I guess since I have lived in New England my whole life, I have developed a fondness for antique New England homes. I love driving through older neighborhoods and looking at all the old houses – there were plenty in the coastal town I grew up in and we even sometimes took walking tours through them as class field trips! So when I saw that there was a book devoted to not only the homes but barns I had to check it out. It goes through the history and how a lot of people moved to New England from [old] England and brought with them the traditions of building. I looove looking at all the pictures – any house that looks like Snow White might haved lived in it is awesome to me. It talks about how the style of the homes and how they were built was dictated by the climate. The book also talks a bit about how to restore an antique home with a lot of great information for anyone who might be tackling this project. It lets you know what to look for when looking for a plumber, what to salvage and “The Rs” that you need to know to fix up an older home.
In addition to getting to see some really cool photos of antique homes I learned a lot. I am not sure I am going to run out and buy an old home to remodel and renovate (though I wish I could afford to) but should I win the lottery, I certainly would be on the right track with what to do after reading this book! (And for a music connection, there’s even a chapter on Daryl Hall of Hall and Oates and how he transplanted and renovated 2 homes into one!)
I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.
About the Book
There is something about antique homes and their hard-working barns that captures the imagination. Maybe it’s their pleasing proportions, maybe they remind us of a simpler time, or maybe we sense that these venerable old survivors that were built when our country was young have seen it all. But how many of us have bothered to listen to the stories they tell or tried to understand what makes them tick? This book reveals the essence of antique New England homes and barns—their history, the people who built them, why they were built that way, and how to restore them, piece by piece, without losing their character. Learn to identify architectural styles from different periods, how to strategize a restoration, and how to approach it systematically, from the timber frame to the floors, walls, and ceilings, windows and doors, wiring, finishes, and landscaping.