Elements of Style: Designing a Home a Life


Erin Gates - 2014
    Drawing on her ten years of experience in the interior design industry, Erin combines honest design advice and gorgeous professional photographs and illustrations with personal essays about the lessons she has learned while designing her own home and her own life—the first being: none of our homes or lives is perfect. Like a funny best friend, she reveals the disasters she confronted in her own kitchen renovation, her struggles with anorexia, her epic fight with her husband over a Lucite table, and her secrets for starting a successful blog.Organized by rooms in the house, Elements of Style invites readers into Erin’s own home as well as homes she has designed for clients. Fresh, modern, and colorful, it is brimming glamour and style as well as advice on practical matters from choosing kitchen counter materials to dressing a bed with pillows, picking a sofa, and decorating a nursery without cartoon characters. You’ll also find a charming foreword by Erin’s husband, Andrew, and an extensive Resource and Shopping Guide that provides an indispensable a roadmap for anyone embarking on their first serious home decorating adventure. With Erin’s help, you can finally make your house your home.

Color in Interior Design


John F. Pile - 1995
    Coverage ranges from the basic principles of color to the effect of color on the human psyche. Includes extensive color charts and photos showing design do's and don'ts and a portfolio of color charts and renderings of work done by practicing design professionals. 250 full-color illus./photos; 30 b&w photos.

Small Space Decorating (Better Homes and Gardens)


Better Homes and Gardens - 2011
    The experts at Better Homes & Gardens have collected all the inspiration you need to turn a ho-hum space into a showstopper.

Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic Inspirations Beautiful Spaces


Rachel Ashwell - 2011
    In this new book, Rachel takes us to homes in the US—from a shabby shack on Malibu’s oceanfront to her new ranch on the wide, open spaces of Texas and to the wooded hills of the Catskills—and in the UK—from a houseboat and a city townhouse to a centuries-old manor house deep in the country, and Rachel’s own London apartment. All the houses, regardless of their size or location, embody Rachel’s ethos and share the same qualities: a respect for beautiful objects from the past, an extravagant sense of comfort, and an eye for the unexpected. All are inviting, artistic, soulful, inspired and inspiring, beautiful, gentle, considered and, in their own way, perfectly imperfect.

Colin Cowie Chic: The Guide to Life As It Should Be


Colin Cowie - 2007
    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!).

Color Recipes for Painted Furniture and More: 40 step-by-step projects to transform your home


Annie Sloan - 2013
     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.

Happy Home: Everyday Magic for a Colorful Life


Charlotte Hedeman Guéniau - 2013
    Happy Home brims with useful ideas for transforming a ho-hum home with relaxed contemporary style featuring bright colors, cheerful patterns, and varying textures and scale inspired by designer Charlotte Hedeman Gueniau and her home furnishings company Rice, which are well-known among design fans for innovative home furnishings and houseware collections featuring ethically sourced and produced products. The book shows how the basics of everyday life can be enlivened by bringing color and a sense of fun to daily living, whether by using brightly colored accessories or by introducing fabrics with patterns, textures, and hints of humor throughout the home. Included are practical suggestions that add informal charm to any room, as well as do-it-yourself projects ranging from brightly colored throws and cushions, storage ideas to hide clutter, hand-painted furniture, and decorative motifs for walls and other surfaces.

Pottery Barn Living Rooms


Bonnie Schwartz - 2003
    Drawing on the expertise of America's leading home furnishings brand, this essential guide addresses every aspect of creating comfortable, casual living spaces with ease and style. With more than 250 original color photographs, Pottery Barn Living Rooms is the ultimate sourcebook for decorating the heart of your home.Key Features:* More than 250 never-before-seen photographs illustrate everything you need to know, from choosing colors to arranging furniture* Hundreds of practical decorating ideas and quick styling tips help you create simple, beautiful effects throughout your home* Walk-through room tours of real-life living spaces include color palettes, design plans, and quick-reference guides to materials

Modern Glamour: The Art of Unexpected Style


Kelly Wearstler - 2004
    With a painter's eye for colour, unwavering esteem for the historic, and a finely tuned sense of detail, Kelly Wearstler, one of Hollywood's most talked about young interior designers, has led her Los Angeles-based interior design firm, kwid (Kelly Wearstler Interior Design), to national prominence with an array of noted residential and commercial projects. Now, she shares her famous design philosophies and secrets, and inspires readers to create unexpected style in their own homes. Through full-colour photographs and sketches and informative text, Kelly explains the elements of unexpected style: inspiration, shapes and forms, graphics, texture and colour, masculine vs. feminine, and unusual details. Kelly takes readers through the creative process and shows how a Franco-Chinese piece of vintage wallpaper led her to a shopping spree in Paris and inspired the layered, classic look of the hotel Maison 140 in Beverly Hills. She explains the need for "icebreakers" in a room and how unexpected designs and details can lighten a room's load. This is the perfect book for anyone looking for new and creative ways to decorate their homes. Whether it's shopping for a bedside table, putting reflective paint on the underside of a dining room table, or finishing a ceiling with high–gloss paint, she inspires readers to add an element of the unexpected to their homes. Others will enjoy living vicariously through Kelly's shopping sprees throughout the US, Asia, and Europe and appreciate discovering how each item found is a starting off point for a fresh and fun room design.

Home by Novogratz


Robert Novogratz - 2012
    See how they effortlessly mix contemporary furniture with thrift-store finds, and learn all sorts of tricks for creating a stylish home no matter what the obstacles: seven children, small spaces, or a tiny budget. From toddler-friendly bedroom for triplets to a beach retreat for two twenty-somethings, from a New Jersey basement to a Palm Beach cabana, Home by Novogratz proves that good design is just a book away.

She Made Herself a Home: A Practical Guide to Design, Organize, and Give Purpose to Your Space


Rachel Van Kluyve - 2020
    Whether you're decorating your first home, planning for renovations, or simply looking for an affordable refresh, She Made Herself a Home is the ideal home décor planner to help you tap into your creative side and instill the confidence you need to get started. People of all ages who care about their family's personal spaces will find that this guide makes designing a home with function and beauty an exciting, unintimidating prospect.With ideas adaptable to any décor style, Rachel walks her readers through each space in a home, listing a room's must-haves, providing easy steps to determine a layout that works best for each individual's home, and teaching that design begins with determining the unique purpose of each space. Rachel also provides the best tips for choosing the right item for your space, finding great deals, and keeping it all organized. Alongside photography of Rachel's gorgeous home, She Made Herself a Home features favorite photos and ideas from many other popular home décor bloggers, whose unique styles offer extra inspiration.You don't have to break the bank to bring new life and purpose into your home. With design expertise from Rachel and others, you can confidently take action to create the beautiful, peaceful home you've dreamed of.

Beekman 1802 Style: The Attraction of Opposites


Brent Ridge - 2015
    But can you make that trendy new lamp jibe with your grandmother's heirloom dresser?The fabulous Beekman Boys answer with a resounding "Yes!" in their new book, Beekman 1802 Style. Through more than 200 stunning photographs from Country Living magazine and never-before-seen images of the Beekman farmhouse, the boys use their city-turned-country-boy charm and style to help with all things home. Their unique home design tips and tricks for mixing high and low, East and West, indoors and outdoors, and traditional with modern will help you create a home that is inviting, warm, and--perhaps most important--fabulous.

Beautiful: All-American Decorating and Timeless Style


Mark D. Sikes - 2016
    Sikes is a celebration of American style today, showcasing chic and accessible ideas for every home. Modern and unfussy, Mark D. Sikes's interiors are classic takes on California indoor/outdoor living, with natural fibers and crisp coloration, informed and influenced by the fashion world where he began his career. In eight chapters, he explores approachable, stylish looks, from Blue and White Forever, which features indigos, stripes, batiks, and wicker in casual rooms such as porches and pool houses; to Timeless Neutrals, presenting semiformal rooms filled with chinoiserie, gilt, glass, mirrors, banquettes, and French chairs; to Garden Greens, featuring happy, casual family rooms and kitchens inspired by the garden with treillage woodwork, rattan, and cotton. There are also Beautiful Brights, colorful rooms that are eclectic, layered, and fun, with chintz, florals, and Middle Eastern influences; and Sun Faded Hues, rustic coastal rooms with weathered fabrics and furniture. Each chapter presents light-filled images of the designer's looks and offers the reader inspiration and advice. As famed film director Nancy Meyers writes in the book's foreword, this is a book that shows design lovers how classic can look fresh, how style and comfort go hand-in-hand.

Good Bones, Great Pieces: The Seven Essential Pieces That Will Carry You Through a Lifetime


Suzanne McGrath - 2012
    Suzanne and Lauren McGrath, a mother–daughter team, operate the popular blog Good Bones, Great Pieces. At the core of their philosophy is the belief that every home should have seven essential pieces that can live in almost any room and will always be stylish. The authors explain how to place iconic items of furniture like the love seat and the dresser and rotate them throughout the home as the style or need changes.Illustrated with photographs of homes and apartments that the McGraths have designed, as well as apartments by some iconic designers, this book is a wonderful resource, whether you are starting out with your first apartment or rethinking the design of your home.Praise for Good Bones, Great Pieces:“The mother and daughter team of Suzanne and Lauren McGrath have created an excellent and useful book for both beginners and more experienced home decorators. Making use of cherished family furniture and objects in combination with affordable and available pieces, the team encourages us all to be both carefree and careful in our creation of a comfortable and comforting home.” —Martha Stewart "A must-read for first-timers and seasoned home decorators alike." – Traditional Home “Fail-proof guides to insider sources, suggestions on how to reincarnate tired pieces of furniture, and expert weigh-ins from iconic designers like Miles Redd and Robert Couturier are the gloss on the paint.” —ArchitecturalDigest.com

Vern Yip's Design Wise: Your Smart Guide to a Beautiful Home


Vern Yip - 2016
    This New York Times bestseller provides both the inspiration and the clear, essential guidelines you need to create a home that perfectly reflects you. Have you ever wondered exactly how high to hang your artwork? How about the light fixture over your dining table? Do you know how to ideally size a rug for any room, or the best way to arrange your furniture? Beloved designer Vern Yip answers these questions, and more, by revealing the right formulas and measurements that can make any room feel just "right." And once you know these key design principles, you're free to confidently create a home that uniquely celebrates your needs and style. With gorgeous photos throughout, Vern Yip's Design Wise is a book you'll return to again and again.