[.uk] In the Arts & Crafts Style

Excellent entry point into Arts and Crafts Movement:
An arts and crafts website recommended this book as the place for beginners in the movement. Following their lead, we purchased the book and have not regretted it. The advice is true. This is excellent background for the movement, giving it a skeleton which can be used to hang more and more on, including sources, wonderful photographical examples, and resources. We're finding it is desirable and so, so useful to restoring our bungalow to have a wealth of books on hand such as these to give ideas for restoration and decorating.

A very strong four and a half stars!:
I am a librarian and a woodworker and thus have access and interest in many books on this subject. "In the Arts and Crafts Style" is a beautiful book that is deserved of much praise. The color photography is as plentiful as it is beautiful. I appreciate that the subject matter for this book does not seem to be drawn from the same dozen houses that so many others have used (As much as I like them, how many times can we look at the same pictures of the Gamble House, or Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio?). The text in this book is very well written and conveys clearly what is so special about the subject matter. I was also very impressed with the excellent resource list given at the end of the book. If I had an axe to grind about this book it is that the best photographs of A & C furniture are not contained in the (relatively short) chapter on furniture, but rather they are scattered throughout other chapters. This is a minor irritation in an overwhelmingly well done book. I highly recommend this book for any collection relating to historic homes, furniture / interior design, and lovers of the Arts & Crafts lifestyle.

Lovely book:
I am new to the arts and craft decorating style but absolutely adore it and I thought this book gave a really good feel for the interior decorating schemes in general, lots of photos showing repeating common motifs (?motives?) and furniture and also a section at the end showing houses that have used it in a modern sense. I think it is a really good, well presented book!! :)

Great introduction to the A & C style:
I love interior decorating but am a newbie to the A & C movement. When I saw this title in the discount bin at my local bookstore, I was struck by the simple, beautiful cover and brought it home with me. What a treasure! The photography is amazing - full-color spreads of beautiful furniture in similarly captivating surroundings. This is a sight for sore eyes indeed and a study in a renowned aesthetic movement. The book begins with an introduction to the movement and is divided into five chapters: Chapter One details influences and innovations with reference to the movement's English roots. Chapter Two covers Hallmarks of the Style: Attention to detail and the character of the home, then and now Chapter Three focuses on the furniture: arts and crafts classics and collector's choice (by renowned furniture makers such as Charles Rohlfs,the Roycroft community, etc). Chapter Four is on Objects and Accents: The Crafted House and Details of Design Chapter Five focuses on Case Studies. This is also my favorite chapter as various residences built or decorated around the A & C style are featured. The photographs are simply beautiful and defy description! All in all, I think this is a wonderful introduction to the A & C style and makes for delightful reading, providing lots of inspiration and ideas for those new to the A & C style as well as long-time afficionados.

Great for Dreaming Your Ultimate Spaces:
What a lovely book, for the A & C afficionado and the newbie alike. Dividing her content into Influences & Innovations; Hallmarks of the Style; Furniture; Objects and Accents; and Case Studies, Mayer presents a stunning and inspirational tour of homes and objects from the Arts and Crafts Movement. My sister gave me this when she realized I loved the style, and I nearly wept. How amazing to have someone understand your passions! The only disappointment in this book is the inclusion of a case study "American Gothic," which highlights an anti-A & C aesthetic with a profusion, Victorian-aesthetic in its genesis, of tiles, metalwork, and pottery, that Stickley, Voysey, et al. would have abjured. Still, this departure from the style's reason for being serves to remind us of how valuable that reason was.