The Brand New House Book

From the first vague ideas to the finished structure, building a brand-new house presents you with thousands of choices -- and possible pitfalls. Yet there's no single expert you can turn to at every stage and ask, "What do I do?" Until now. This definitive reference will help you: * Figure out how much house you need, and how much you can afford * Choose among types of builders, communities, and lots * Negotiate the offer, financing, contract, and closing * Assess options and upgrades -- which are worth it and which are not * Understand windows, flooring, kitchens, landscaping, and scores of other issues * Work with real-estate agents, architects, site superintendents, home inspectors, attorneys -- your whole team, which may consist of dozens of players The Brand-New House Book distills the most crucial advice from hundreds of experts -- from the broad strokes such as bankers on mortgages, interior designers on colors, or arborists on trees to fine-tuning such as cleaners on carpets, movers on staircases, or landscape architects on drainage, every issue is addressed. Thorough and authoritative, yet completely accessible, this book is the most valuable investment you can make to ensure that you bypass the potential nightmares and ultimately come home to the house of your dreams.

Through hundreds of inspiring photos and engaging text, the author describes what gives traditional homes their enduring appeal, and illustrates the creative work of builders who are forging the movement toward building new homes that capture old-home sensibility.

From the highly successful 150 Best series, the ultimate resource for single home buyers and owners, architects, developers, and designers, filled with contemporary, fresh ideas for sustainable construction and gorgeous interiors, vividly captured in hundreds of stunning four-color photographs. 150 Best All New House Ideas is a visually stunning look at the latest in innovative home construction and interior design. It brings together an extensive collection of single-family houses from all over the world, created by distinguished international architects and designers who have worked to achieve practical and functional solutions adapted to the specific needs and particular tastes of their clients. Each of the 150 houses profiled showcases the latest trends and up-to-date influences from around the world. The houses displayed come in all sizes, from mini cottages to multi-room manors. Taking advantage of technological advances in building and materials, all of these homes are beautiful and inviting as well as energy efficient and environmentally friendly. This beautiful compilation brings together the diversity of current trends in house design and is an inspirational source of ideas for homeowners and those considering buying, interior designers, builders, architects, lighting, textile, and furniture makers, and students.

A profusely illustrated guide to every aspect of decorating provides ideas and techniques for increasing the beauty and comfort of homes of all styles and sizes

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • From an award-winning journalist, a poignant and gripping immersion in the life of a young, homeless single mother amid her quest to find stability and shelter in the richest city in America LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/JEAN STEIN BOOK AWARD • “Riveting . . . a remarkable feat of reporting.”—The New York Times Camila is twenty-two years old and a new mother. She has no family to rely on, no partner, and no home. Despite her intelligence and determination, the odds are firmly stacked against her. In this extraordinary work of literary reportage, Lauren Sandler chronicles a year in Camila’s life—from the birth of her son to his first birthday—as she navigates the labyrinth of poverty and homelessness in New York City. In her attempts to secure a safe place to raise her son and find a measure of freedom in her life, Camila copes with dashed dreams, failed relationships, the desolation of abandonment, and miles of red tape with grit, humor, and uncanny resilience. Every day, more than forty-five million Americans attempt to survive below the poverty line. Every night, nearly sixty thousand people sleep in New York City-run shelters, 40 percent of them children. In This Is All I Got, Sandler brings this deeply personal issue to life, vividly depicting one woman's hope and despair and her steadfast determination to change her life despite the myriad setbacks she encounters. This Is All I Got is a rare feat of reporting and a dramatic story of survival. Sandler’s candid and revealing account also exposes the murky boundaries between a journalist and her subject when it becomes impossible to remain a dispassionate observer. She has written a powerful and unforgettable indictment of a system that is often indifferent to the needs of those it serves, and that sometimes seems designed to fail. Praise for This Is All I Got “A rich, sociologically valuable work that’s more gripping, and more devastating, than fiction.”—Booklist “Vivid, heartbreaking. . . . Readers will be moved by this harrowing and impassioned call for change.”—Publishers Weekly “A closely observed chronicle . . . Sandler displays her journalistic talent by unerringly presenting this dire situation. . . . An impressive blend of dispassionate reporting, pungent condemnation of public welfare, and gritty humanity.” —Kirkus Reviews

This Is Not a House takes a close look at spaces that reformulate the idea of what “home” means, in innovative houses in cities around the globe. This Is Not a House showcases recent projects that represent the vanguard of architects creating innovative spaces for living in the twenty-first century. Dan Rubinstein and the editors of the Amsterdam-based magazine have selected projects on five continents that will shape how we think of domestic life for a long time to come. Where the great experimenters of the last century were stripping away ornamentation and creating free-flowing spaces for the first time, today’s pioneers are researching the potential of new materials and techniques to push the boundaries of environmental sustainability, as well as creating new forms and bold, sophisticated explorations in the adaptive reuse of spaces originally designed for any number of other purposes. This Is Not a House presents the latest built residential projects by such design luminaries as Sou Fujimoto, Plasma Studio, and Michael Maltzan, as well as emerging ones such as Johan Selbing, among others, in an array of locations across the globe, including New York, London, Los Angeles, and Tokyo.

Set in the neighbourhood of “Little Jamaica,” Frying Plantain follows a girl from elementary school to high school graduation as she navigates the tensions between mothers and daughters, second-generation immigrants experiencing first-generation cultural expectations, and Black identity in a predominantly white society. Kara Davis is a girl caught in the middle — of her North American identity and her desire to be a “true” Jamaican, of her mother and grandmother’s rages and life lessons, of having to avoid being thought of as too “faas” or too “quiet” or too “bold” or too “soft.” In these twelve interconnected stories, we see Kara on a visit to Jamaica, startled by the sight of a severed pig’s head in her great-aunt’s freezer; in junior high, the victim of a devastating prank by her closest friends; and as a teenager in and out of her grandmother’s house, trying to cope with ongoing battles of unyielding authority. A rich and unforgettable portrait of growing up between worlds, Frying Plantain shows how, in one charged moment, friendship and love can turn to enmity and hate, well-meaning protection can become control, and teasing play can turn to something much darker.

Leading art collector Chara Schreyer's forty-year collaboration with interior designer Gary Hutton has produced five residences designed to house 600 works of art, including masterpieces by Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol, Donald Judd, Louise Nevelson, Diane Arbus, and Frank Stella. Art House takes readers on a breathtaking visual tour of these stunning spaces, which range from an architectural tour-de-force to a high-rise "gallery as home." An exploration of a life devoted to living with art and to designing homes that honor it, this title is an inspiration for art and design lovers alike.