A world-renowned design authority shows how to make the most of every square foot.

Whether motivated by soaring energy costs, smaller families or the desire to live more simply, homeowners are abandoning "McMansions" for smaller housing. In How to Live in Small Spaces, Terence Conran explains that what's paramount to livability is not square footage, but how the space is divided.

In this comprehensive, full color book, Conran tackles the many challenges posed by small spaces. Chapters cover storage, bedrooms, children's rooms, lighting, extension and much more. "Assessing your needs" checklists and "points to consider" sidebars add valuable ideas. The six case studies that conclude the book provide excellent examples of great designs.

The author offers practical advice on exploiting every inch of space through:

• Using fold-down and pull-out features
• Buying slimline appliances
• Installing indoor portholes and windows
• Lessening the impact of furniture
• Using scale and proportion to advantage
• Manipulating color, texture and pattern
• Using screens, partitions and platforms
• Improving circulation paths.

Terence Conran never forgets the challenges posed by small spaces or the ingenuity and compromises required. He shows how easy it is to create a home whose comfort is not dependent on size, but on efficiency and integrity.

(200703)...

A complete guide to home improvement the environmentally friendly way: whether you want to redecorate or redesign your home, this essential book provides all the information you need to reduce your home's carbon footprint and improve the quality of your life.
For 40 years, Terence Conran has been a leader in intelligent design, changing the way we think about and furnish our homes. No, Conran shows us that it is possible to convert our existing homes into greener, healthier places without starting from scratch. Whether you want to redecorate or resign your home, Eco House Book explains how relatively small and economic changes can be made, including simple repairs to improve energy efficiency, water saving tips, and productive gardening, to more dramatic overhauls such as redesigning room use, converting basements and extending your home.
Environmental issues should be part of every decision you make on the home front--from selecting fabric for soft furnishings to designing and siting a home extension.
Special focus is given to reducing the vast amounts of energy and water that homes consume on a daily basis, with advice on low energy lighting strategies and decorative choices, improving insulation and reducing energy use, the latest green heating systems, alternative ways of generating power, and electricity reducing appliances. As we are urged to change our lifestyles to reduce our carbon footprint and consumption of water, there has never been a better time to green your home. (2009)...

People say that the most successful homes are the most sustaining and invigorating to live in, or even just to visit. This is true of Barton Court, the house in Berkshire where Terence Conran has made his country home since 1977. It has been a family home, a center to his Habitat Design business, a factory and studio for producing commercial and domestic furniture, a laboratory for testing his recipes and writing cookery books and has a working fruit, vegetable and herb garden, supplying produce for his restaurants. Through  the objects that Terence has collected, and the things he finds on his travels, we can learn, not only about  the man behind a multi-million dollar empire, but the processes that stimulate his creativity and the sources of his inspiration.

In this part visual biography, part guided tour Terence Conran explains what he sees and what he should look for in good design and just what has inspired him through his varied career. ...

The ultimate garden design book: a visual delight covering all aspects of working and living in your garden--stunning photographs of gardens from around the world.

The contemporary garden carries a profound connection both to the environment and to the range of activities--relaxing, entertaining, working--that characterize today's lifestyle. A collaboration between a distinguished style setter and a noted garden designer, Outdoors presents the principles of imaginative and innovative landscape design, providing readers with useful knowledge and also with inspiration from diverse sources: history, media, fashion, architecture.

Thematic chapters present a wide variety of successful gardens developed for specific purposes. Formal urban gardens on rooftops are explored, as are free-form rural landscapes, backyards devised to encourage children's imaginations, and spaces planned primarily for al fresco entertaining. Extensively illustrated case studies demonstrate inventive design on a grand scale as well as the creative detailing that sets one garden apart from another. In these sections, professionally designed gardens are explored methodically to reveal techniques behind planning and layout, planting choices, intended uses, and relation to the larger landscape. A special focus on conservation philosophies addresses wildlife, recycling, and water-wise gardening. Also included are a step-by-step guide to planning a garden, advice on selecting and working with a garden designer, and an extensive catalog of plants, with scientific names, foliage and bloom descriptions, and planting suggestions.
The authors engage in a lively dialogue, discussing their personal insight into the early and main influences on their work, how garden design has evolved, its current place in design as a whole, and the journey that it will take throughout the century. Their very different styles provide readers with both practical knowledge and confidence to seek inspiration for their gardens....

...