a miniaturist wants to
know. So - I am ordering one for my
very own. Anyone who is fascinated with Victoriana should like this book since Mr. Mace really gives you
an insight into the Victorian era
and a feel for life
during that period. While most of
the book's illustrations are black
and white, they are clear and
several color plates are included. He includes price ranges for collectors as well but since this book was published in '91, they would be of limited use.

Irving Lyon, Colonial Furniture of New England (E. P. Dutton, 1891)

As the ex-husband of an expert in certain types of collectibles, I've seen a large number of books like this go past my eyes over the last decade and change. This one, actually, fell into my hands purely by accident; I'd requested something else at the library, and this must have had the same barcode, because it came in instead of the other book. Something perverse in me decided to keep it around and give it a whirl, and I have to say, I'm quite glad I did.

Most modern collectibles guides are nothing more than big, lushly-illustrated price lists. Not so Colonial Furniture of New England; in fact, prices are only mentioned in their contemporaneous contexts, with no speculation from Lyon about what such and such a piece might be worth in the present day. What the book actually is is a fascinating look into the etymology of furniture, how certain pieces came to look the way they do, and other such subjects (including, as filler-- the preface explains why-- such trivialities having nothing to do with furniture as when and how chocolate first started being imported to the states, and an unintentionally amusing bit about the granting of licensures to chocolatiers. It seems the stuff was even more feared, in the seventeenth century, than demon rum).

Lyon divides the book into seven chapters, each addressing a particular type of furniture, and each well illustrated. Those who don't know much about furniture may find themselves lost for a while-- it took me almost half the book to figure out, for example, what japanning means, as related to furniture-- but you'll get it eventually.

As a price guide, of course, it's useless. For those who love language, on the other hand, it's a small, hidden gem. Highly recommended. ****

This book gives you all the basics to build a great deck. I bought it and built a deck on my home.... came out awesome... and I have almost no building experience!

all the projects are quite easy to make exept maybe one
grate book to buy.worths the money

From paint and scrub technique to gold leaf, Richard Kollath covers the simple to the more involved possibilities to alter a piece of furniture. This book gives detailed instructions and plenty of pictures to help the new refinisher like myself. I find his ideas and projects interesting, uncomplicated and worth trying. I also appreciated his concern for the environment and his recommendation for a more ecologically sound paint stripper