Home Design, Decorating and Repair
This page contains information on home design, decorating and repair.
If you have comments, or would like to contribute information to this site, please send an email to wisdomtoshare@kittyco.net.
HOUSE PLANS OF THE ‘20’s AND 30’s
Small Houses of the Twenties: The Sears, Roebuck 1926 House Catalog, published by Dover Publications.
This is an unabridged republication of the 1926 Sears house catalog. Each model includes a drawing of the finished house and a floor plan. Prices range from under $1000 to slightly over $2000. Labor and materials typically doubled the cost, which made building a Sears house of that time slightly less expensive than building a house today!
In the 1920’s and 1930’s, Sears Roebuck and Co. sold “homes in a box”. You ordered the particular style of home you wanted (from the Sears catalog) and all of the pre-cut pieces were shipped to you by rail. Then you hired a local crew to put the house together for you, or did it yourself. Many of these houses still exist in neighborhoods across America that were once served by rail lines.
Not So Big Solutions for your Home, by Sarah Susanka, and Outside the Not So Big House: Creating the Landscape of Home, by Julie Moir Messervy and Sarah Susanka
Sarah Susanka has written a series of books on designing spaces to maximize their usefulness and ascetics. My favorites are the ones listed here, one for inside, and one for outside. The book for outside gives information on how to extend your home into the outside and bring the outside in.
Dare to Repair - Do It Herself Guide to Fixing (Almost) Anything in the Home, by Julie Sussman and Stephanie Glakas-Tenet
Tips for people who aren’t naturally inclined to tinker, but have no choice. Simple easy-to-follow instructions for fixing problems with the plumbing, electricity, appliances, windows, walls, doors, etc.
DESIGN SOLUTIONS FOR THE HOME
HOME MAINTENANCE
FENG SHUI
Feng Shui is “the art of adapting the residence of the living and the dead so as to cooperate and harmonize with the local currents of the cosmic breath” (Chatley). Or, “Feng Shui is the interconnected relationships between Heaven, Humanity and Earth...” (Jeannie Marie Tower). Feng Shui incorporates the Tao, Chi, Yin and Yang and the five elements of Wood, Fire, Water, Metal and Earth to improve the ability to live harmoniously with the environment.
The Feng Shui Bagua is a grid that you can lay over your property, your house, or a room to determine what physical areas of your house affect the areas of your life. By clearing clutter in a physical area, you free energy to flow more easily in that area of your life.
DECORATING
The House in Good Taste,
by Elsie De Wolfe
In the 20’s and 30’s, anyone who was anybody in New York had their house designed by Elsie De Wolfe. Her book was first published in 1914, a compilation of her articles in newspapers and magazines of the time. Her style is light and airy, a reaction to the Victorian style that had been popular earlier in the century. She created the occupation of interior decorator and thrived during the Art Deco era.
In the Pink: Dorothy Draper Americas Most Fabulous Decorator, by Carleton Varney
Written by her protege, this book illustrates designs by Dorothy Draper, who in the 1930’s shocked the design world with her use of bold colors and patterns in furniture, fabric and wall paper designs.
Jeannie Marie Tower’s website
www.fengshuimagic.com
OTHER LINKS:
AFFILIATE LINKS:
amazon.com
Apartment Living: Stylish Decorating Ideas for Apartments, Lofts and Duplexes, by Caroline Clifton-Mogg
This book was inspired by her own move to an apartment after a lifetime in houses.
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