Good House Cheap House: Adventures in Creating an Extraordinary Home at an Everyday Price

By Kira Obolensky

The 27 homes in "Good House Cheap House" prove that good design doesn't have to cost a fortune. What goes into making a good, cheap house? As writer Kira Obolensky discovers, there are three main ingredients: adventuresome homeowners who are actively involved; cutting-edge architects and designers who can solve tough design challenges; and an array of innovative uses of materials. Industrial bridge washers make for gorgeous mantelpiece rosettes, old concrete subflooring is given new life with rich-hued stain, and glass sliding doors make for windows that are oversized and affordable.
From a Texas farmhouse to a loft in St. Paul, to a prefab cabin on the Wisconsin prairie, these houses, in which anyone would feel at home, display a wonderful mix of design smarts and budget savvy. ""Good House Cheap House" is chock full of great ideas and creative solutions for those of us on a budget-but even the less financially-challenged can learn a thing or two about stylish and innovative design."
--Charles Burbridge, designer, HGTV's "Design on a Dime" "The cookie-cutter house trend has been around long enough. With its outside-the-box ideas and great resources, "Good House Cheap House" proves you can build a unique space without emptying your bank account."
--Amber Jones, Editor, "do Magazine"

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1561587524
• ISBN13: 9781561587520
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Taunton Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 2.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 8.7" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Good House Cheap House Great Book

This is a lovely book both in its content and its presentation. Each of the homes selected has unique, intriguing features, about which Obolensky writes with flair and enthusiasm. The writing style is uniformly crisp and elegant; and the content moves at a lively pace between different interesting details in different houses. The photographs are gorgeous, showing a variety of perspectives in beautiful light. The presentation and organization (choices of colors for borders, varying the shapes of photos, written inserts) are also visually pleasing and inviting. It is a great coffee table book, but it is not just a "picture book". It provides useful information, in that it provides examples of inexpensive, creative ways to improve our own living spaces - useful, especially, to those of us who are not so creative ourselves. The optimistic message is that almost any house can be made "good".

Buy It

I loved this book. The author brings an artist's eye to her subject of beautiful, yet affordable homes. Although it can double as a coffee table book, once you pick it up you will be instantly inspired by the myriad possiblities for your own home--possibilities that just might be within your reach. Obolensky clearly knows her subject matter. Perhaps she'll turn her talents to television home remodeling and let me be her first client.

The Generous House

I read the "Homes" section of our paper every week, and I am very tired of the cookie-cutter mentality in building. While it serves the purpose of providing shelter, most new home designs in the economic middle-range lack any vision beyond the two-car garage and a big entryway. Obolensky's newest book has more diverse design ideas packed in to it than any other publication of its kind. It serves up a tremendous collection of current building practices and materials. Obolensky clearly respects the ability of the imagination to find new forms in the house. This book is a great place to start generating your own ideas about how to shape the spaces you live in.

This is the home building book I have been waiting for!

I truly loved this book. It is inspiring and opened my thinking to a number of possibilities that I thought I would never be able to afford. The book shows that smart architecture and great design is within reach. It is beautiful to look at, extremely well written and informative. I particularly enjoyed seeing a range of homes and new housing ideas from all over the country. After I finished the first read I keep picking it up and finding new things.

A great resource and read

This book is one that really changes the notion of what we think we've got to have in our houses--I loved these spaces, they are funky, modern, traditional and cool--and they make me believe again in just good ol plain resourcefulness. good message, beautiful photos, great book.