Cottages: The New Style

In this nicely photographed volume, Trulove (25 Houses Under 2500 Square Feet; The Smart Loft) puts contemporary touches on 16 classic country houses. For example, he takes a rustic house on the Minnesota-Canada border, which has""a rich Scandinavian vernacular heritage,"" and brings simple lines and brightness to the interior with such details as light wood paneling and a modern stairway to a sleeping loft; outside, he attaches modern additions of dark wood and window casings to the house. In the Atlantic Northeast, Trulove takes an 18th-century property called""Goosewing Farm"" and replaces""a rabbit warren of small rooms"" with""an open, modernist plan punctuated with recycled Douglas fir beams and columns."" Each of the book's cottages is presented with topographical site plans, floor plans and black and white sections of various angles of the house, and color photos evocatively contrast the darkly verdant countryside with the airy, light-filled rooms.