The grace and elegance of the Japanese sensibility is reflected in both modern and traditional Japanese homes, from their fluid floor plans to their use of natural materials. In The Japanese House, renowned Japanese photographer Noboru Murata has captured this Eastern spirit with hundreds of vivid color photographs of 15 Japanese homes. As we step behind the lens with Murata, we're witness to the unique Japanese aesthetic, to the simple proportions modeled after the square of the tatami mat; to refined, rustic decor; to earthy materials like wood, paper, straw, ceramics, and textiles. This is a glorious house-tour readers can return to again and again, for ideas, inspiration, or simply admiration.

    It features the exceptional interiors of eight houses, discusses successes and challenges, and shows how to live stylishly. Tips are shared on color, flooring, window coverings, furniture arrangements, and how off-the-shelf components can be turned into custom features. The homeowners' stories explain why these rooms work, and provide you with resources and ideas for everything from garage doors to the art on the wall.

    Peek inside the homes of longtime enthusiasts and dedicated newcomers that reflect not just a sport or passion, but also a way of life. Blake and Heather Mycoskie of TOMS, hotelier Sean MacPherson, Gypset author Julia Chaplin, and others have set up their spaces to embrace a casual ease and be the break between the waves. With vibrant photographs of design details and bright beaches—from Malibu to the Rockaways, from Japan to Australia—this book captures the soulful milieu of a lifestyle we all aspire to."Surfers are a breed onto themselves and their homes . . . Nina Freudenberger has taken a good look at not only a number of these vastly different abodes but also a quick glimpse into the particular and even peculiar lives that are lived there. Because after all, to a surfer at least, surfing is the only life." –Gerry Lopez, renowned surfer, innovator, and author of Surf is Where You Find It

    Their passion for saving and renovating old homes, which caught the attention of HGTV, sparked the creation of their new reality series, Old Home Love.Their stunning debut book features never before seen images of more than 15 homes, (including their own, renovated by the couple themselves), do-it-yourself renovation tips and guidance, and their family’s story. Old Home Love will inspire readers to discover the history and beauty behind their own homes, regardless of location or style.

    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.

    Among significant mid-century interiors, none are more celebrated yet underpublished as the homes created by architects and interior designers for themselves. This collection of newly commissioned photographs presents the most compelling homes by influential mid-century designers, such as Russel Wright, George Nakashima, Harry Bertoia, Charles and Ray Eames, and Eva Zeisel, among others. Intimate as well as revelatory, Williamson’s photographs show these creative homes as they were lived in by their designers: Walter Gropius’s historic Bauhaus home in Massachusetts; Albert Frey’s floating modernist aerie on a Palm Springs rock outcropping; Wharton Esherick’s completely handmade Pennsylvania house, from the organic handcarved staircase to the iconic furniture. Personal and breathtaking by turn—these homes are exemplary studies of domestic modernism at its warmest and most creative.

    House Beautiful Style Essentials: What Every Room Needs is an inspiring and hardworking handbook that shows readers how to create the rooms of their dreams by revealing what “every room needs.” Chapters like “Every Room Needs a Hiding Place” provide clever ideas for storage and organization, while sections like “Every Room Needs Something Shiny” give examples of how reflective surfaces can enhance and enlarge any space. Simple yet elegant advice from some of the biggest names in the interiors world is paired throughout with stunning photography of the best and most beautiful rooms featured in the magazine. From a room’s overall look and color down to its smallest details, House Beautiful Style Secrets provides tips, tricks, and secrets on how to cultivate a comfortable home and uncover the potential of every living space.

    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.

    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.

    Marian Parsons gets giddy over room makeovers. With a lot of ingenuity, a little bit of effort, and a tight budget, she has transformed her home into a beautiful space and filled her heart with a lot more contentment. Thousands have found inspiration at Marian’s blog, missmustardseed.com , and now she shares dozens of new projects, ideas, and DIY adventures in the pages of Inspired You.Marian will remind you that homes don’t have to be magazine material to be special, comfortable, and inviting. The goal you’re working toward is home. Not a perfect home. Not an “impress the neighbors” home. Just home—one whose walls and rooms tell the story of the family who lives there. Beautiful homes start with inspiration and a willingness to try. So uncover your God-given creativity. Be encouraged, be willing, and be inspired.

    In Japan, one goes there to cleanse the soul. Bathing in Japan is about much more than cleanliness: it is about family and community. It is about being alone and contemplative, time to watch the moon rise above the garden.Along with sixty full-color illustrations of the light and airy baths themselves, The Japanese Bath, delves into the aesthetic of bathing Japanese style and the innate beauty of the steps surrounding the process. The authors explain how to create a Japanese bath in your own home. A Zen meditation, the Japanese bath, indeed, cleanses the soul, and one emerges refreshed, renewed, and serene.

    His method emphasizes speed, confidence, and relaxation, while incorporating many time-saving tricks of the trade.

    She shows readers how simple acts of self-nurturing--meditation, long baths, studying art--can help foster self-esteem and inward good health, qualities which will naturally lead to love and respect for others.

    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

    It also contains the easy to follow instructions on how to analyze and compute the structural design of critical building parts such as: reinforced concrete slabs, beams, columns and footings. There are also simple designs and floor plans for a variety of building types to be found in this book.BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION should be of interest to architects, engineers, contractors, developers and allied professionals who are engaged in building design, planning and construction. Students and graduates reviewing for the board examinations for architects and engineers would find in this book valuable practical knowledge to supplement the theories learned in their classrooms.Project owners studying this book would appreciate and get a clear understanding of how their envisioned pet project, which sprang only from a mere idea - is transformed slowly step-by-step - into concrete form.Explanations and instructions in BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION are conveyed in direct and simple language for easy understanding even by the layman. Plans and drawings are clearly presented, to be easily interpreted by construction workers.