Poetic prose and watercolor artistry capture the joy of old house coastal living in a small treasure of a book.

It is a dream that lovers of old houses—especially those perched on America’s historic East Coast—cherish in moments when 21st century living seems too much, when one longs for the peace and quiet of days gone by.

What if, you say to yourself, I had an antique house, perhaps in the dunes on a place like Cape Cod with sweeping views of the ocean, where the seasons pass around me in an ever-changing wave of time? What if I owned an old village home filled with undiscovered treasures that are hidden beneath walls and floors hundreds of years old, or buried beneath gardens planted by a long-ago family . . .

A diminutive gem of a book available online at Nimbus Publishing, or at Amazon.com, will inspire you to travel down the path of finding your own old house on the East Coast. Small enough to fit on your bedside table, If I Had an Old House on the East Coast, by Wanda Baxter, delights with whimsical watercolor illustrations by artist Kat Frick Miller, evoking the quiet charm and comfort of coastal cottage living with poetic immediacy and practical, do-it-yourself know-how.

Right from the first page, Baxter catches your imagination and holds on tight when she says, “If I had an old house on the East Coast, I would fall in love at first sight. It would grab me by the heart and not let go.”