Interior Design Books

The ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-1999 will soon be incorporated into enforceable building codes in every state. The use of glass fibre optics functional architectural lighting, along with the Standard's wattage restrictions and controls, will make compliance easier and more widespread.

This book explains the installation and applications of this completely different system so that they can be understood at every level.

The ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-1999 will soon be incorporated into enforceable building codes in every state. The use of glass fibre optics functional architectural lighting, along with the Standard's wattage restrictions and controls, will make compliance easier and more widespread.

This book explains the installation and applications of this completely different system so that they can be understood at every level.

This book contains useful coverage of the glass as well as the more publicized plastic version of this system. It is filled with practical examples illustrated with photographs of both progress shots and completed work. Design professionals, contractors and building administrators will learn that this illumination can be operated affordably.

The ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-1999 will soon be incorporated into enforceable building codes in every state. The use of glass fibre optics functional architectural lighting, along with the Standard's wattage restrictions and controls, will make compliance easier and more widespread.

This book explains the installation and applications of this completely different system so that they can be understood at every level.

I took this book in and read it little by little.... As if it was a fiction mystery novel.... Very well written, GORGEOUS pictures of Broadhurst's work! What a character!!! Love LOVE this book! Not only the story is great, but also the pictures in it of F. Broadhurst's work are an inspiration!!!
I have to say, before this, I had no idea who she was, now that I know and see how she has been criticized.... won't tell you why.... but will tell you this.... THAT'S WHAT ART DIRECTOR DO!!!! DIRECT!!! Those who critique her cannot also see that the woman had a vision, she was ahead of her time... and had the passion to keep this 3 step forward going!
I want to see more of her work!!!! LOVED-IT!!!

I had heard of Florence Broadhurst but didn't know a lot about her. I read this book cover to cover (granted, it is not that thick) without putting it down, it was so interesting! I never realised the amount of scandal involved in one of Australia's greatest designers of the time. I found her life fascinating and her wallpaper designs so beautiful. I did feel that the book could have shown more designs but it was excellent as an introduction to Florence Broadhurst and her more popular wallpapers.

This book is perfect for the design fanatic- especially prints and home decor. The cover is made of a sweet fabric and seems precious. The inside features amazing color images of Florence Broadhurst's one of a kind work. There are many great wallpapers and prints that span the art deco style to modern geometrics. As a painter I found the patterns fascinating. Makes for a great gift.

All in all I really enjoyed the book. I thought that the title built up the story to be more than it was, I could have used a lot more text (Keep all the photos though). There wasn't as much detail into Florences life as I would have liked. But the book introduced me to another great designer and all her (or someone elses) great work. A wonderful reference for designers

An unusual and beautifully published book that profiles privately-owned chateaux, inside and out. It gives you an intimate view of life within the rooms, formal and informal, utility and casual, garden and forest. Family and friends are included from a respectable distance, showing weekend sporting activities and day to day life. Snobbish? Unapproachable? Not really. Think of it as a personable Architectural Digest a la Francaise, with much more panache.

See how the other side lives in this fascinating book on private French chateaux. Their residences as well as their lifestyles are revealed in this book packed with gorgeous photos dripping with color and layers of texture. What's also interesting about this book is the history behind each property as well as its past owners. One can only dream...

If you love French history, art, decoration and life style; if you have ever dreamed of living in a beautiful French chateau, you must get this book. Each time I open this book I am enchanted. What makes this book especially interesting is that people still live in these chateaus, these dreamscapes of tall Mansart roofs, formal French gardens and rooms filled with 18th century furniture. Forget about the text, it's the ravishingly photographed gardens and interiors that inspire one to dream. Beyond the sheer fantasy of it, this book showed me how I could create a little of the "French Chateau Style" in my own humble living space.

Christiane De Nicolay-Mazery is a fabulous author with fabulous connections. I'm an interior designer & I find Christiane De Nicolay-Mazery's books to be the most inspirational decorating books that I own. One of her other books, 'Private Houses of Paris', is my favorite book on the topic of decorating and I own almost every significant book published on this topic. I do wish that this book was available in hardback, as I prefer hardback books, but this fact should not dissuade you in purchasing it because inspirational design is absolutely on every page of this book!

I highly recommend this book. This is a must. It's easy to read and looks great on my coffee table. She makes it easy so you can't go wrong. I hope to read more books by this designer.

Beautiful book with lots of clever but practical ideas for chosing and combining colors and patterns.

Betsy Speert is my very favorite designer. I read EVERY word of this book. It is my Bible! After reading this book, you will know how to layer pattern on pattern. Thank you Betsy!

This is one of the most impressive presentations I've seen of beautifully designed rooms and clearly explained basic design principles. I enjoyed and learned from every minute I spent looking at this book! Especially learned quite a bit about jazzy color combinations. I'm sitting on the edge of my seat, waiting for the next volume. Such a handsome edition. It looks great on my coffee table.

Beautifully photographed, well written. Will be appreciated by those who have visited these houses as well as those who enjoy fine architecture and interesting history.

This book is fantasic! I highly recommend it. It has loads of spectacular color photographs, and the mansions are breath taking. Being someone who has never visisted the area, this book really makes me consider a trip to New York, if only to see these mansions.

If you love historical architecture, and the histories of old homes, then you shouldn't miss this book. The photographs alone make this a book worth owning, but the author has also included well written, indepth, and informative stories about these incrediable homes, their builders, owners and subsiquent owners. Reading this book has encouraged me to plan a trip to visit to the Hudson River Valley to see these beautiful places for myself.

This is a nice overview of the best of the estates along the Hudson. The book give a nice short history on the houses presented and the photos are nice, though the pictures could be more crisp. Having said that, I did enjoy the book and was just amazed at the variety in the styles of the houses from period to period; really a very informative book. If you are interested in this sort of thing, then you will certainly be pleased with this book, though the $50.00 price tag is a bit daunting.

I found this book after seeing Priscilla on TV. The book does an excellent job of conveying her no-nonsense approach to decorating. She has a fine eye and this book will help you to develop that same eye for your own decorating projects!

Beautifully presented, the book is a visual inspiration to all who review it. The author's straight forward writing presents practical answers to basic decorating questions applicable to all styles, not just Indian style.


Maritha Burmeister

Priscilla Kohutek's The Guide to Home decorating Indian Style is one of the most practical and readable home decorating books we have had the pleasure of owning. The user-friendly layout makes it an excellent how-to book for everything from simple and inexpensive makeovers to full-scale redos. Priscilla's helpful hints and solutions to real-life problems are supported by beautiful photographs, renderings and computer drawings. Her advice for making the most out of small spaces helped us make our kitchen a better place to work in. We also like her ideas for arranging the knickknacks we've collected and didn't know what to do with. This is a great book for people like us who want to make their home look good but can't afford to spend a lot of money on it.

Are you stumped about what to do with various rooms in your home? Does trying to get the right mix of furniture styles leave you dizzy? In a quandary about what window treatment you need for those huge domed windows? Priscilla Kohutek has written a delightfully readable guide for solving decorating problems. Although the emphasis is on Indian style the many ideas given can work with almost any style one chooses. The book is divided into practical sections. The question and answer format works very well. The answers to a myriad of decorating problems are easy to find. The photography and illustrations are first rate. Many of the decorating ideas that use Indian cloth, accent pieces and art are available here in the U.S. The superb artwork in the book enables you to easily visualize how the same idea might work for you. It will also help you use items from other parts of world in the same manner helping you create your own unique setting. This is a reference book you're going to want to keep handy.

I am studying this book with a highlighter and a pen. I agree with author's concepts completely. It feels right internally. The phrase, "[a]ddressing barriers to healing should begin in the privacy and comfort of our own homes and the places in which we work to ensure we build environments supportive of health and well-being[,]" from the book is my professional goal of the interior designer. This work is an excellent guide in the creation of healing designs. I highly recommend this book to other interior design professionals and anybody else because it opens the forgotten door in the design field called "Design for the Body, Mind & Spirit."

This book bridges the many aspects of life we take for granted but intuitively know, and combines it with sensitive design approaches that I haven't come across before.
Designers and members of a building team should consider many aspects of the environment to make a project a success-but often don't. This book touches upon everything from empowering a patient, removing the barriers, to the spirit within us.
It can be appreciated and used by the design industry as well as any person who recognizes the sensitivity needed for a healthy environment.

For anyone who has entered a hospital and was overwhelmed by its bus-station like appearance, "Healing Environments" provides hope that help is on the way. If everyone who designs hospitals or healthcare facilities reads this book, the world will become an easier-to-use and more beautiful place.

If you have a loved-one in the hospital, make your doctors and nurses read this. Insist that the administrators read it. If you design public spaces yourself, this book is a must. It will help you see the space through the users eyes.

If you have a loved-one in the hospital or nursing home, this book will give you tips on how small changes can provide a more livable environment for you and your loved-one. It will help you pinpoint the characteristics of the environment that cause you stress and thereby help you manage it. It will give you tools for maximizing the help doctors, nurses and administrators can give you.

In 10 chapters, "Healing Environments" guides you through 1) how detrimental the standard hospital is to our health, 2) how making a more friendly space is actually inexpensive, 3) how families can and should be involved in the use of hospital space, 4) how loud, scary machines cause stress and how to hide them from the patient and their family, 5) how pleasant views, memorable fragrances, delicious tastes, and beautiful sounds reduce stress and supports healing, 6) how knowledge?navigational directions, treatments, prognosis expectations, and life-style advice?reduces patients' fear, 7) that empowerment over the negativity of our healthcare environment is possible, 8) why and how to incorporate nature into healthcare designs, and 9) how to support the human desire to seek spiritual meaning in a distressful environment. The last chapter offers a complete description of a healing environment?a place of comfort and dignity for the body, a pleasure for the senses.

The author has obviously spent a lot of time thinking about this topic, and she has many years experience designing hospitals. She has created a beautiful book filled with delicate and rich colors, an easy-to-read font, and wonderful graphics. Each page provides a delicious picture for your eyes. Huelat obviously loves beautiful things and knows how to make them. When I get sick, I want to go to one of hers?

For anyone who has entered a hospital and was overwhelmed by its bus-station like appearance, "Healing Environments" provides hope that help is on the way. If everyone who designs hospitals or healthcare facilities reads this book, the world will become an easier-to-use and more beautiful place.

If you have a loved-one in the hospital, make your doctors and nurses read this. Insist that the administrators read it. If you design public spaces yourself, this book is a must. It will help you see the space through the users eyes.

If you have a loved-one in the hospital or nursing home, this book will give you tips on how small changes can provide a more livable environment for you and your loved-one. It will help you pinpoint the characteristics of the environment that cause you stress and thereby help you manage it. It will give you tools for maximizing the help doctors, nurses and administrators can give you.

In 10 chapters, "Healing Environments" guides you through 1) how detrimental the standard hospital is to our health, 2) how making a more friendly space is actually inexpensive, 3) how families can and should be involved in the use of hospital space, 4) how loud, scary machines cause stress and how to hide them from the patient and their family, 5) how pleasant views, memorable fragrances, delicious tastes, and beautiful sounds reduce stress and supports healing, 6) how knowledge?navigational directions, treatments, prognosis expectations, and life-style advice?reduces patients' fear, 7) that empowerment over the negativity of our healthcare environment is possible, 8) why and how to incorporate nature into healthcare designs, and 9) how to support the human desire to seek spiritual meaning in a distressful environment. The last chapter offers a complete description of a healing environment?a place of comfort and dignity for the body, a pleasure for the senses.

The author has obviously spent a lot of time thinking about this topic, and she has many years experience designing hospitals. She has created a beautiful book filled with delicate and rich colors, an easy-to-read font, and wonderful graphics. Each page provides a delicious picture for your eyes. Huelat obviously loves beautiful things and knows how to make them. When I get sick, I want to go to one of hers?

This work is most misunderstood by those who approvingly cite this, and by those who criticize this work. This misunderstanding has nothing to do with the structure of the book, but everything to do with the nature of any scientific hypothesis. The author has *not* criticized the concept 'religion' because the latter is western: do we think the concept of positron is western? And this book is not a critique of essentialism: entire natural sciences are `essentialistic.' `culture' is not monolithic; of course, species is not monolithic either, yet is amenable to study. What properties of Christianity are ones by virtue of which Christianity is a religion? Here Sweet Willman, in his criticism of the book, presumed that the properties of Christianity = the properties of religion. There are others who criticize it because it conflicts with their intuition. Of course, the author explained the necessity of experiencing religion in India.

Coming back to what the book does: the author identified a set of problems through historical research. Any theory of religion has to solve these problems. The author proposed a hypothesis of religion that solves these problems, and further explains the experience of believers; that shows why one can't study, say, Christianity as religion without being a believer. Then it is showed, one is compelled to do theology in order to study Christianity as a world view. Given this, the author shifted the study to a different level of abstraction: religion as that which generates a configuration of learning. This hypothesis sheds light on various issues: skepticism of Antiquity; origin of natural sciences in the West; vacuous debates of all sorts of relativism; cultural differences; theories of actions; etc. In other words, this theory does generate more problems, and can solve the same problems-in the long run.

The author nowhere did mention that `Hinduism', `Buddhism' etc. are not `something' else but not religions; whatever conceptual gestalts these entities `Hinduism' etc. refer to are non-existent in the way unicorn is.

It is not often that one reads a book that changes one's outlook drastically. This is one such book. I am really impressed. Sooner or later, the ideas propounded in this book will prove to be a major challenge to many disciplines like anthropology, religious studies, and such like.

It is not often that one reads a book that changes one's outlook drastically. This is one such book. I am really impressed. Sooner or later, the ideas propounded in this book will prove to be a major challenge to many disciplines like anthropology, religious studies, and such like.

Although the theory on religion that is submitted in this book is generally found to be highly controversial, Balagangadhara's arguments are so strong that one cannot simply dismiss this theory as intellectual 'spielerei'. His account identifies crucial constraints on Western thinking about other cultures and the social world in general, and convincingly explains why even 'giants and geniusses' have not been able to surmount these constraints. I heartily recommend this fantastic book. In the legendary words of one reader: "it might even change your world view."

I am a property owner considering LEED Certification for a building remodel. As a starting poijnt, I have read the LEED guidelines at the Green Building Council website. However, I was looking for something more substantial to help understand the process. "The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design" fills that purpose.

This Guidebook is written by the HOK Architectural firm which has been one of the leaders in sustainable design. The book has three sections. The first chapters are a check list of design guidelines and questions that one needs to explore during the LEED design process. The second section looks at sustainability issues as related to certain building types and the final section are a series of short articles on LEED projects the firm has worked on.

This Guidebook is on its Second Edition and is invaluable for all those interested in LEED certification. It is well written and clearly organized. It is an expensive book but well worth the price. It is a great introduction into what is becoming an important area of design. Highly recommended.

The most comprehensive book yet on sustainable design and green architecture. If you can have only one book in your library on sustainable design, this is the book!

Although I normally read books in twos and threes on the same topic to gain varied perspectives, this is the first time I am writing a single review encompassing two books. They mesh together so well that I cannot imagine studying this subject without having BOTH in hand.

The two books are Sun, Wind & Light: Architectural Design Strategies, 2nd Edition and The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design.

Start with the introduction in the Guidebook, which is blessed with a Foreword from Paul Hawken and see especially page 13 where the cost benefits are shown, with 48% energy savings for Gold, 30% for Silver, and 28% for Certified. See also the illustration on page 15 that I have reproduced in the image I am loading for both books: the old decision model was Cost at the top, with Schedule and Quality anchoring the triangle. the new decision model still has cost at the top, but Schedule and Human Health, Safety, & Comfort are on corners of this new pentagon, and the bottom is achored by Quality and Ecology, or what Paul Hawken would call in his books, "true cost" to the Earth and Humanitas.

NOW shift to the Contents and the Detailed Contents of Sun, Wind, & Light. As one reviewer notes, this is a course book. I did not recognize it as such, I saw it as one of the most gifted complete collection of factors to learn and apply that I have ever seen for ANY topic of study. The content and organization of this book is nothing short of Nobel-level "wow." Finish going through this book.

NOW go back to the first 218 pages of the Handbook, and study the checklists and varied helpful boxes and explanations. The rest of the book (217-459) is case studies of specific buildings, each a few pages, that can be left for last.

At this point, I went into the Glossaries and Bibliographies of both books. Each is distinct, neither supplants the other. They must be taken together. I read Glossaries, and Indices, as content, and use them as a form of "second look" (in extremely complex books, this is actually where I start).

NOW go back to the Case Studies in the Handbook, and read each from the point of view of what "take away" lessons are there for your own building.

Reading these two books was a real treat. Outside my office kitchen is a deck with an 11 point system for attracting birds from bluebirds and bluejays to cardinals, gold finches, two kinds of woodpecker, and a flicker as well as the more common birds. I believe in diversity, and I believe that if we don't get our act together and start living up to the ideals of Natural Capitalism (see other recommended books below), our world will go sterile and dark before out great-grandchilden can share in the beauty of this planet. These two books are part of the solution, and I am in serious awe of those who made them available to all of us, and at reasonable prices to boot. Well done!!!

Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming
Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution
The Ecology of Commerce
Ecological Economics: Principles And Applications
For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future
The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy
Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons (Bk Currents)
The Philosophy of Sustainable Design

As a senior vice president and firmwide sustainable design director at HOK, Mary Ann Lazarus combined her expertise with the professional experience of the other two design principals and leaders of sustainable design at HOK, Sandra F. Mendler and William Odell, in "The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design."

"The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design" is one of the most comprehensive books on LEED and sustainable design. It is not a LEED AP exam prep book. It is a book to assist you in doing actual sustainable design. It covers checklists of actions and how-to information arranged by the LEED® categories (SS: sustainable sites, WE: water efficiency, EA: energy & atmosphere, MR: materials & resources, and EQ: indoor environmental quality), "Ten Key Steps" for the design process, specific guidance for sustainable design per building type, and 18 useful case studies from HOK's real projects.

"The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design" has 480 pages and many color interior photos. It is a must-have for design professionals and one of the best books on LEED and green building design.

Gang Chen, LEED AP, AIA
Author of "Planting Design Illustrated"

I wish I had come across this book earlier! Then we would not have made the mistakes that we did. Williams is very right. What she experienced in America is the same as our experiences here in Malaysia. There's a wealth of knowledge to learn here and this knowledge is adaptable anywhere and in every situation. Already 8 years in this business, we are still learning and growing with this book!

This is a fabulous book for anyone in the industry, it is realistic, informative and motivating!

This is a phenominal book for pricing and structure in any business. As an independent consultant one of the most difficult things when starting out is finding the right pricing structure. This book covers that as well as many suggestions on how to effectively organize and run a business. I have already recommended this book to my husband who is in Home Improvement and a friend who has a curtain business. I think it is so well written that it could be of value to many types of businesses small and large.

One of the hardest things to learn about interior design, or any other service industry is that the only thing you have to sell is your time. To do this in a profitable manner, you need two sets of skills.

The first is the one you know about. You've got to find customers, you've got to do the job they want done and you've go to make them happy. This is probably the job you've trained yourself to do through experience, through training, and through the basic aptitude that you had to get into that business in the first place.

The second job is harder. You've got to realize that you are a business manager. You need accounting (to keep your business partner the IRS happy). You need to develop a busines plan, budgeting, etc. You need to know how to prepare and send out bills and how to handle the money when it comes in. And the most critical of all, telling the customer what your effort is going to cost him.

In this book Mr. Williams gives an excellent introduction on how to do these critical things. He also includes enough war stories from his past to give you the understanding of how he learned these things.

I really enjoyed his page one story of starting his own company: sold his car so as to eliminate the payments, crammed his office into his bedroom, paid off all credit cards, in general reduced his expenses to a minimum. When I started I did almost exactly the same: I had a very tiny kind of dumpy house in not too good a neighborhood - but no payments. I had an ancient vehicle - but no payments. Like with him, I was profitable the first month, but you had best not bet on it.

Mr. Williams has been there, done that, walked the walk. His book makes excellent sense.