An outstanding and beautiful book! Really, I mean really covers the history of the homes and barns! Loved it!

A really interesting book about New England homes and Barns. This will be the perfect gift for those who live or enjoy New England and their rich architecture.

Antique New England Homes and Barns is full of detailed drawings and beautiful photography. Whether you are a sightseer or restoring an old building this book is full of knowledge and history. It explores all facetes of old buildings construction, hardware, windows, foundations, and roofs. Definitely pick this book up and next time if you are driving by an old home you will be all the richer for knowing why and when that window or door or placement was made.

This is a good general book about Antique Houses. The first part of the book is the history of the homes and styles found in New England. The second part of the book is all the technical aspects of these houses. The author breaks down each part of the house and how to restore/replace and reconstruct. There is a lot of information on what materials to use and how to make your antique house livable without losing the antique charm. The author has a lot of knowledge and expertise on living and working on old houses. Along with the text there are a lot of wonderful photographs and illustrations. Anyone who dreams of living in an antique home or does live in one will enjoy this book.

Agreat book about the construction of homes and brans in New England.......

Anyone interested in architecture or woodworking would really enjoy this, those of us who just enjoy history will love this. I found this book extremely interesting not only because of the history but to marvel at the work and thinking behind these old building, I always had a soft spot for the saltbox houses and now I understand the reason behind them.
The second part of the book is very practical and includes bring an old shed/building back to their former glory when possible. It also included moving a building.
We used to own an old farm house (in Australia) including a restored 100yr old barn which had been used to store pears for export to England. Whenever I walked in there, there was just a wonderful feeling of wonderful workmanship and memories that this building must have held.
I really easy and interesting book to read whatever your interests. Very well written.

I found this book incredibly informative and a treasure trove of information. As an owner of a more modern house in the NH Seacoast, I can honestly say that this book made me come to terms with having passed up purchasing a historic home in Exeter a few years back. The amount of work looked daunting (lead remediation and roof repairs to a Mansard style roof alone would have been close to half the cost of the house) but now, in reading this very detailed book, I realize there was so much more. I never knew Victorian-era wallpaper could have arsenic in it, for instance. Honed slate counter surfaces in kitchen and bathrooms look better than soapstone and are less fragile, too! This book made me realize that for the time, skill level and budget, I was right to pass! Though I ended up in a more modern New England-style home, this book has also made me appreciate number of classic architectural features and wood workmanship in that home.

Beginning with a thorough grounding in historical styles from the colonial era forward, the book then tackles the business of recognizing styles and serious structural problems in a historic home. From the plumbing to the electrical, from addressing how to have a modern kitchen in a historic space to the finer details of framing, floors, windows and doors, this book covers it all. Most importantly, DeStefano shares his biggest mistakes over the past 40 years of his renovating his own historic home with us. His advice on assessing painting interior and exterior surfaces and what to do when you run into problems like milk paint or calcimine paint and why not to sandblast your exterior wood shingles and siding are vital. This book is a find for both architecture lovers and those looking for advice on harmonious renovation of a New England historic house to yield a comfortable home.

Stunning book, ot only the pictures but the history that goes along with them. I love old homes and old barns. My husband and I go from Florida to Pennsylvania ever year for vacation. While there are some really nice old homes and barns here in Florida the further north we go the more spectacular the homes and barns are. I literally have hundreds of pictures saved on my computer that I have taken during our travels of old houses and barns.

This book fits perfectly into my fascination of these homes and barns. I could look at this book over and over and and probably will. I also love to see how from the earliest homes to the newer ones have changed in architecture. This is an awesome books with som any pictures. There is some reading but it is basically short and to the point but gives you what you need to really understand exactly what you are looking at.

My husband is confirmed as "not a reader" but he poured over this book with me several times. We loved it and it inspired lots of ideas. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read it! 5 stars and we'll be reading it again!!

If you are interested in the essence of antique homes and barns, please read this book. This book is fun and a quick read but also very informative. There are a lot of pictures in this book, it's perfect for visual references. I enjoyed every detail of this book. It's always fun to read a book with pictures!

I guess since I have lived in New England my whole life, I have developed a fondness for antique New England homes. I love driving through older neighborhoods and looking at all the old houses - there were plenty in the coastal town I grew up in and we even sometimes took walking tours through them as class field trips! So when I saw that there was a book devoted to not only the homes but barns I had to check it out. It goes through the history and how a lot of people moved to New England from [old] England and brought with them the traditions of building. I looove looking at all the pictures - any house that looks like Snow White might haved lived in it is awesome to me. It talks about how the style of the homes and how they were built was dictated by the climate. The book also talks a bit about how to restore an antique home with a lot of great information for anyone who might be tackling this project. It lets you know what to look for to fix, what to salvage and "The Rs" that you need to know to fix up an older home.

In addition to getting to see some really cool photos of antique homes I learned a lot. I am not sure I am going to run out and buy an old home to remodel and renovate (though I wish I could afford to) but should I win the lottery, I certainly would be on the right track with what to do after reading this book! (And for a music connection, there's even a chapter on Daryl Hall of Hall and Oates and how he transplanted and renovated 2 homes into one!)

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.