Emerging from the vivid landscape of California's Central Valley, architect Maria Ogrydziak's iconic, light-filled houses reflect a region where growth abounds, rich soil runs deep, and blue sky goes on and on. She designs for a new California dream, outside the hustle of the big cities, far from the deep turquoise of the Pacific. Framing the Valley follows eight case study houses where everyday people find extraordinary lives through architecture. Written in an approachable style by Maria, it is full of design wisdom from over 40 years of 400 built projects. Projects include Art Barn, a steel horse barn transformed into an art gallery, overlooking picturesque fields dotted with California poppies; Flight house, a budget-friendly remote-work homestead just outside town; two remodels of California's classic ranch-style and mid-century modern tract homes; and a 15,000-square-foot luxury homestead clad completely in iridescent glass.

In this vivid new examination of a rogue architectural style, discover the roadside structures of California. Fresh discoveries and several pictorial essays explore how these buildings became synonymous with the West Coast and how the power of personal expression championed any architectural establishment with structures eccentric, innovative, ..

Many homes across America have designs based on plans taken from pattern books or mail-order catalogs. In Houses from Books, Daniel D. Reiff traces the history of published plans and offers the first comprehensive survey of their influence on the structure and the style of American houses from 1738 to 1950. Houses from Books shows that architectural publications, from Palladio&’s I Quattro Libri to Aladdin's Readi-Cut Homes, played a decisive role in every aspect of American domestic building. Reiff discusses the people and the firms who produced the books as well as the ways in which builders and architects adapted the designs in communities throughout the country. His book also offers a wide-ranging analysis of the economic and social conditions shaping American building practices. As architectural publication developed and grew more sophisticated, it played an increasingly prominent part in the design and the construction of domestic buildings. In villages and small towns, which often did not have professional architects, the publications became basic resources for carpenters and builders at all levels of expertise. Through the use of published designs, they were able to choose among a variety of plans, styles, and individual motifs and engage in a fruitful dialogue with past and present architects. Houses from Books reconstructs this dialogue by examining the links between the published designs and the houses themselves. Reiff&’s book will be indispensable to architectural historians, architects, preservationists, and regional historians. Realtors and homeowners will also find it of great interest. A catalog at the end of the book can function as a guide for those attempting to locate a model and a date for a particular design. Houses from Books contains a wealth of photographs, many by the author, that enhance its importance as a history and guide.

The book reveals a new understanding of the ways that design shapes our lives and gives professionals and interested citizens the tools to seek out and demand designs that dignify.