Review: HOUSE LESSONS: RENOVATING A LIFE

Title: House Lessons: Renovating a Life by Erica Bauermeister 

Book Beginnings quote: 

Prologue -- The house stood at the top of the hill, ensnarled in vegetation looking out over the Victorian roofs of Port Townsend and beyond, to water and islands, and clouds.

Friday56 quote:

This is what I wanted in my marriage with Ben, I realized: a stone structure built over decades with hands of love; a warehouse that turns into a space of creativity; railroad tracks that become a path to adventure. (p. 48)

Summary:

In this mesmerizing memoir-in-essays, Erica Bauermeister renovates a trash-filled house in eccentric Port Townsend, Washington, and in the process takes readers on a journey to discover the ways our spaces subliminally affect us. A personal, accessible, and literary exploration of the psychology of architecture, as well as a loving tribute to the connections we forge with the homes we care for and live in, this book is designed for anyone who’s ever fallen head over heels for a house. It is also a story of a marriage, of family, and of the kind of roots that settle deep into your heart. Discover what happens when a house has its own lessons to teach in this moving and insightful memoir that ultimately shows us how to make our own homes (and lives) better.

Review: House Lessons was an unlikely book club 'best book.' We all had so much fun with our discussion over this half memoir, part house restoration, part history/information book! All of the ladies in the book commented on the writing and the organization. For example, in the chapter 'Architects and Builders' readers not only meet the professionals the Bauermeiter's hired for their house restoration project but we learn information about famous architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe and some of their famous projects. We also learned about why there are so many lovely, aging Victorian houses in Port Townsend, a small, artsy town on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. In another chapter, Trash', we learn the house has to be mucked out due to so much stuff left behind. Then we learned about the psychological condition known as hoarding. For a book none of us had ever heard of before we were all pleasantly surprised by this little gem and I think to a woman we would recommend it to you.

-Anne