--- product_id: 1187326 title: "Get Your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use & Avoid" price: "€ 96.63" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.be/products/1187326-get-your-house-right-architectural-elements-to-use-and-avoid store_origin: BE region: Belgium --- # Hundreds of precise architectural line drawings Top-ranked, highly reviewed architectural guide Focus on classical & traditional architectural styles Get Your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use & Avoid **Price:** € 96.63 **Availability:** βœ… In Stock ## Summary > 🏑 Elevate your home’s style with architectural wisdom that never goes out of fashion! ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Get Your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use & Avoid - **How much does it cost?** € 96.63 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.be](https://www.desertcart.be/products/1187326-get-your-house-right-architectural-elements-to-use-and-avoid) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - β€’ **Ideal for historic restoration:** Perfect for preserving authentic character in classic homes - β€’ **Champion of neighborhood harmony:** Design homes that respect and enhance their surroundings - β€’ **Master timeless design principles:** Avoid trendy mistakes with expert-backed dos & don'ts - β€’ **Trusted by professionals & enthusiasts:** 4.6-star rating with hundreds of rave reviews - β€’ **Visual clarity with side-by-side comparisons:** See exactly what works and what ruins curb appeal ## Overview Get Your House Right is a highly acclaimed, used book by Marianne Cusato that offers a definitive guide to traditional architectural elements. Featuring hundreds of elegant line drawings, it clearly illustrates the dos and don'ts of classic home design, focusing on exterior features and neighborhood appropriateness. Perfect for homeowners, designers, and historic restoration projects, this book ranks top in architectural materials and residential architecture categories, boasting a 4.6-star rating from 679 reviews. ## Description Sick of McMansions? Marianne Cusato, creator of the award-winning Katrina Cottages, is a champion of traditional architectural principles: structural common sense, aesthetics of form, appropriateness to a neighborhood, and sustainability. She presents the definitive guide to what makes houses look and feel right, revealing the dos and donts of livable home design. Hundreds of elegant line drawings--rendering the varieties of architectural features and displaying β€œavoid” and β€œuse” versions of the same elements side by side--make this an indispensable resource for designing and building a timelessly beautiful home. Review: Get your COLONIAL House Right - Phenomenal book that talks about the historically correct way to style an Adam, Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, or Neo-Colonial style house. Also quite useful for Victorian style homes, but less authoritative. Once you get into Craftsman-style homes (turn of the 20th century) and later there really isn't anything of value in this book. There's absolutely nothing on mid-century modern. Lots of information about proportion and the Greek/Roman orders of architecture. Great reference if you want to create a historically accurate home from one of the specifically mentioned styles, or need to do historic restoration without butchering its character. The book mostly focuses on the exterior, admitting that interior was beyond the scope of the book. There is one short but useful chapter on the interior, however. For historically-correct interiors I really liked Traditional American Rooms (Winterthur Style Sourcebook): Celebrating Style, Craftsmanship, and Historic Woodwork , which covers the traditional woodwork of homes from the same era, with examples from 12 of the original 13 colonies. Also worthy of note are pattern books from those eras, many of which are still in print, such as the works of Asher Benjamin. The strength of this book is that it explicitly shows common mistakes and explains why they look odd, whereas most historic references (like "The American Vignola") often skip details, or are harder to follow. If you're interested in a more detailed understanding of the classical orders, Robert Chitham's "The Classical Orders of Architecture" has this book beat in its sheer depth, although that book is geared toward architects, not homeowners. Still, this is a great addition to the library and one I find myself referencing more. Review: This book is awesome - I am completely gutting and restoring/remodeling a house from 1871 and this book is helping me make smart decisions that I never would have made otherwise. I would have continued doing the things that everyone does nowadays that we think is normal, but is actually wrong, and I would have ended up with another bland house that lacks real character. The key to this book is the large amount of illustrations that show what you shouldn't do, and then more illustrations of what you should do. Its awesome. There are words, and you should read them, but the illustrations are what make this book special. From chimneys to casing to porches, windows, and doors, this books covers all the major exterior and a few of the interior elements of a house, and the proper way they should be designed and executed. ## Features - Used Book in Good Condition ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #14,208 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #4 in Architectural Materials #6 in Residential Architecture | | Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 679 Reviews | ## Images ![Get Your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use & Avoid - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71VqlHRFOAL.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Media Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Get your COLONIAL House Right *by J***F on November 24, 2015* Phenomenal book that talks about the historically correct way to style an Adam, Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, or Neo-Colonial style house. Also quite useful for Victorian style homes, but less authoritative. Once you get into Craftsman-style homes (turn of the 20th century) and later there really isn't anything of value in this book. There's absolutely nothing on mid-century modern. Lots of information about proportion and the Greek/Roman orders of architecture. Great reference if you want to create a historically accurate home from one of the specifically mentioned styles, or need to do historic restoration without butchering its character. The book mostly focuses on the exterior, admitting that interior was beyond the scope of the book. There is one short but useful chapter on the interior, however. For historically-correct interiors I really liked Traditional American Rooms (Winterthur Style Sourcebook): Celebrating Style, Craftsmanship, and Historic Woodwork , which covers the traditional woodwork of homes from the same era, with examples from 12 of the original 13 colonies. Also worthy of note are pattern books from those eras, many of which are still in print, such as the works of Asher Benjamin. The strength of this book is that it explicitly shows common mistakes and explains why they look odd, whereas most historic references (like "The American Vignola") often skip details, or are harder to follow. If you're interested in a more detailed understanding of the classical orders, Robert Chitham's "The Classical Orders of Architecture" has this book beat in its sheer depth, although that book is geared toward architects, not homeowners. Still, this is a great addition to the library and one I find myself referencing more. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This book is awesome *by T***S on October 1, 2023* I am completely gutting and restoring/remodeling a house from 1871 and this book is helping me make smart decisions that I never would have made otherwise. I would have continued doing the things that everyone does nowadays that we think is normal, but is actually wrong, and I would have ended up with another bland house that lacks real character. The key to this book is the large amount of illustrations that show what you shouldn't do, and then more illustrations of what you should do. Its awesome. There are words, and you should read them, but the illustrations are what make this book special. From chimneys to casing to porches, windows, and doors, this books covers all the major exterior and a few of the interior elements of a house, and the proper way they should be designed and executed. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Buy your contractor this book! *by C***S on September 27, 2016* Throughout the planning and building process, this book stays at my side. Modern house construction should still use the classical orders in design, even on a Craftsman or farmhouse. Balance and proportion are key to making your house look RIGHT. Why spend all that money and have an out of balance house when we have these guidelines? Every single page of this book has been so helpful. I especially like the drawings of AVOID and USE, and drawings showing Better 1, Better 2, Best, etc. It makes sense, it's easy to follow, and it is by far the best book I used when planning my house. BTW, my other most helpful source is Old House Guy's website for Windows, shutters, and porches. I'm positive I won't get everything right on my new house, but with this book's information it'll look better than it would have with my limited architectural knowledge. Buy this book and buy one for your builder and framer. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - πŸ›’ **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** β€” Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** β€” Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - πŸ’° **No Hidden Fees** β€” All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - πŸ”„ **15-Day Free Returns** β€” Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - πŸ”’ **Secure Payments** β€” Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** β€” Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.be/products/1187326-get-your-house-right-architectural-elements-to-use-and-avoid](https://www.desertcart.be/products/1187326-get-your-house-right-architectural-elements-to-use-and-avoid) --- *Product available on Desertcart Belgium* *Store origin: BE* *Last updated: 2026-11-04*