This is a very pretty book to look at and the skills of the author are outstanding. However, I personally find most of the designs a bit heavy and over-complicated, but I think that's just a matter of taste. You might get inspired by these decorations if you live in (or if you are going to paint) a good size manor, church, public building or a large home. The author's specialty obviously is detailed painting of botanical or zoological objects. For example, his painting of a cabbage is really photo-like, but who is going to paint a cabbage in his/her house? A lot of designs in this book include detailed paintings of animals, like dogs, birds, fish, lobsters even cheetah, lizard or monkey. That makes the designs really interesting, but very hard to get inspired by, unless you are a very skilled and experienced artist. But I find some inspiration and new information in every book, so I'm not dissapointed with my purchase. This book is at least an extensive record of some amazing art work.

As a professional mural painter, I've found "The Painted House", by Graham Rust, to be an excellent idea source book. In fact, it's the best I've found to date. The illustrations are not only imaginative, but extremely rich in detail. My only complaint would be that at times he shows the original sketch without showing the finished product. Otherwise, I've found the book to be extremely helpful and I'm ready for Vol. 2.

This is a truly beautiful book with lots of inspiration for all the do-it-yourselfers out there. It is not though at a level that anyone who is not a professional could even begin to do. The paintings are so beautiful and so detailed that it will delight anyone looking at it!

My husband and I both love to cook and we're looking at remodeling our kitchen. This book has great inspiration on how to think about your kitchen space and how you use it. It's got some great ideas on how to think about your kitchen arrangement and storage options from people who KNOW what can get irritating very quickly. The downside of this book is that these kitchens were obviously done on budgets that most of us would never dream of -- we're not going to be installing professional/commercial grade appliances, and we're not going to have granite countertops or custom-made cabinetry. However, just to read how professional chefs planned out their own kitchens to make their lives easier, and their ideas on storage and display make this book well worth while.

This is hands-down the best kitchen planning and design book I have seen. I learned so many things from it about picking materials, lighting, fixtures, sinks, layouts, etc. that my remodeled kitchen will be better because of it. I paged through endless books and magazines filled with lovely photos, but that lacked information or substance. This book stands out because it discusses pros and cons, budget tradeoffs made, the good decisions and "if-I-had-it-to-do-over-again" mistakes. These are kitchens put together by demanding professionals who won't tolerate (bad)or lightweight materials that are hard to clean. I learned many lessons about flooring, countertops, backsplashes and so on that were never touched upon by other books. Sure there are appliances to drool over, but there are also chefs who ran out of money during the remodel, or bought factory seconds tile to save money. Real-life issues and lessons.

Never have I agreed more with an editorial Amazon review than when this one warned the envy-prone against buying this book. I want this stuff! (Particularly the industrial-grade wok and 90-second dishwasher.) If the subject at all interests you, you will not be disappointed in this book. The production values are excellent.

I like to think of myself as having an eclectic style; I have many influences. I like some country and traditional elements. I had heard favorable things about Colefax and Fowler, so I thought this book would be a good representation of English country style. If this is the best, I would hate to see the worst. I don't think readers that want to explore English country should start with this book. It might turn them off. However, long-time fans of tradional and country styles might derive more benefit.

I am an interior decorator, and this book has wonderful suggestions for the beginner and seasoned pro. I abosolutely loved the ideas, and I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in decorating!

Having seen interior shots of homes decorated by the late Roger Banks-Pye I was quite keen to see a collected body of his work. It was as impressive as I thought it would be. Quirky - yes, inspiring - definitely, Banks-Pye would have gone on to be one of the major names in decorating and design. From his unique treatment of his apartment (formerly owned by Somerset Maugham) to his signature blue and white style found in his country home, everything about Interior Inspirations merely made one want to see more of his design principles. A very good idea source, and sadly, the sole compendium of Banks-Pye's work. Don't miss this classic if you like rooms that are warm, inviting, and eccentrically eclectic!

Buyers who expect this book to describe wiring for completed homes are in for a rude surpise. This book details wiring for a home under **construction**. But the other details like photographs and description are excellent.

I purchased this book at the same time that I purchased Black and Decker's THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO HOME WIRING, thinking that it would take me to the next level and provide me with additional information. In a nutshell it was merely an abridged version of the aforementioned book and added NO NEW information. It was easy to read, and easy to follow, but omitted some of the basic background information that their other book included. I think the novice home electrician could get by with either book, although I give the nod to the COMPLETE GUIDE..... as a more helpful and a more thorough instruction and reference book.

I won't repeat what other reviews had to say about this book. I agree, this is an excellent guidebook particularly the crystal clear circuit maps for common layouts which alone are worth the cost of the book. My book got damaged and I replaced it with B&D's other book, The Complete Guide to Home Wiring, which contains everything found in the Advanced Wiring book plus an additional section with info on basics, small repair projects, and material descriptions. Even if you already know most of this stuff there is always a few more tips you'll pickup by reading through it which I thought was worth the extra 10 bucks. The bottom line: B&D is superior guidebook for Home Wiring due to the comprehensive info they pack in plus tons of helpful photos. Only shortcomings are not enough explanation of grounding principles which I've found in other guides and would have like more tips for working on the service panel.

Somewhat disappointing, this book is not very cohesive. While some of what you need to know will be touched on eventually, the book uses a shotgun approach, hitting some parts of a subject and missing others. The book ends up more a showcse of some different types of trim, without really giving much good advice on how to actually select, cut, stain/paint, and install trim accurately. Check it out at a home store before purchasing.

I stumbled accross this book in my local woodworking store and bought it. The book is loaded with tips, detailed drawings, step by step instructions, and tons of great full color photos that have given me a lot of design ideas. I was so impressed with this book, that I am planning to buy a few more of the books in this series.

I loved this book. It's very helpful in planning, estimating, and installing molding. Unlike most finish carpentry books this book is beautifully illustrated with examples of moldings and decorative ideas. It is not an exhaustive example of molding styles - and I didn't expect it to be. What this book does well is explain how to make your rooms resemble the rooms in the book. If you are a do-it-yourselfer I'd highly recommend this book

I bought this book after reading the rave reviews and editorial, as I'm in the process of selling a home for the first time, and renovating 2 apartments to rent. I thought it would contain helpful tips on getting far better prices. Wrong! This book should have been called "Cleaning for Dummies, Lazy Teens & Completely Clueless Adults". It contains nothing but common-sense and the obvious.

The first 3 sections are insultingly simplistic, i.e., "the buyer will see your clutter", "clean the stove", a list for cleaning ("sponges, bucket, glass cleaner"). If you have to read that broken tiles, whether on the floor or bath, should be replaced prior to showing your home, and that you need to clean the windows, wash down cabinets and tighten loose doorknobs, I'm afraid that you have far worse problems than selling your home!

Section 4 basically tells you not to paint your kitchen orange and yellow, or your bedroom pink, but rather paint everything white, as a base for a buyer to use for "their" color, and so as not to distract from key features.

The 5th and last section is still more from the "Dummies" series... "don't display empty flowerboxes, put fresh flowers on the table, serve coffee, don't have blank walls yet don't display provocative, political or religious items, clear debris." I now know that I can make a living as a writer, with little effort, as this one does.

Basically, if you've ever rented a white-wall/beige-rug apartment in a complex, that's the look to which she's aspiring, perhaps adding a few no-controversy items from a mid-range hotel lobby, like a simple wreath or inobtrusive floral display...

I did and I made $66k MORE than I thought I would. I did everything I possibly could right down to how I folded my towels and sheets in the closets and decorating, that's right, decorating my outdated pantry to look quaint instead of old. My family said "we can't live like this" and I told them this isn't for living, this is for marketing! My husband was unemployed and I am a housewife so the only way I could generate income for my family was by maximizing my profit from my home. I did, with this book.

I have no immediate plans to sell my house, but I bought this book anyway. I'm following the author's suggestions and I'm very pleased with the results.

If I need to move, I'll already have myself positioned to list my house quickly. If I stay where I am, I will still have a nicer looking home. By taking care of the small things now, I won't have as much stress down the road.

Don't think that dressing your house for success is "fast" process, as the title implies. Some of us just don't have the time to get everything done in a short time frame. Still, this book has a lot to offer, and when I'm ready to sell I'll be very glad I read it.

The author covers many different systems for making a house "work" physically and spiritually, but not in any real depth. The book's focus is extremely broad. Despite the reference in the title, the witchcraft angle is downplayed quite a bit, as there are numerous Christian references. I'm sure this gives the book wider sales appeal, but at the expense of providing a detailed treatment on any topic. It would make a cute housewarming gift, maybe, but buy books which specifically cover Feng Shui, herb lore, candle magick, etc if you want in-depth information. Cunningham's "The Magical Household" is a better bet if you're looking for general information on how to make your house a magickal home.

House Magic: The Good Witch's Guide to Bringing Grace to Your Space is one of those indispensable little books that includes a wealth of wisdom. Author Ariana says that "there is such a diversity of information available from different sources and traditions that I thought an eclectic collection of ideas would help readers take control of their lives by getting their houses in order."

Although the focus is on living space, getting a house in order also puts a life in good order. Ariana includes lots of suggestions, but emphasizes that what's important is developing awareness of who you are and learning to follow your own intuition in eliminating all forms of clutter from your life.

She describes how to use techniques such as astrology, feng shui, plants, crystals, candles, and incense to create a harmonious environment full of positive energy. Each chapter ends with a section called "Bringing It All Together," which outlines the highlights of that chapter for quick reference.

Ariana reminds people that the first step is to know what they want. That puts them on the road to achieving it. Then they can use whatever seems right for bringing in the positive energy needed for turning dreams into reality.

"House Magic shows readers how to design their homes to fulfill personal needs and master the ability to display their own uniqueness using their homes as a medium." Anyone desiring to create that "perfect space" will discover that Ariana has provided an essential reference for choosing the best way to produce a "vibrant castle of creativity and warmth."

A simple, well-written little book that's not just for witches! Written with humor and intelligence, it offers practical advice, not just folklore. In fact, it deals far more with energy flow than with superstition. Excellent basic book for anyone who wants to go beyond the basic happy home books out there.

Having enjoyed many of Lillian Too's books, I bought this one as soon as it was released. What a disappointment and what confusion! The book wasn't sequenced well and it was hard to know what to focus on in order to understand flying star feng shui. Too many concepts were included that could have been tabled for another book. I hope the Skinner book is more systematic in its approach so I can learn flying star feng shui.

This is a great instructional book in both content and structure.

Being involved in professional training myself (non-Feng Shui related), I can verify (from a trainers perspective) that it is effective for individual home-study and that the structure, content, language, examples and review questions are all aligned with its prime purpose: to provide practical education- a how-to-do-it-yourself guide for individuals.

The course is applicable to evaluating a house (or apartment); its location, its structure and floorplan. It then teaches you how to arrange the rooms and interior features and when/how to apply enhansing features or protective ones. This is what many other Feng Shui books try to achieve yet fail, because they are not designed for effective learning (i.e. a book can be excellent in presenting a theory yet very poor as a training manual). This is what makes Wong's book trully superior to other books.

Thus, if you are more interested in the history and philosophy of Feng Shui this is not the book; for this buy her previous book.

Highly recommended.

This is THE reference book for Feng-Shui to date. A Master Course in Feng-Shui is thick, heavy and not diluted in any way just to make it user friendly. If you are into serious Feng-Shui this book has to be in your library as a comprehensive reference book.

The first time I read the Yellow Wallpaper I was struck by the sheer force the words have on the reader. Perkins Gillman plays a mind game with her words, and the reader is made to join her sense of imagination. I first read it for a literature class, and each of the students in the class had a different interpretation of the story. This seemed extremely effective - it had made all of us think, and imagine. It had made is not just analyze the words, but it made us become a part of the story.I myself felt that the woman in the story was quite amazing - there were two men in her life, her husband and her brother both doctors by profession who were most incensitive to her needs. As can be expected of that time period, they were more interested in the norms of society, and were not going to allow the woman to act contrary to the norm. She however, was not about to give up on behalf of the norm. She was going to fight to the very end, and it felt almost as though she had liberated her own mind when she stopped seeing another woman in the wallpaper, but herself became one with it. Those of you who read this should also go ahead and read something on the author. It is a truely amazing story, and leaves plenty of room for the imagination. or. In one of her essays she talks of why she wrote this story.

This short story, based upon the author's own experiences, is a powerful tale of one intelligent woman's struggle with madness, the role of (married) women in society and family in the late 1800s, and how she copes with well-meaning but misguided relatives and their ideas of a woman's nature and abilities. Many consider it an early feminist novel, and I agree, although I would extend the author's message to any group that finds itself severely restricted by society's notions of appropriate behavior, goals, and the nature of the group.
The narrator of the story is, from a modern point of view, a normal, young, married woman who also has a desire to write. However, bound by Victorian mores and restrictions, this desire to write is deemed inappropriate at best and casts questions about her not fulfilling her (only) role as wife (and mother). She was only to focus her attention on "domestic" concerns (house, husband, children) and anything remotely intellectual was considered a threat to her sanity and her physical health. When she refuses to bow to society's (and her husband's) ideas of womanhood, she is confined to a room for COMPLETE rest (meaning NO mental stimulation of any kind, no reading, no writing). What makes matters worse is that her husband (a doctor) is also her jailer, and instead of truly understanding his wife as a human being, opts to follow society's standards instead of doing what is in the best interest of his wife (and her health, both physical and mental). Not surprisingly, she rebels a bit, and continues to write her thoughts in a journal, hiding the journal and pencil from her husband. When her deception is discovered, she is even more strictly confined than before, and denied contact with her children.
It is at this point that she begins her descent into madness--not from the desire to write and express her creativity, but from being denied an outlet for that creativity. She was not mad before she was prescribed complete rest, but rather the complete rest which caused her madness. She begins to imagine things (shapes, objects, animals, people) in the yellow wallpaper which covers the walls of the room to which she is confined. As more restrictions and controls are placed upon her, her imagination grows, until finally she strips the wallpaper to reach the figures, and is found by her husband, surely and completely mad.
I liked this story very much because the author conveyed the kind of dead lives many talented, creative women must have been forced to lead due to society's ideas of women and their abilities while fully backed by the medical profession. She clearly illustrates that in this instance, doctors and husbands do not know best, and that their very best intentions had the precise effect of bringing about the madness that they sought to cure. As I read the story, I wondered why her husband (and the doctor) were so blind as to the causes of her "nervous condition". It obviously was not working, and rather than demonstrating their intelligence by trying something else or, God forbid, asking her what she needed (a couple hours per day to devote to writing, a small thing indeed), continued along the same methods of treatment, only with more restrictions! The social commentary and the commentary on the status of women in society and in their own families is handled in an effective way by the author, not only in her prose but in the development of the characters and the storyline. It is a most persuasive plea of the basic idea of feminism--that women are people too, with talents and abilities outside of their roles as wives and mothers that deserve an opportunity to be developed. In reading this story, I am amazed by how far we as a society have come in changing our views of women, and yet by how much further we have to go. I highly recommend this book.
This book was also made into a show that aired on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre in the late 1980s. I have not been able to find a copy of the program, but remember that it was well-produced and faithful to the story.

This book truly captures the constraints felt by so many women, both in Perkins' time and in our own. She is able to touch on a very sensitive subject with amazing poetic prose. The fact that this book was written in the nineteenth century makes it all the more remarkable!

Kerri McCaffety's lovely book provides locals and visitors alike the opportunity to glimpse the mystery and beauty behind the walls of the French Quarter. These beautiful homes reflect not only the talent of a wonderful photographer, but also the artistry, imagination and love of the homes' inhabitants. "The Majesty of the French Quarter" thoroughly captures the diverse styles and influences that make the homes in the French Quarter so exciting and unique. In fact, this diversity mirrors the many cultural influences that make the city of New Orleans a place like no other.

Ms. McCaffety's photographs display a very keen eye for detail; however, the same cannot be said of the accompanying text. In future editions, it would be wonderful if all owners' names were spelled correctly. Additionally, these beautiful homes deserve to be identified by their correct names. Although the numerous errors do not detract from the visual beauty of the book, "The Majesty of the French Quarter" would certainly be enhanced by the correction of these inaccuracies. The wonderful people who opened their homes to Kerri and to all readers deserve nothing less.

I couldn't wait to receive my copy of "The Majesty of the French Quarter" and it is everything I had hoped for and more. I've traveled to many cities in the United States through the years but I keep going back to New Orleans. The French Quarter is a magical place where you can be anybody you want to be. While walking through "The Quarter", I've always strained to get a glimpse of what's behind the doors people are opening. I've seen crystal chandeliers and antiques for a second, until the doors close again. This book has allowed me to see beyond the doorsteps, into beautiful homes and courtyards, as if I'd been allowed a private tour. Whenever I need a "Big Easy" fix, I can settle into a cozy chair, light a fire in the fireplace, and read this book ... until my next trip back.

Having been raised in New Orleans over 40 years ago, it's thrilling to see a new perpsective of the beautiful "old haunts". Visitors to the French Quarter rarely ever glimpse the magnificent beauty to behold. This book guides the reader through a fabulous tour of private and public places, with a fresh vision of their intrigue. Kerri has really captured the visual magic and splendor which is so hard to describe; but, seeing is believeing! Exquisite gift to all, Kerri!