Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 728.373 EAN: 9780609606285 ISBN: 060960628X Label: Clarkson Potter Manufacturer: Clarkson Potter Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 192 Publication Date: 2003-02-25 Publisher: Clarkson Potter Release Date: 2003-02-25 Studio: Clarkson Potter
If you grew up in postwar America, chances are you lived in or next to a ranch-style house. And the things we loved about ranches when we liked Ike are still attractive—perhaps more so—today: the liberation that comes with open-plan living, the casual feel of easy kitchen access, the comfort of having bedrooms and children near at hand, the convenience of one-level living, and the everyday luxury of smooth indoor-outdoor flow. So it’s no surprise that the ranch is in style again—and this book showcases the best of it. Whether that style is the mid-century modern of Corbusier and the Eameses, or the cross-cultural awareness of the sixties, or the Pop Art and plastic of the seventies, Ranch House Style offers inspiration and instruction on re-creating these looks in your own home.
But this book isn’t just for style mavens with professional decorators. Because if there’s any one completely American, democratic architectural style, it’s the ranch house. Ranches, in all their glory (and sometimes utter lack of it), are everywhere, usually affordable, just waiting for the right shag carpet to restore their hipness, the right flea-market find to liven up that patio. And Ranch House Style shows how—with examples of the ranch’s flexibility for any decorating style, from Victorian and French Country to thoroughly contemporary, from primary homes in the suburbs to vacation getaways on the shore, from vintage gems to newly built originals. It also shows how to solve the special challenges that come with one-story living in a decades-old house, including how to expand into today’s more spacious footprints, how to renovate for modern amenities, and how best to use the ranch’s typically large plot of land.
Remarkably, there hasn’t been a book on ranches available in decades. Despite the millions that exist across the entire country, the ranch has been ignored by the high-design community. To address that insult to ranch lovers, Ranch House Style also includes thoroughly researched, authoritative material on the style’s history, sociological context, architects, designers, and furniture. This is a serious work that stands alone in its field, in addition to being a beautiful, inspirational, and practical decorating book.
So come visit the ranch—both the remarkably familiar and the strikingly original, from modest to luxurious, in styles from charming to mod—available in neighborhoods everywhere, here showing in all its coolness.
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Practical and Inspiring - Great value Comment: Buying a second book for friends moving into a house needing an overhaul. Every page full in useful ideas and good taste in whatever your era. Customer Rating: Summary: Great remodeling ideas in here! Comment: A keeper, this coffee table book has some great architectural ideas in it. Like, page after page. If you live in or are thinking about buying one of America's [so-called] boring, brick (or non-brick) ranches, this book has a wealth of ideas, many quite delicious.
The book doesn't just stick with atomic, Eames era decorating, but also shows homes decorated in Mexican, Victorian, French, etc. Customer Rating: Summary: Ranch Renovations - Big Time Comment: My purpose in purchasing the book was to get some idea of the style of ranch home architecture. I really did not get that. It is a very interesting book of ranch style homes that have been transformed by renovation. In many cases even the skeleton of the old house has been changed so much that it gives the appearence of a new species.
The photography is of a high quality, and the lay out is nice. It led me to contemplate a range of possibities for my 50 year old rancher. Customer Rating: Summary: A perfect book for the ranch house owner! Comment: This book is chock full of ideas for reinventing a ranch house. It includes an interesting history section with alot of original information. It's fun to look through and it's been helpful to me.
I highly recommend it! Customer Rating: Summary: Beautiful Ranch Comment: Gives alternatives to "dressing-up" a ranch home. More of a coffee table book, which will make you proud to live in a ranch home.
