Interior Design Books

Big leather chairs, soft fluffy towels, candlelight-these are but a few examples of sensual living that Claire Lloyd incorporates into her book. This is not so much of a decorating how-to but a living how-to. She gives you ideas into adding things to your home that excite all your senses and allow you to be stylish and comfortable at the same time. Enjoyable from the first page to the last, don't let this one pass you by. A++

This book has revolutionised the way I relate to my environment. Claire Lloyd shows how the domestic and mundane can be transformed and integrated into a sensuous landscape that, without clutter or fuss, enhances your sense of being alive. Beautifully photographed and designed, this book is a graceful expression of the free-spirited lifestyle that is within reach of anyone with a penchant for all things sensual.

Trying to update your home? Are you redecorating or remodeling? Have you recently purchased a new home and are low on cash for the curtains and new linens for your bed and bath? Or are you just dreaming about things to come? You can't afford not to buy this book, as well as the other books on sewing for the home from the Singer Reference Library. These books are absolutely the best I have ever seen on how to select fabrics, how to select designs, and how to construct home decor items such as window treatments, throw pillows, bed linens, and other decorative items for your home. Each section is supurbly illustrated with color photographs detailing every step in the construction precess, as well as photos of the completed items in a home setting. As a newlywed scraping to purchase our first home, I found this book and the others in the series invaluable to making my new home look like a designer had been there for only the cost of the fabric and a little time. Now, having been married several years and several homes later, I still sew many of my soft furnishings myself rather than pay the huge prices decorators demand for their products. If you can sew a straight line, you can use this book with great results. My personal copy is dog-eared from years of heavy use

I ran across Sewing Projects for the Home by the Singer Sewing Reference Library at our local fabric store and I knew this was a book I had to have. This book has a variety of different home decorating sewing projects. Not only are there wonderful pictures showing what the items will look like when completed but it also has easy to follow instructions. The illustrations are inviting and lead your mind to wonder about other fabrics and textures that could be incorporated into each project. I would reccomend this book both for its instructional value and its ability to stir up creativity.

In Shops & Boutiques 2000: Designer Stores And Brand Imagery, Marcie Stuchin and Susan Abramson collaborate to showcase leading trends in international retail design and is illustrated with more than 250 color photographs. Each of the fifty trend-setting stores covered expresses its designer's distinctive aesthetic sensibility through inventive architecture, interior design, and layout in service of a unique and distinctive entrepreneurial environment. Also highly recommended are Stuchin and Abramson's earlier collaborations: Bedrooms And Private Spaces: Designer Dreamscapes and Waterside Homes And Showhouses: Signature Designer Styles.

Awesome book! A must for enthusiasts of designer stores and brand imagery!

This is a terrific book! I bought it at least three years ago and still enjoy looking at the timeless designs. The photos are crisp and clear. I loved it so much that I looked up the writer to see what over books she had written.

This book is a compliation of showcase design displays across the country; the Best of the Best. Incredible Variety of Styles!
I enjoyed perusing through this BEAUTIFUL volume; had a Tremendous Time! BUT it took me several DAYS! i would pick it up; get so emmersed in the incredible vivid detail of the rich, full colored pictures that time would fly and i had only covered a small section!

This book is wonderful. The pictures are beautiful and the content is very usefull. I loved the tips for renovations, what to look out for and the step by step process to follow in a renovation.

I like the opening sentence of this book, 'Before you take a single step toward fulfilling your remodeling dreams, do a thorough reality check.' Having been through a serious remodel (after a fire) I can assure you that the advice she gives is well founded. Her ideas on working with contractors are very good, but I'd add one more thing to check - contractors are bonded. Find out how big the bond is. If it's say $20,000 and he defaults on four projects, you're only covered to $5,000, max.

Kitchens, this book, and most other books on remodeling show kitchens that have commercial grade gas stovetops. They're really neat, but wait until you see the price of new ones. However, restaurants go out of business and the stoves last forever, you might get a really good price on a used unit. Or in my kitchen I got one that had been used by the restaurant supply company at a trade show. It wasn't new, but the price was less than half.

Tile floor in the kitchen? It looks great. Don't drop anything. A jar of mayo that falls on a carpet is usually OK. On tile, it's a mess.

All in all, lots of good words here that if heeded can save you a bundle of money, of aggravation.

Even through its subtle and discreet design, SoftSpace exudes sexiness in the most understated way. It captures the very difficult to define LOUD whisper of the contemporary in the most unorthodox way. It defines the contemporary aspirations of Design with very broad strokes crossing disciplines as varied as fashion, style, sociology etc. An important book if you seek currency in your design library or a great gift for the design/architecture enthusiast.

Although compiled to benefit the architectural industry and academic
community, Softspace turns out to be accessible to anyone interested
in the life cycle of human culture and civilization and its ability to
adapt and embrace a new paradigm. This well thought out collection of
works by talented essayists speaks to our growing need of creative use
of materials to further efforts of design. It challenges the reader to
rethink their surroundings and to explore beyond conventional wisdom
and methodology of architectural construction. The compilation is well
written, logically arranged and smartly appointed with imaginative
photography and illustration. I would strongly recommend Softspace to
architectural professionals, students and enthusiasts.

Author Kathryn Masson is a native Californian with access to some of the finest private homes and gardens in the area: Sonoma Valley Style: At Home In California's Wine Country pairs lovely color photos by Steven Brooke of both exteriors and interiors with Masson's feature of wine country homes and weekend retreats. Each home receives descriptions of the homeowner's goals, collaborations between architects and builders, and review of unique design attributes and challenges. From a historic Craftsman farmhouse to a 21st century interpretation of Arts and Crafts style, Sonoma Valley Style contrasts and highlights a variety of elegant homes, from restored Mexican adobes to Victorian farmhouses.

Sonoma Valley is not far from it's better known neighbor Napa Valley. What that really means is that it's not nearly as crowded with tourists. Still prime wine growing country the first vinyards date from the middle 1800's. It also seems that wine people tend to not be poor. The houses from the old vinyards are classical and elegant. The houses from the new vinyards are not bad either.

In this book you'll see a lot of kitchens with Viking type stovetops. There aren't many stoves from Sears purchased second hand. The book is a description of some of the more elegant houses in Sonoma Valley. It is profusely photographed by Steven Brooke an architectural photographer of reknown. His works include books on Rome, Jerusalem, Savannah, Napa and others. His pictures have a warm, creamy look that I find very inviting. The description that goes with the houses combines descriptive information with history and tales of the people who buile/remodeled them.

The book is about what you would expect of a coffee table book on a region: high quality pictures, high quality writing, high quality printing.

Lots of lovely pictures and ideas for designs. Take what works for you and use these great ideas to make your space exactly what you've been looking for.

This book is beautiful from cover to cover. You can draw even the smallest ideas for your kitchen from this book. There is a measure of comfort in each kitchen space showcased and a little something to please anyone from the traditional kitchen to the most modern. I have enjoyed reading and flipping through this book over and over again, and you will too.

I love this book. I've had it for over a year now and it's one of my most used design books for inspiration. It's always on my nightstand.

I have just purchased a lot at a new beach development called Watercolor right next to Seaside, Fl and am in the process of learning about the styles of decorating that I like. I saw a copy of this book at the sales center today and thought, wow, this will be a great guide for me. Some decorating books seem kind of over-the-top, but this one is beautiful and some of the looks seem attainable after studying them. I plan to have my own copy soon!

An excellent summary of the various types of structures used in Washington bridges down through the years. Specific locations and history given for each major bridge. Not a structural engineering text, but should be read by any northwest civil engineering type.

I've got to say that the first thing that came to mind when I saw this book on Washington's Bridges was the famous 'Galloping Gertie' bridge at Tacoma Narrows that fell down. Then I thought of the floating bridges that the folk at the Department of Transportation seem to like. I would have been disappointed if these bridges hadn't been included in this book. But they were, along with a bunch of other bridges that have failed also. One failed when a herd of sheep crossed it. Another when fireworks set it on fire. Earthquakes and the eruption of Mt. St. Helens caused more to fail. Then there was the one where a forty ton logging truck attempted to cross a bridge designed for a five ton load.

But enough about failed bridges. This is really a book on the hundreds of other bridges around the State of Washington. Some of these are magnificant structures. A lot are surprisingly different, one bridge for instance that was bought war surplus. And I didn't realize that there were still three wooden covered bridges in the state.

This is mostly a picture book, with just enough technical description as to the types of bridges to make it even more interesting. A lot of these bridges would make a good weekend excursion trip to go see. If you're interested in this sort of thing, this is a most interesting book. It's one that I intend to take along on vacations to tell us a bit about where we are going.