New Decorator

Rating:
Summary: Home Bliss
Review: "A home is an extension of ourselves, expressing our interests and beliefs even when we aren't there."

If you love your home, you already know that a home plays a central role in you life. Each home reflects our individual tastes and can be a retreat from the stresses of our modern lifestyle.

This book contains over 500 color photographs to give you inspiring original ideas for every room in your home. There are sections on Space, Light, Color, Surfaces, Air and Sound to demonstrate the principles of successful interior design.

"While natural light is vital for life,
shade and shadows bring repose." pg. 50

Space - How do you think about space? Are you considering a minimalist lifestyle or do you want to order your clutter?

Light - Illuminate a room, use natural lighting or put up curtains to block light.

Color - The decorator's color wheel, explanation of color, using milk paint, an expression of yourself in earth tones.

Surfaces - Flooring, rugs, walls, tables & chairs, visual texture, patterns and stencils.

Air - Circulation, windows, plants & flowers, humidity, moisture.

Sound - Noise & echo, muffling noise, decorative textile hangings, pleasant sounds, wind chimes.

Home Comforts - How do you relax, entertain, cook, sleep, bathe, work?

20 Projects are included throughout the book. You might enjoy making a sunflower stenciled cloth, a double-sided screen, collectable shadow boxes, rolled beeswax candles, curtains, beautiful pressed flower candles, lampshades, cushions or an intoxicating rosemary wood polish. I imagine you could also infuse lavender. How about clove and honey soap you could give as gifts?

I love the "Glass Bead Door Curtain." Totally quaint! And then there is a section on entertaining where they use small rocks hanging on strings as table weights to keep the table cloth from flying away in the breeze.

Useful sections include:

Kitchen cupboard restoration
Painting techniques
Restoring garden furniture
A Resources Section
Easy-to-use Index

A book to read when you want to dream!

Rating:
Summary: Not Just for Decorators!
Review: I found this book amazing because it helps you to organize ideas for any type of design. It allows you to use different elements like color, space, and light in a way that you can combine them with things that you may already have. After applying some of the ideas in my own home I noticed people would come in and feel different, I felt like I was somewhere else. I recommend this book to anyone who would like to little by little begin to redecorate or likes a change every now and then.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant evocation of an ideal way to live
Review: I just love this book. The evocative messages are an inspiration. Don't just look at the pictures - read this book!