American Farmhouses: Country Style and Design

In photographs that are a trifle workmanlike, but large and richly hued, this glossy coffee table tome celebrates the ""singularity"" of the farmhouse, its ""practical and adaptive characteristics, its essential vernacular quality."" Rosch, formerly the executive editor of American Homestyle & Gardening, surveys the most prominent farmhouse styles (post-and-beam, the saltbox), touches upon trends in function and dicor (the space-saving corner cupboards, the delicate stenciling that was less expensive than wallpaper), and, in the section called The Farmhouse Reclaimed, offers photo profiles of some 16 gorgeous homes, from a modest Ohio abode with a Greek Revival porch fagade to a sprawling New York saltbox whose original rooms were built in the mid-18th century, but whose latest additions came as recently as the 1980s. Whether inhabited by preservationist owners or designers who mix the contemporary with the colonial, these farmhouses-""these wood and brick essays on America's evolution""-offer readers an appealing glimpse into comfortable historic homes. Listings at the end of the book point readers to businesses dedicated to reproductions and furnishings made the old-fashioned way.