Reviews for Apartment Therapy's Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces

The average rating for Apartment Therapy's Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-09-02 00:00:00 Boris Jolin Ahhh, the newest from the Apartment Therapy family. And how sweet of my public library to make it available to me in such a timely manner. I love you, Public Library. The Good: There is a focus on basic concepts in a way that makes them seem accessible. It is not totally dependent on expensive, hard-to-find high design pieces. The rooms are not totally dependent on custom architecture, although some of them do have architect-driven solutions to their space challenges. For example -- if you like the way a room looks, you can identify the key features of that room, e.g. "contrasting paint on the ceiling" or "built-in workspace in a cabinet" or "recessed lighting." If you have a hard time figure out what it is that you like about rooms you're drawn to, this is helpful. There is a useful index and resource list with sources, shopping resources, and basic pieces. The photos are beautiful, big enough, clear and bright. The accompanying text curates the photos well. Each section isn't totally focused on the homeowner. The book is divide by types of rooms / spaces (entrances, kitchens, dining rooms, living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, offices, children's rooms) The Bad: Do you think it's really true that all the people who have cool small spaces are artists and designers? The book gave me that impression. I was not sure if mere mortals could aspire to what they had accomplished. Just because you can find a friend who's a carpenter/metalworker/architect/contractor who helped create custom built-in shelving and a lofted bedroom in your warehouse space does not mean that is a realistic budget conscious measure for most people. But overall, I like this book and thought it escaped some of the more difficult challenges of interior design books.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-06-06 00:00:00 khathmony keo This is more of a Lookbook; there's no way anyone making under 100K is going to be able to make these apartments liveable. That said, there were some interesting design ideas and spatial arrangements that may be stolen to suit your needs. It's a shiny catalog, and tries to keep the handy poor-man tips subsumed under glossy upper-west-side hipness--but if you can ignore the price tags, you'll get some good tips.