Interior Design Books

I really enjoyed reading and learning to decorate It is the most informative book on decorating I have ever read. I really would like the author to update her book for the late 1990's.

One of the best books on the topic I've read. The author clearly explains major design principles, teaches you how to apply them, and then encourages individuality and innovation in designing your own home. I've read many decorating books and this is one of the best.

This is a terrific book on using rubber stamp techniques to decorate your home. It shows how practical and creative stamping can be for things other than just making cards. The projects are artistic have a sophisticated look and for the most part they are not too cutesy. Though sophisticated looking, with a little time and patience all the projects are fairly easy to create.

The book starts out with stamping basics such as masking, embossing, purchasing supplies and even making your own simple stamps. Principles of color and design follow. Stamping on various surfaces such as paper, wood, fabric, pottery, glass, clay, metal and leather are next. Then it is all put together in decorating your rooms. There is great information on assessing your room, making samples and working with patterns as well as creating borders, wreaths, and painted floors.

Over 15 projects follow including chest of drawers with elegant swirls, butterfly embossed velvet throw, lemon wall vine, paper mache bowl with leaves, orchard mini-chest and leather portfolio. My favorite project was the gorgeous Africa theme mica collage table. There are excellent step-by-step instructions accompanied by clear demonstrating photos for all the projects. A large photo the finished pieces as well as a complete materials list is also included.

A few patterns and a resource directory are located in the back. This book is a great source of inspiration and ideas for decorating and makes the perfect house-warming gift for the stamper in your life.

This a book that puts you in control of the look you want with decorating projects. Whether you are working on placemats or living room walls, there are ideas for making your own stamps out of everything from polymer clay to foam to natural objects.

Looks range from cute country to modern and mica flecked. Photos are very clear and the processes in the projects are described in detail. A source directory is included.

Just about anything and everything you ever wanted or needed to know about upholstery is in this book. Photographs and descriptions of professional tools,

The book starts by teaching about style through the ages with the help of period drawings and paintings... then a walk through materials and techniques. Even a list of addresses of suppliers of professional upholstery supplies is provided. This is an essential reference for anyone thinking about upholstering anything.

I agree entirely with the reviews of this admirable book. But the buyer should be aware that it's an English publication and all the sources for supplies etc are British. As one who is having a tough time finding American suppliers of materials suitable for antiques who are willing to sell retail, I'm finding that's a fairly big gap.

Great buy! Got Almost all the contemporary books series.
Arrived on time!

Truly modern asian style. All the pictures are beautiful and full of inspiring ideas. It's definitely worth rading.

i was most impressed by this truly valuable publication - a must for anyone's library interested in efficient design, architecture and entertaining.

This book is consistently wonderful. As a collection of small scale architectural works, it illustrates that small in size can be large in ambition and accomplishment. Sirefman uses the guest house to represent an important cross section of contemporary architecture, and the book is a gem.

The guest house (as a "type") is generally considered second string to the main house architecturally, but this collection argues that it doesn't have to be. The guest house's transitory, secondary nature allows it a freedom that a primary house does not have. The projects in the book have playfulness, eccentricity, quirks, and drama (sometimes all at once) that are immediately compelling. But the dialogue between main house and guest house is not the primary emphasis of the book - instead the best projects here are visual essays about the guest house's place in the garden. Many projects here play with the question that F L Wright asked Philip Johnson at the Glass House: "Well, are we inside or are we outside?"

High points include the luminous and dazzling Mountain Tree House by Mack Scogin, or the brooding, poetic entries from two Japanese architects (Satoshi Okada, Atelier Hitoshi Abe).

The selection of projects is refreshingly international. Although weighted toward the New York area, the most compelling projects are far from the madding crowd - coming from Mittagong, Australia, Dillard, Georgia, or Duluth, Minnesota. It's an interesting statement on the current dispersal of design talent that what's shown here from Oklahoma City, for example, is more accomplished than anything on the pages by New York architects.

I have alot of books on interior design and style. This is the one I would grab if my house was on fire. If I could crawl in between the pages, I'd take up permanent residence there. This is mostly a picture book. There's little text but tons of awesome photos that speak volumes. I give it my highest recommendation. Spend the money.You won't be disappointed.

the natural materials inspired homes of many creative artists around the world - this is a beautifully photographed book of the talents of many people who use natural materials & forms as their medium to express themselves in their own surroundings - absolutely one of my favorite design books !!...

Mark-Anthony Falzon has produced a fine multi-sited ethnography, focusing on Sindhi businesspeople settled in Malta, London, and Bombay but evoking through their eyes connections to kinsmen and business partners in many other places. He uses his geneologies and interviews skillfully to establish the changing patterns of trade and residence before and after the 1947 partition of India that sent Hindu Sindhis out of the towns and villages of Sindh (now in Pakistan)and made Bombay the new heart of this cosmopolitan community; he uses them as well to theorize about business communities, showing how the Sindhis bridge the global and the local and link the scholarly fields of "merchant diasporas" and "immigrant entrepreneurs." The Sindhi relationships with nation-states and with each other could both be drawn upon, the latter especially in times of hardship when politics disrupted the former. This is a fascinating, highly competent study that will be of interest for both empirical and theoretical reasons to anthropologists, sociologists, and historians. It should also interest a more general readership, as it is well and accessibly written.

"Falzon's is a rich ethnography of the Sindhis and an exemplar of the anthropological method. He meets the challenge of producing a translocal ethnography of a business community by using interviews and observations, and charts genealogies that map the spatiality of Sindhi social relations. The major challenge for him as an ethnographer was that the work became a multi-sited ethnography, in three places - Malta, London, and Bombay ... By locating his ethnographies in these three cities, Falzon uncovered a large amount of data on Sindhis all over the world. Falzon's work is not only useful for students of the Indian diaspora, it can also serve well in courses that seek to understand business and trade relations through an anthropological lens."

As a designer, I am always on the lookout for trends and information to assist myself and my clients as we create great homes. This one is useful

This is a MUST for anyone who loves reading about Country Homes! ENJOY!

I guess some people would consider me a 'collector of stuff', though I really just consider myself someone who happens to enjoy pretty things. This book is invaluable to me as inspiration for displaying those things while keeping clutter to a minimum.

I love the photos in this book. Casual and beautiful. If you enjoy collecting
and love to display your collectibles than this book will inspire you. It may even inspire you to start a new collection. A keeper.

I have a great time every time I open the book. It has simple ideas and projects that can make a change in your home. I highly recommend it.

I couldn't wait to flip through and absorb the images in this book. The photos are so inviting! Anyone who loves the textures and colors that make up the country look, will luxuriate in this book.
Then I began reading the tips which are set off in numbered paragraphs. That format made it so easy to read and absorb the ideas.
Whether your preference is for English country house or for a cottage, this has ideas to create it in your own home. A lovely book.