Historical information plus design ideas and advice for a Victorian vintage home. [Praise for the UK edition:] Well-researched and documented... Essential for anyone interested in Victorian design and decoration. - Library Journal The Victorian House Book is a fascinating and essential guide to a rich and varied design age. The book details numerous interior and exterior styles -- from the High Victorian and Queen Anne Revival to the Classical and Gothic -- and showcases homes from the United States and Great Britain. Full of inspiring ideas and fascinating information, the book is organized room by room including conservatories, libraries and billiard rooms. More than 500 color photographs and 1,500 line drawings show the beauty and elegance of Victorian homes and reveal details of their architectural features. A wide range of design elements is examined, including: House styles and plans - Traditional colors and finishes - Construction features - Furniture styles - Roofs and gables - Ceilings and fireplaces - Wallpapers and upholstery - Decorative glass and moldings - Curtains and floor coverings - Railings and ironwork. The Victorian House Book also includes a trouble-shooting guide with information and advice on renovation techniques and care and maintenance. A source list provides the names, addresses and websites of manufacturers and suppliers. In this comprehensive workbook, interior designer Robin Guild takes you through every room in the Victorian house, explaining how to recognize original fixtures and fittings, and suggesting ways you can use them to put a personal stamp on your home while staying true to its Victorian origins. He also provides details on how to modernize features to meet the convenience and comfort demands of the 21st-century homeowner. Drawing on his professional experience, the expertise of an advisory panel of architects and historians specializing in Victorian architecture, and the vast array of resources in this book, Robin helps you decide what changes or improvements to make, which should come first, and how to work through them all step by step. ( Heritage Matters Vol 6 No 3 ) How to live in a real Victorian home.... This is the best guide available. (Patrick Tivy Reno & Decor 2008-05-31) [This] is a beautiful hardcover book that allows homeowners a chance to learn how their houses can be adapted to modern living without losing the character they love... The book...is organized so the homeowner would find it useful - from foundation to roof and room by room. It offers a practical guide to various Victorian styles, furnishings and decorations. ( www.insidetoronto.com 2008-03-18) A lavish guidebook to the excess and eccentricities of the period. (Kathy Renwald The Toronto Star 2008-05-17) Packed with 500 photographs and 1,500 drawings.... It's guaranteed to offer inspiration. (Carol Ross Williamson Waterloo Region Record/The Guelph Mercury 2008-05-17) This book is the best guide available. It includes detailed descriptions of all aspects of Victorian construction methods, as well as precise sketches of all the elements of true Victorian-style decor, from wallpaper to doorknobs. (Patrick Tivy Reno and Decor 2008-05-01) This book serves two purposes: It can inspire those who wish to lovingly restore or sensitively alter a fine, old 19th-century home and offers instructions for those who might execute the plan. Victorian homes are well known for their rich detail, and that's apparent here through the photographs, text and handy architectural drawings dealing with everything from floor plans to baluster profiles. (Gift Books Christmas 2008 The Globe and Mail 2008-12-06) Robin Guild established an international reputation as an interior designer, with a client list that included celebrities and royalty. He designed Ralph Lauren's groundbreaking London stores, co-founded Designer's Guild in London, restored a wide variety of Victorian homes, and wrote several highly popular design books, including The Finishing Touch and Homeworks . Preface Architecture is a vulnerable art; like the landscape, it is subject to meddling by succeeding generations. In this respect, music and literature are more fortunate, for however much abuse or neglect they may receive, the essential integrity of the original will probably survive. This is not at all the case with buildings, and very few houses over a hundred years old have survived unaltered. In many cases, the effects of weather and pollution -- together with the additions, alterations and repairs made by several generations of inhabitants -- have changed them to such an extent that their builders would have difficulty in recognizing them. The United States still affords little protection to historic buildings, even those landmarks that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Ownership normally confers the right to pull down anything considered obsolete or which stands in the way of future d