The Life Of The House

Respected author and designer Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill’s newest book inspires us to incorporate time-tested design principles into modern living. A noted authority on period homes and historic styles, Henrietta Spencer-Churchill celebrates the life of great rooms over the years and the evolution of their architectural features and interior decoration. Featuring a stunning selection of historic homes in both England and the United States, The Life of the House reveals the best of architectural and furnishing details from the last three hundred years, with ideas on updating these spaces for modern times. The book is organized by room, including the living room, from formal reception rooms to the modern-day family room; the library, once a gentleman’s retreat and now often a home office or den; the dining room, once a formal status symbol, now frequently a casual open-plan room; and the kitchen, once a servants’ area, now a multifunctional family space. Chapters on creative modern uses of such traditional rooms as ballrooms and conservatories are also included. With photographs of exquisite interiors from every important historical period and Spencer-Churchill’s fascinating text revealing life behind the scenes in these houses, this book is filled with creative ideas on incorporating traditional style into contemporary settings.

‘I was born on 25th May, 1938, in the front bedroom of a house in Orton Road, a house on the outer edges of Raffles, a council estate. I was a lucky girl.’ So begins Margaret Forster’s journey through the houses she’s lived in, from that sparkling new council house, to her beloved London home of today. This is not a book about bricks and mortar though. This is a book about what houses are to us, the effect they have on the way we live our lives and the changing nature of our homes: from blacking grates and outside privies; to cities dominated by bedsits and lodgings; to the houses of today converted back into single dwellings. Finally, it is a gently insistent, personal inquiry into the meaning of home.

An affecting biography of the author of Anne of Green Gables is the first for young readers to include revelations about her last days and to encompass the complexity of a brilliant and sometimes troubled life. Once upon a time, there was a girl named Maud who adored stories. When she was fourteen years old, Maud wrote in her journal, “I love books. I hope when I grow up to be able to have lots of them.” Not only did Maud grow up to own lots of books, she wrote twenty-four of them herself as L. M. Montgomery, the world-renowned author of Anne of Green Gables. For many years, not a great deal was known about Maud’s personal life. Her childhood was spent with strict, undemonstrative grandparents, and her reflections on writing, her lifelong struggles with anxiety and depression, her “year of mad passion,” and her difficult married life remained locked away, buried deep within her unpublished personal journals. Through this revealing and deeply moving biography, kindred spirits of all ages who, like Maud, never gave up “the substance of things hoped for” will be captivated anew by the words of this remarkable woman.

Harold, author of several previous books, discusses the real world considerations of construction along with a brief history of architecture, while bringing a writer's sensibility to the challenges and details of his many projects. To build a house, to take control of this basic of life-it's a perennially compelling dream, appealing to the deepest part of us. Never more so than in the current housing crisis. "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach" -overcoming this proverbial putdown of the impracticality of academics, an English professor teaches himself carpentry renovating an old fixer-upper, and designs and builds a house, thereby dramatically re-directing the course of his life. Like Thoreau's WALDEN, whose spirit hovers over this book, LIFE AS A HOUSE brings a writer's sensibility to details of design and construction, including the human factors such as the price of home heating fuel, job insecurity, and unplanned parenthood . Told with poetry, humor and warmth, this is a story of personal transformation and of how the creative impulse gives meaning to life, with all the pleasures and inconveniences thereof. ABOUT THE AUTHOR BRENT HAROLD is a former professor of English, a columnist for the CAPE COD TIMES, and author of WELLFLEET AND THE WORLD and OWNING THE SIERRA NEVADA. Praise for OWNING THE SIERRA NEVADA "A wonderful book I loved it. I fell in love with the Sierra again sight unseen ... a grand writer " --Annie Dillard "A fascinating and compelling story, told with the same easy charm and intelligence that Harold brings to his newspaper columns. .." --CONTRA COSTA TIMES ..". an edgy West, the West of metaphor...a simple little book about decades of yearning." -LOS ANGELES TIMES Praise for WELLFLEET AND THE WORLD ..". uncommon wit and literary grace." -Robert Finch, author, THE CAPE ITSELF "Charming .... enticing." -Howard Zinn, A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF TH

An irresistible chronological overview of daily life in the presidential residence. Divided into 42 chapters representing each succeeding administration, this survey is brimming with fun facts, tantalizing tidbits, and memorable anecdotes detailing two centuries of domestic bliss and strife in the White House. From George Washington, who chose the sight and initiated work on the presidential mansion, to Bill Clinton, whose well-documented White House escapades titillated and scandalized the nation, each individual president has contributed to the mystique of the most readily recognized home in the U.S. Together with scores of drawings, portraits, and photographs, the breezy text chronicles the significant physical, social, and emotional changes wrought by each First Family as they sought to personalize daily life in the White House.

Winner of the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Creative Nonfiction From Chicago to Mexico, the places Sandra Cisneros has lived have provided inspiration for her now-classic works of fiction and poetry. But a house of her own, a place where she could truly take root, has eluded her. In this jigsaw autobiography, made up of essays and images spanning three decades-and including never-before-published work-Cisneros has come home at last. Written with her trademark lyricism, in these signature pieces the acclaimed author of The House on Mango Street and winner of the 2019 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature shares her transformative memories and reveals her artistic and intellectual influences. Poignant, honest, and deeply moving, A House of My Own is an exuberant celebration of a life lived to the fullest, from one of our most beloved writers.

A Real Simple Best Book of the Year A deeply moving story of an epic home renovation in the Pacific Northwest—from New York Times–bestselling author of The Scent Keeper In this mesmerizing memoir-in-essays, Erica Bauermeister renovates a trash-filled house in eccentric Port Townsend, Washington, and in the process takes readers on a journey to discover the ways our spaces subliminally affect us. A personal, accessible, and literary exploration of the psychology of architecture, as well as a loving tribute to the connections we forge with the homes we care for and live in, this book is designed for anyone who’s ever fallen head over heels for a house. It is also a story of a marriage, of family, and of the kind of roots that settle deep into your heart. Discover what happens when a house has its own lessons to teach in this moving and insightful memoir that ultimately shows us how to make our own homes (and lives) better. “ . . . for anyone who has wondered where home is and how to find it, fix it, love it, and leave it for later as well.” —Laurie Frankel, New York Times–bestselling author of This Is How It Always Is