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Rating: 
Summary: Plenty of Pictures
Review: I have a whole library of decorating books, and this is one I'm going to hang on to for a while. It's not fantastic, but it is full of beautiful rooms with good ideas.
Rating:
Summary: Plenty of Pictures
Review: I have a whole library of decorating books, and this is one I'm going to hang on to for a while. It's not fantastic, but it is full of beautiful rooms with good ideas.
Rating:
Summary: A very fine addition to a decorating library...
Review: This book is an elegant introduction to visual thinkng and the elements of design. Judith Wilson goes beyond obvious starting points (color or fabric, for example) and shows the reader ways to build from more abstract concepts like space and natural light, as well. Many of the connections she makes to the original inspiration are too subtle to be noticed even at third glance, but a look at the final result demonstrates the cohesive look she is aiming for. There are many excellent photographs (though I WISH people who do photography for decorating books would show all the details mentioned in the text), with several before and afters.One of Wilson's strengths is the variety of ways she examines for working from an inspiration: color? color combinations? pattern? scale? texture? theme? historical period? geographical location? Look, she'll say, at how the shape of the legs echoes the stripe in the upholstery -- and it does! Meanwhile, she casually mentions many general decorating tips and excellent strategies. My favorite was use of mirrors in a small entry way -- instead of a cheap or inadequate mirror, or a mirror in a jarring style -- 9 small mirrors in wood frames painted the same color as the moulding and hung 3-square. Tranquil, elegant and comparatively inexpensive... I wish I had a wall that needed this! Despite the emphasis on starting points, this is probably not a "first" book for DIY decorators. A reader who has done some decorating previously and read widely in this area will get more from this book. I'd use it with Dylan Landis' Elegant and Easy Rooms and Lauri Ward's Use What You Have Decorating to get some solid help with basics. Readers who use the display ideas in Rebecca Purcell's Interior Alchemy as a starting point may like Wilson's techniques to have the drama without the clutter.
Rating:
Summary: A very fine addition to a decorating library...
Review: This book is an elegant introduction to visual thinkng and the elements of design. Judith Wilson goes beyond obvious starting points (color or fabric, for example) and shows the reader ways to build from more abstract concepts like space and natural light, as well. Many of the connections she makes to the original inspiration are too subtle to be noticed even at third glance, but a look at the final result demonstrates the cohesive look she is aiming for. There are many excellent photographs (though I WISH people who do photography for decorating books would show all the details mentioned in the text), with several before and afters. One of Wilson's strengths is the variety of ways she examines for working from an inspiration: color? color combinations? pattern? scale? texture? theme? historical period? geographical location? Look, she'll say, at how the shape of the legs echoes the stripe in the upholstery -- and it does! Meanwhile, she casually mentions many general decorating tips and excellent strategies. My favorite was use of mirrors in a small entry way -- instead of a cheap or inadequate mirror, or a mirror in a jarring style -- 9 small mirrors in wood frames painted the same color as the moulding and hung 3-square. Tranquil, elegant and comparatively inexpensive... I wish I had a wall that needed this! Despite the emphasis on starting points, this is probably not a "first" book for DIY decorators. A reader who has done some decorating previously and read widely in this area will get more from this book. I'd use it with Dylan Landis' Elegant and Easy Rooms and Lauri Ward's Use What You Have Decorating to get some solid help with basics. Readers who use the display ideas in Rebecca Purcell's Interior Alchemy as a starting point may like Wilson's techniques to have the drama without the clutter.
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