[.ca] Martha Stewart's New Old House (ISBN 0517577011)

Nice ideas, but too expensive:
This book is to home improvement, what a Rolls Royce is to the automobile world. Everything is done in grand style, for instance, the fences in her gardens are all hand made. She uses genuine copperleaf to spruce up a flight of stairs that no one will ever see, due to location. This book is big, literally, bold, beautiful and luscious in every way, except practicality

A diary of a major renovation:
This book chronicles the renovation/restoration that Martha Stewart completed on a historic New England farmhouse. It is very specific about many of the tasks that she completed, and gives some general how-to information (how to hire a contractor, create a landscape design, etc). I was disappointed because I was looking for ideas to restore and renovate my "new old house" and didn't really find much inspiration here. Much of the decorating revolved around painting murals and designs on the floor, which is something that I don't plan on doing. If you are planning a major renovation project to a large, historic home, this book might be a good starting place but I wouldn't rely on it for all of my information. Although it didn't really help me with my specific plans, it was an interesting, sometimes sketchy, read.