Free Downloads 500 Cottages
The popularity of cottage style and cottage homes is thriving. A refreshing addition to the Home Design category. 500 Cottages is a collection of the facades of 500 cottages organized by styles, including English, storybook, bungalettes (mini bungalows), Victorian cottages, and casitas (Spanish-style cottages). There is one photo per page, with a caption identifying the location of the homes. 500 Cottages features high-quality photography at a point-of-purchase price.
Paperback: 509 pages
Publisher: Taunton Press (October 1, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1561588431
ISBN-13: 978-1561588435
Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1 x 4.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #964,765 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #213 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography & Video > Architectural > Houses & Hotels #277 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Home Improvement & Design > Small Homes & Cottages #1476 in Books > Arts & Photography > Architecture > Buildings > Residential
Wow... well I must say that I really feel "taken"!! Both Taunton Press and Keister have done excellent work in the past, so I did not think twice about purchasing the book... Unfortunately I did not pay attention to the SIZE! I fully expected this to be a picture book because that was how it was advertised. But I assumed it would be 8"x10" like similar Taunton publications. Did it do what it set out to do? Yes. It is a picture book about cottages. I did not expect the book to be 5" x 6" -- less than half the size of normal books. This is a "post card book". Buyer Beware-- This book is tiny!
Yes! Can you imagine, a picture book of "cottages" and it is riddled with filler pictures. There are pictures of houses that are much to large for "cottage" definition, there are pictures of structures that have none to very little moldings or marks of even being close to "cottage" and I have to say that although I am not familiar with this photographer- he must have gone through his stack of mediocre leftovers and stuck them into this collection. There is even a picture of a row of houses that look like projects. Cottages by the Sea is a much better book. I will do more research on Douglas Keister but from what I have seen thus far, I will not be promoting him to any of my cottage fanatic friends. This guy does not know the first thing about cottages and I even believe I could have done a much better job myself with a collection of TRUE cottages and my digital camera. Maybe I will. I give this a 2.5.
This is a small book with a lot of delightful images. To me it feels like sitting down in Doug Keister's studio and rummaging through a box of photos. The houses aren't in order so if you see one you like, you may come across it again from a different angle in a hundred pages. It's an eclectic group ranging from gingerbread to the stone extravaganzas of Earl Young in Charlevoix, MI."500 Cottages" is short on text (and context) but it doesn't claim to be a comprehensive history. It's reasonably priced eye candy, the sort of thing one can set out that guests will grab and page through. It afforded me considerable pleasure and quite a few smiles of recognition as I flipped the pages from one enticing photo to the next. I'd been to his site at and enjoyed a chance to see excellent photos that didn't make it into his book projects---this (and "500 Bunglaows") is a more portable way to look at them.Keister's outtakes beat most architectural photographer's best work.
Absolutely a ripoff. 500 pictures of fronts of houses. I doubt if the author has one photo release on one picture. Drive down a city street with old houses and get your own pictures. No plans, no interiors, just drivebys.
If you've bought an old cottage-type house and need to get ideas for paint schemes, this book is a gold mine. It would also be a great resource for those who want to replace missing architectural details and have no way to know what the original looked like (so restoration per se isn't possible, but you want to do something "period" that will fit in).I bought this postcard-sized book in a bookstore, so I wasn't surprised by its size. What sold it to me was that I grew up in one of those Minneapolis "cottages," so leafing through it made me homesick. I'm glad these beautifully-crafted homes are finally being appreciated. Ours was small (960 square feet on the ground floor) but it was all we needed--or wanted. I'd move back in tomorrow if I could.
When will I learn to read reviews before ordering a book??? When I ordered 500 Cottages, I was expecting pictures of - well - 500 cottages. Instead there are some cottages mixed in with many other small houses that lack the quaintness found in a cottage. To me, small doesn't make it a cottage! The photos in the book are good quality & many of the houses are noteworthy - but many should not have made the cut. I could walk around Indy's prime older neighborhoods & find 500 better houses to photograph. Douglas Keister deinitely should have traveled to more areas of the country to get a better variety of photos. The consolation is the book was only $5.00 plus shipping.
Of all the recent books on cottages available, this is the worst purchase we have made. The graphics are poor. Very few selected homes are inspiring. The homes tend to be geographically concentrated, which is unfortunate considering the span of cottages across the nation to choose from.
This collection of outstanding photography of eclectic houses will take you out of your living room and offer you a stroll through the scenery.
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