Rating: 
Summary: Inspiring!
Review: "The real beauty of these houses lies in the casual, relaxed vacation lifestyle they inspire..." Casual and relaxed...? Vacation lifestyle...?
I ordered this book, expecting it to relax me with images of quiet weekend getaways, tucked snugly among a grove of trees or a cottage on a windswept beach, as the cover and title "Weekend Houses" would suggest.
Instead, it is a collective of million-dollar-plus manses, smugly over-decorated and far more complex than most homes. It screams at you with excruciating 'style' and manufactured charm. I'd be afraid to even arrive in jeans, much less put my feet up.
Here's a challenge--try and find just one that wasn't built or renovated by a metro-turbo doctor, lawyer or television executive. (Of course, lengthy bios are included of each owner--do we care?)...
It's gorgeous photography and the settings are admittedly beautiful, but unfortunately these "Weekend Houses" read exactly like most of their settings--stilted and inaccessible.
Rating: 
Summary: Casual & Relaxed...?
Review: "The real beauty of these houses lies in the casual, relaxed vacation lifestyle they inspire..." Casual and relaxed...? Vacation lifestyle...? I ordered this book, expecting it to relax me with images of quiet weekend getaways, tucked snugly among a grove of trees or a cottage on a windswept beach, as the cover and title "Weekend Houses" would suggest. Instead, it is a collective of million dollar plus manses, smugly over-decorated and far more complex and most homes. It screams at you with excruciating 'style' and manufactured charm. I'd be afraid to even arrive in jeans, much less put my feet up. Here's a challenge--try and find just one that wasn't built or revovated by a metro-turbo doctor, lawyer or television executive. (Of course, lengthy bios are included of each owner--do we care?)... It's gorgeous photography and the settings are admittedly beautiful, but unfortunately these "Weekend Houses" read exactly like most of their settings--stilted and inaccessible.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: A book to dream on. Beautiful and offbeat vacation houses. Lovely photographs and a lively and readable text. More fun than a year's subscription to Architectural Digest.
Rating:
Summary: Great weekend reading
Review: A book to dream on. Beautiful and offbeat vacation houses. Lovely photographs and a lively and readable text. More fun than a year's subscription to Architectural Digest.
Rating:
Summary: The Weekend Lifestyle
Review: A great variety of getaways all over the US and Canada. Full of images of why people go where they go for the weekend.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: I like seeing homes from so many diverse areas. I also highly recommend another new book called Second Home. Second Home also has "virtual tours" of homes around the country, as well as great tips on making your own second home dream come true. Second Home goes beyond the stories of the homeowners to offer ideas I can use. Yet it's a dream book, too.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Photographs
Review: I love this book. The photography is beautifully done and it makes you realize what you are missing if you don't have a weekend retreat. It's a great coffee table book, as it's wonderful to pick it up for a few minutes, look at the lovely houses and read about the owners. A very cheerful elegant book, makes me think of summer even on the wettest days.
Rating:
Summary: wondreful
Review: I loved this book! the text is great, and the pictures were wonderful. penelope rowlands is my hero
Rating:
Summary: The last reviewer was wrong!
Review: The last reviewer had it wrong! This isn't a just-for-the-rich type book at all. Quite the opposite. There are lots of examples in it of weekend places that are fun but not grand, as well as ones that are palatial and wonderful in that way, too. There's a prefab cabin and several very artistic-looking shacks. The author says in the introduction that style is "pleasingly democratic." So is this book, which is a real winner, complete with gorgeous photographs and lots of ideas for homeowners. The sailboat-house and sleeping porch, to name just two great structures in here, are really inspiring.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring!
Review: This book is an inspiring source of ideas. Loved it!
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