I've been thinking a lot about this lately, not having any idea there is actually a book that addresses it. We sold our home at the top of the market in late '05 after having updated it to reflect some of the HGTV trends of the day. We purchased a home built in 1977 with outdated bathrooms and gold and blue shag wall-to-wall in the upstairs bedrooms. Obviously that wall-to-wall needed to be replaced since it was 30 years old, but what I've realized is how silly it is to turn my home into a showplace based on how it might benefit potential resale value one day. I've read many times on this and other forums (but this one is particularly bad for it) some condescending and even downright snotty advice from people who perhaps unwittingly give off the impression that not only would butter not melt in their mouths, but that they would sooner run naked over hot coals than cook an omelet on anything less than a Wolf or Viking range. Don't get me wrong--I do enjoy living in a nice home, and my home is indeed a nice one. It's just not one that is currently or will anytime in the near future be tricked out with granite, stainless, 'hardwoods' (because 'hardwood' is no longer in fashion; it's 'hardwoods' in the plural or we all might just as well go with the horror commonly known as laminate), or a marble counter in the bathroom topping a trendy but completely impractical vanity. I still enjoy home improvement projects--at least, I enjoy the result--but these days I seem to be looking at the most cost-effective way to update rather than the one they would do on any number of HGTV shows. I think it might actually be a bit more fun than throwing money at the biggest, shiniest/most matte model of modern design I might come across. Granite, soapstone, marble, inexplicably vast expanses of reflective stainless? They are great. I enjoy coming across them here and there. However, one place I am unlikely to come across them is here in my very nice, certainly above average, structure that has truly become home to my family. I will continue to enjoy tweaking things and decorating my 31-year-old home, and I will enjoy the process as well as the result.

Carolyn, I read a couple some years ago. I must check and see if my library has reprints. I am reading my books slowly at present, there seems to be so many other things to do, like dropping off to sleep! My D gave me a small CD player for Xmas with handy top buttons. Just right for listening to recorded favourite books. I have been accumulating some in case of being confined to bed or having the eye operation for cataracts. I am doing a Scarlett O'Hara on that!

Sons of the Wolf by Barbara Michaels. I really liked her books back in the olden days. She was actually Barbara Mertz and also wrote as Elizabeth Peters. I liked all those gothic-type books. Mary Stewart was my favorite, although she mostly wrote current-day stories. I blame her for my love of travel. Her characters were always having adventures in different countries. BTW, I'm just back from our Switzerland-Austria Odyssey Tour. It was great--possibly the most tiring trip I've made what with climbing to the tops of stuff. No Heidi sightings, but I did get a souvenir Christmas ornament of her.

Merry, I read Michael Jenkins' A House in Flanders several years ago . . . and may have recommend it here. Well worth reading with his descriptions of the Aunts, the way of life and the surroundings. Although we think of Flanders as being in Belgium, in fact the 'house' was over the border in France. I was surprised that MJ was able to speak such good French, remembering what French lessons were like in England! I believe he went on to become a diplomat. yoyo, sorry I can't help you with your title. Was the book set in the US?