Make Your House Do the Housework

Rating:
Summary: Yuck!!
Review: I am all in favor of a simple, clutter free and low maintenance house, but really! This book should have a subtitle, "How to build a sterile, ugly house" or perhaps, "How to make your house even less appealing than a hospital waiting room." This book with tell you how to avoid any and all dust traps, like comfy furniture, artwork, or architectural features. It's great if you want your living room to look like the set of Star Trek, but not so great if you want you home to be . . . well . . .a HOME!

Rating:
Summary: Yuck!!
Review: I am all in favor of a simple, clutter free and low maintenance house, but really! This book should have a subtitle, "How to build a sterile, ugly house" or perhaps, "How to make your house even less appealing than a hospital waiting room." This book with tell you how to avoid any and all dust traps, like comfy furniture, artwork, or architectural features. It's great if you want your living room to look like the set of Star Trek, but not so great if you want you home to be . . . well . . .a HOME!

Rating:
Summary: Designing a new home
Review: I just read this book, and I can't say enough good things about it! I love a clean home, but hate housework, so every time I do housework now I think how much easier it would be, using Don and Laura's guidelines. My husband and I are currently designing a new home and we're implementing dozens of the suggestions outlined in the book... they just all make so much sense! If we were planning on staying in our current home I'd insist on changing many of its features to be lower maintenance. I can't wait for the day in our new home when I think, gee, housework is almost fun now!

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite books
Review: I wish the concept of low maintainance living was a genre onto itself. But so far this and "Ergonomic Living" seem to be the only books that embrace this practical concept. I think most people wouldn't use all the ideas Anslett suggests (like suspended furniture, toilets, etc), but this book makes you keep maintainance in mind before you make any design purchase. Now when I see people who choose to have white floors or furniture or tons of "accessories", I am not impressed with the beauty, I'm thinking of what a hassle it must be to keep it that pristine. I think the part of the book that most sticks out in my mind is a cartoon he puts in the introduction. It shows two neighbors, one with a fancy Victorian house and landscaping. The other with a spare and simple house. The owners of the fancy house are spending their day painting, pruning, fixing and cleaning. Whereas the owners of the simple house are spending family time together playing. That is the reason I bought this book. I enjoy a clean house, but I don't want to sacrifice time with my family to keep it looking impressive for others. I highly recommend this book, but wish it was updated for all the newest innovations that have recently come out.

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite books
Review: I wish the concept of low maintainance living was a genre onto itself. But so far this and "Ergonomic Living" seem to be the only books that embrace this practical concept. I think most people wouldn't use all the ideas Anslett suggests (like suspended furniture, toilets, etc), but this book makes you keep maintainance in mind before you make any design purchase. Now when I see people who choose to have white floors or furniture or tons of "accessories", I am not impressed with the beauty, I'm thinking of what a hassle it must be to keep it that pristine. I think the part of the book that most sticks out in my mind is a cartoon he puts in the introduction. It shows two neighbors, one with a fancy Victorian house and landscaping. The other with a spare and simple house. The owners of the fancy house are spending their day painting, pruning, fixing and cleaning. Whereas the owners of the simple house are spending family time together playing. That is the reason I bought this book. I enjoy a clean house, but I don't want to sacrifice time with my family to keep it looking impressive for others. I highly recommend this book, but wish it was updated for all the newest innovations that have recently come out.

Rating:
Summary: Well worth your money and time!
Review: I wound up taking 11 pages of notes from this book! We are currently in the process of building our home and I found the ideas in the book to be exceptional. No, I didn't agree with every single one of them but a good 90% worked for our family. I don't know of any other book that addresses every single area of the home and its many uses. Our new home will be much more functional thanks to this book. I highly recommend it and have already loaned mine to an interested friend. You can use this for existing homes as well. The ideas are timeless.

Rating:
Summary: Good advice with a practical basis.
Review: Obviously no book about decorating/renovating is a bible. Everything is not going to be to your taste; everything will not be practical for you. But this book has a lot of sound advice on what materials and items last longest and are the least work to maintain. Our house is only in the planning stages, but this book has already taught us a lot. My parents followed its advice with the remodel of their bathroom and are so pleased at the low-maintenance results that they've requested a copy of their own for Christmas as a guide for doing the rest of the house.

The other book I'd recommend for people in the planning stages of a build or remodel is Ergonomic Living: How to Create a User-friendly Home and Office by Gordon Inkeles (ISBN 002093081X). Aslett shows you how to make things easy-care; Inkeles shows you how to make them comfortable and useful.

Rating:
Summary: Good advice with a practical basis.
Review: Obviously no book about decorating/renovating is a bible. Everything is not going to be to your taste; everything will not be practical for you. But this book has a lot of sound advice on what materials and items last longest and are the least work to maintain. Our house is only in the planning stages, but this book has already taught us a lot. My parents followed its advice with the remodel of their bathroom and are so pleased at the low-maintenance results that they've requested a copy of their own for Christmas as a guide for doing the rest of the house.

The other book I'd recommend for people in the planning stages of a build or remodel is Ergonomic Living: How to Create a User-friendly Home and Office by Gordon Inkeles (ISBN 002093081X). Aslett shows you how to make things easy-care; Inkeles shows you how to make them comfortable and useful.

Rating:
Summary: How to make your house do the housework
Review: Ought to be required reading for anyone building or remodeling their home. I used the guidelines for building our 5000 sq. ft home in Southern California; infact, I made my architect read it too. We have eight children, and our home gets just as dirty as anyone else's but it doesn't show thanks to Aslett's good sense recommendations.