Victorian Gothic House Style: An Architectural and Interior Design Source Book for Home Owners

The book Victorian Gothic House Style has proven of more value than I can verbally experess in restorying a 2 story victorian Gothic style house my husband I previously own. From colors, to furnature, to flooring, to restoring windows, this book has been a wonderful aid. While we were never able to get out to the gardens, the book also provided us with usefully priode ideas for this as well. Even now, has my husband and I prepare to move on to the desert southwest, we will be taking this book and encorpating ideas from it into southwester design. A must for anyone who loves to decorate with antiques!!!

Linda Osband has done an admirable job of collecting images from England and the United States to help illustrated the Gothic Revival Movement. What she falls short on in text she makes up for in picture and engravings. It is not as comprehensive as I was hoping and there are some areas that I would have appreciated a more in-depth explanation: facades and furniture that identify the period being top of the list. The samples she has for gothic kitchens are modern but she supplements them with appliance advertisements from the 1870s-1890s. This helps identify what was used during this time, not necessarily practical now. She also incorporates the use of advertisements for tile samples and patterns that were available as well as ironwork. She covers all aspects of Gothic Revival from the outside to the interior to the furniture to the conservatory. Overall, there are some good ideas and good reading to be found if you are planning on restoring a residence or creating a period dollhouse. Highly recommend.