It's a style that says 'home' wherever you may be because, more than anything else, it's a mindset: gentle but strong, welcoming and lasting, durable yet sophisticated and, above all, real. Over the centuries, the humble dwellings built by European immigrants to the US in the 1880s have evolved into sturdier, more comfortable homes, which, depending on their geographic location, took on a variety of designs, be it a ranch, cabin, farmhouse, cottage or adobe. Each of these styles plays a role in prairie style and its enduring aura of romance and nostalgia. Here interiors bear the influence of European settlers and the poetry of the heart-warming authenticity of simple, natural textures, hand-hewn beams, bleached wood, weathered planks, woven blankets, cow-hide and Navajo rugs. It's a style inspired by the honesty of homespun materials of the past wedded to a flair for the present. It's flower-sprigged brocade, tawny leather, crisp eyelet and soft linen, corduroy with crochet trims, woolen plaids, cosy flannel and wispy organza. It's history retold and all about the enduring connection between people and places and the nostalgia we feel for a rural country life, a yearning for a simpler life, as embodied in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie.

    This title shows a wide variety of interior details and describes how to add or restore elements that suggest a historic flair while keeping the home comfortable and functional.

    Others are more committed: they hoard books, rearrange them, and seldom get rid of any. Living with Books, aimed at the latter group, addresses the challenges and joys of a home masquerading as a library, from storage to display to the use of books as structural elements and furniture.Each chapter covers a different room and the special way that books can exist in or enhance that space. Obvious areas such as dens and offices are covered, along with more daring places such as hallways, kitchens, and bathrooms. Special features include a closer look at the care and display of decorative books, decorative papers, and bookplates, and a final chapter on custom-building bookshelves to suit every home.

     Annie Sloan is a paint legend and one of the world’s most popular experts in the field of decorative painting. In Color Recipes for Painted Furniture and more, Annie presents 40 new projects and ideas, showing you the easy way to update tired furniture and transform your home. Working with her own range of chalk paints, Annie shows how to mix colors and how to achieve certain looks. Whether your taste is for colorful boho chic or restrained Swedish hues, cozy and comforting rustic shades, a modern and contemporary approach, or an elegant French look, here you will find a project to suit you. Start off by mastering the simple art of colorwashing, and work your way up to transfer printing, gilding, stenciling, and glazing. There are even instructions for dyeing fabric using paint. As well as painting furniture, the projects range from a staircase painted in a rainbow of colors to stenciled walls, transforming floors with a coat of paint to dyeing linen curtains and even painting a vintage chandelier. Throughout the book, Annie offers expert tips, techniques, shortcuts, and guidance, showing you the easy way to create a stylish home.

       Pattern is the strongest element in any room. In Living with Pattern, Rebecca Atwood demystifies how to use that element, a design concept that often confounds and confuses, demonstrating how to seamlessly mix and layer prints throughout a house. She covers pattern usage you probably already have, such as on your duvet cover or in the living room rug, and she also reveals the unexpected places you might not have thought to add it: bathroom tiles, an arrangement of book spines in a reading nook, or windowpane gridding in your entryway. In this stunning book, beautiful photography showcases distinct uses of pattern in homes all over the country to inspire you to realize that an injection of pattern can enliven any space, helping to make it uniquely yours.

    This comprehensive guide will help you assess your priorities and your instincts, as well as your likes and dislikes, with practical steps for navigating and embracing your authentic design style.Room by room, Homebody gives you an in-depth look at how these styles are iterated as well as how to blend the genres you’re drawn to in order to create spaces that look and feel distinctly yours.In each chapter are practical takeaways to help problem solve potential pain points in your home. A fold out design guidebook at the back of the book offers a place for you to take notes and sketch out your own design plans as you make your way through the rooms.The insight shared in Homebody will instill in you the confidence to thoughtfully create spaces that you never want to leave.

    A space opportunity might be as simple as using an empty space under a stairway or above a doorway or as complicated as dividing your entire apartment for rental income.Each chapter addresses a different kind of space opportunity area, including closets, corners, walls, windows, ceilings, and floors. In these areas, you will be inspired by Sandenbergh’s creative approaches to divided spaces, stacked spaces, empty spaces, mirrored spaces, and multipurpose furniture. Learn from the author’s stories of her own designs for “small-by-choice” homes—for herself and for her clients—in which she tried to make the best possible use of varied living spaces. Allow Sandenbergh to help you create more space-efficient and attractive areas in your home whether you live in a studio apartment, a tiny home, or a larger home that needs more of a cozy feel.

    Country Living showcases a coast-to-coast collection of sustainable dwellings, all ranging from 100 to 1,500 square feet. Take an inside tour of these impressive little abodes, like a converted 1840s schoolhouse in New York, a 22- x 24-foot kit barn in California wine country, a 1914 New Hampshire coastal row home, and a renovated 1950s Alabama lake house. Along with inspiring photographs, hundreds of decorating tips, smart finds, and storage solutions will help you implement minimalistic living in your own home. These charming cottages, delightful she-sheds, functional farmhouses, and transformative trailersfeature a clever use of space and prove that going small can be simple and fulfilling.

    Running with the idea that our homes are where we are truly ourselves, Peter York's wildly original and scathingly funny look at the interior decorating tastes of some of history's most alarming dictators proves that absolute power corrupts absolutely, right down to the drapes. Mining rare, jaw-dropping photographs of interiors now mostly (thankfully) destroyed, York's hilarious profiles of 16 inner sanctums of the scary leaves no endangered tiger pelt unturned, from Saddam Hussein's creepy private art collection to General Noriega's Christmas tree to the strange tube and knob contraption in the Ceausescu bathroom. All your favorite dictators are here: Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Tito, Mussolini, Mobutu, Idi Amin, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos—each with their own uniquely frightful chic. An interior decorating book like no other, Dictator Style is a welcome tonic for a world in need of a good laugh at the expense of the all-powerful.

    Colin draws back the curtain on his own chic, passionate, 120-miles-per-hour life, revealing how to create and entertain in an inviting home, garner respect in the workplace, and travel with ease and comfort. No matter how or where you live, or whatever your personal style may be, Colin Cowie Chic will place you on the fast track to experiencing life to the fullest. This immensely practical handbook offers step-by-step instructions on everything from workplace etiquette to the art of no-sweat, fuss-free travel. Colin also takes the guesswork out of navigating today’s social situations with the kind of charm and confidence that will get you invited back anywhere you want! The invaluable details he shares include:Home:Essential comforts for every roomKitchen decorating ideasStorage and organization shortcutsKnow-how for being or hosting a guestEntertaining: A wine-and-cheese primerOptions for stunning table settingsA no-fail hangover cure Travel:Unbeatable jet-lag remediesRoad-trip guidelinesA must-have packing listWork:Tips for motivating employees and coworkersDesk etiquette for the officeAnd much more!Packed with detailed lists, gorgeous photographs, and helpful illustrations, this is the only guidebook you’ll ever need to live a beautiful, elegant life (as you should!).

    The images are of stunning bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, and bathrooms; and insightful text complements them to reveal the methods used to make the minimalist rooms so eye-catching and desirable. The text includes a wealth of both big-picture and more focused ideas. It covers subjects such as walls (if and when to use them), doors, and partitions; flooring, lighting, furniture, and staircases; and explores color, patterns, materials, and texture.The houses featured in this extraordinary volume were developed by distinguished international designers at the forefront of the minimalist movement. The result is a guide that offers both inspiration and practical, easy-to follow advice for creating maximum beauty using minimal elements.

    Throughout, gorgeous photographs of rooms with rare collections, floor-to-ceiling shelves, and stacks upon stacks of books inspire readers to live better with their own collections.Praise for Bibliostyle"Featuring enviable private libraries and packed floor-to-ceiling shelves, this beautiful volume makes a compelling case for books as d�cor."--New York"Freudenberger spotlights the splendid, enviable personal libraries of literary figures whose owners obviously care about their book collections and have actually read them, too."--The Boston Globe"This is a coffee table book that makes you think as well as admire and desire."--Sydney Herald"Offers a look into the fabulous homes of book lovers the world over, showcasing how their interior design is built around the tomes they love most."--CN"The photographs of rooms with rare collections, floor-to-ceiling shelves, and stacks upon stacks of books will inspire readers to live better with their own collections."--Publishers Weekly "Nina Freudenberger teams with Sadie Stein of The New Yorker and photographer Shade Degges of Architectural Digest to showcase beautiful photographs of the private libraries of book lovers from all over the world."--BookRiot

    The long-awaited second edition includes: new coverage on Postmodernism and its relationship to the Modernist era; a reorganization of Mesopotamian and Prehistoric architecture based on thematic lines of development; an expanded chapter on Medieval architecture, including developments from the end of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance; and an expanded art program that includes over 500 images in black and white and color. Understanding Architecture continues to be the only text in the field to examine architecture as a cultural phenomenon as well as an artistic and technological achievement with its straightforward, two-part structure: (1) The Elements of Architecture and (2) The History and Meaning of Architecture. Comprehensive, clearly written, affordable, and accessible, Understanding Architecture is a classic survey of Western architecture.

    As the collection grew, the site attracted a following, which is now a huge and obsessive audience.The site features photos of the most remarkable handmade homes in the backcountry of America and all over the world. It has had over 10 million unique visitors, with 350,000 followers on Tumblr. Now Zach Klein, the creator of the site (and a co-founder of Vimeo) goes further into the most alluring images from the site and new getaways, including more interior photography and how-to advice for setting up a quiet place somewhere. With their idyllic settings, unique architecture and cozy interiors, the Cabin Porn photographs, are an invitation to slow down, take a deep breath, and feel the beauty and serenity that nature and simple construction can create.

    Written in collaboration with celebrated American architect Ogden Codman, Jr., Wharton's first book is a comprehensive look at the history and character of turn-of-the-century interior design, moving from historical traditions to the distinctive styles of contemporary taste. Published in association with the Mount Press, this beautiful hardcover facsimile is carefully reproduced from the first edition published in 1897 and includes all 56 original plates-illustrating furniture, moldings, and interior styles of the 19th-century-and features décollage edges as well as a new introduction from renowned scholar Richard Guy Wilson. The Mount is a magnificent estate Edith Wharton designed and built in 1902 as a writer's retreat in the beautiful Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts.