Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways: Big Ideas for Small Backyard Destinations

Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways: Big Ideas for Small Backyard Destinations | Debra Prinzing | packed with ideas and inspiration

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Stylish Sheds and ...

	Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways: Big Ideas for Small Backyard Destinations Debra Prinzing Clarkson Potter, 2008 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 18 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Virginia Woolf was right. Women?and men, it turns out?yearn for a room of their own.

But instead of a little nook beneath the eaves, that room is now a shed. Today?s sheds, however, are not dusty shelters for plants and tools. Lace curtains have replaced cobwebs, charming antiques stand where shovels and rakes once rusted, and instead of corrugated walls, you will find cedar shingles and window boxes. Sheds are stylish and elegant and offer a hassle-free and affordable way to create more space without undergoing a major renovation. They function as artists? studios, writers? retreats, yoga dens, entertaining pavilions, children?s playhouses, garden rooms, or serene hideaways for any personal pursuit.

In Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways, Debra Prinzing and William Wright showcase twenty-eight innovative and beautifully imagined spaces from New York City to East Hampton, from Seattle to San Diego, and from Atlanta to Austin to Santa Cruz. Some are elaborate and luxurious; others are delightfully modest. They are built in urban gardens and suburban backyards and tucked away on rural properties.

Stunning, lush color photography graces Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways, bringing the reader into each space and face-to-face with all its nooks, crannies, and details; the text describes how the owners? needs and interests inspired the shed practically and aesthetically. With sample plans for building a shed, advice on the practicalities of designing and decorating it, and thoughts from backyard philosophers who celebrate the appeal and possibilities of simple structures, Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways is both an inspiration for creating your own backyard destination and an armchair journey to some of the country?s most private and serene places.

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I beg to differ with Dennis...

I originally put this text in the comments section by Dennis' review but figured no one would see it there because of his negative attitude.

I beg to differ with Dennis. I am the creator of the "Mod Pod". I was flattered and eager to help contribute to Debra's book. This is not a how-to-build-a-shed book. I have been planning a shed of my own in my very modest East Austin home. Even being the creative person that I am, I took inspiration from several projects presented in this book. I intend to build ponds similar to those in "Texas Tea House" chapter, create an elevated structure as in the same chapter, create a wall similar to the roof in the Manhatten chapter, and create a sun screen like the Soji-like panels located in the San Fransisco chapter. (Sorry Debra, I don't have the book in front of me as I write this, so I don't remember the actual chapter titles.) My point is that I found the book to be exactly what the author intended it to be.

Wikipedia defines a book of this nature as follows:

A coffee table book is a hardcover book that is intended to sit on a coffee table or similar surface in an area where guests sit and are entertained, thus inspiring conversation or alleviating boredom. They tend to be oversized and of heavy construction, since there is no pressing need for portability. Subject matter is generally confined to non-fiction, and is usually visually-oriented. Pages consist mainly of photographs and illustrations, accompanied by captions and small blocks of text, as opposed to long prose. Since they are aimed at anyone who might pick the book up for a light read, the analysis inside is often more basic and with less jargon than other books on the subject. Because of this, the term 'coffee table book' can be used pejoratively to indicate a superficial approach to the subject.

Dennis, I suggest you sell your used copy (here on Amazon.com) to someone who will enjoy it.

Harrison Bates

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packed with ideas and inspiration

I love this book--it reminds me of how I used to pore over the Sears Wishbook when I was a kid, studying all the possible options for inclusion in my letter to Santa. The shed and design ideas help me reimagine my existing garden--despite the lack of shed space--by letting me see how the structures work with the landscape around them. So even though I only have space for fences and arbors, the gorgeous photography gives me inspiration for creating views, making plant choices, and understanding scale and color. I also love seeing how people interpret sheds and how they fit varying tastes and lifestyle possibilities. I long for a shed of my own someday, and seeing all these wonderful possibilities certainly has helped me develop a more detailed vision of exactly what I want.

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Big Ideas/Great Destinations

With this publication, I was expecting to get a view into the lifestyle designs behind out-of-doors structures. What I got was a passionate challenge to develop my own design for a backyard get-away that, until this book, I didn't know that I needed. There are literally hundreds of wonderful pictures that connect the reader with the details of the illustrated spaces. The words connect you with the feelings and decisions of the owners, builders and/or designers. This is a dreamer's book. It's a sensuous, beautifully wrapped, exquisitely imagined, settle-in-front-of-the-winter's-day-fire and dream about spring that you could imagine curling up with the pets book. You won't leave it without a thought to what next garden project you'll be undertaking. Awesome collaboration between Writer and Photographer.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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