Welcome!

2008-08-28T12:48:00.001-07:00

This is the blog for The Barn House: Confessions of an Urban Rehabber by Ed Zotti, published by New American Library/Penguin, September 2008.

"As a writer [Zotti] is both a superb stylist and a superb explainer, a rare combination whose reigning demigods are Tracy Kidder and John McPhee.... This book is about a lot more than sawing and nailing, plumbing and wiring; it is about understanding one's community, its past and its future. And about understanding one's own place in that community." — Henry Kisor, "The Reluctant Blogger"; retired book editor, Chicago Sun-Times

If you'd like to comment on The Barn House or issues raised in it, here's a link to a message board for the book that I check often.

The photo on the left was taken in the fall of 1993, not long after work on the Barn House began. The photo on the right was taken in May, 2008. For more about the book (and the house), see:

The publisher's description
A cheaper place to buy the book
A review by Henry Kisor, the retired book editor of the Chicago Sun-Times
A review in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A segment on the "Eight Forty-Eight" show on Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ)
An article about the house in the Sun-Times
A video of the house produced by the Sun-Times
A segment on Morning Blend with Alison de Castro and Molly Fay, WTMJ-TV, Milwaukee, Sept. 9, 2008
Podcast of a two-hour radio show I did Sept. 1 with Milt Rosenberg on Extension 720, WGM-AM, Chicago - the podcast is in four parts and you'll need to page down to find it
A blognote by Howard Decker
The transcript of a chat I did on boston.com, the Boston Globe's website
A collection of "renovation don'ts" I prepared for boston.com
A review from the One Project Closer blog
A review in the DIY Diva blog
A review in the Shelter blog
An excerpt complete with photos of the house.