October 06, 2011

Rustic Country by Abby Ruoff

I wasn't entirely impressed with this book. While it had some great ideas and beautiful pictures, it was very repetitive and I didn't find the text engaging.

The cover is what initially drew me to this book. I loved the old picture of the violets and the heart made of birch wood. It was very inspiring. When I opened it up it was full of more gorgeous pictures. Chapter One is Greetings from the Country, a section that had some assorted pictures and a bit of lore on country decorating. Chapter Two was Autumn, which gave a brief overview on the joys of this colorful season. Fall leaves and pumpkins are featured in a couple of the pictures. Chapter Three was Rustic Elegant Style which is pretty self explanatory. Indeed this section seemed like it was for the fancier classes. While there was some rustic mixed in I would call it more of a "high" decorating taste. Chapter Four is Rustic Farmhouse Style. This section was a bit more down to earth and more comfy in style. Chapter Five, the last, was Rustic Camp and Kitsch style which overviewed a cabin and some outdoorsy type themes.

There were several crafts in the book and instructions on how to make them. This included Twig Sconce's, Painted Imitation Birch Bark, Note Houses, picture Frames, and Twig Coat Racks. However, this was where the repetition comes in. A great deal of these crafts involve twigs or birch bark. And many of them are birch bark picture frames. While they're great ideas it just seemed a little monotonous to have three different ways to make a birch bark picture frame.

The text while it had some useful information just seemed to sort of meander its way through the book. There was more musing than instruction and I found myself just glancing over some paragraphs instead of reading it through. It just didn't hold my interest.

While I would use some of the ideas in this book I probably won't refer to it too often. However, if you're just looking for a book with a bit of detail on rustic life and some beautiful pictures this would be a great book to read.

Rustic Country
Copyright 2000
156 pages

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