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John Saladino’s powerful new book is nothing less than a master class in interior and garden design. Villa focuses on the stone ruin in Southern California that Saladino painstakingly refashioned into his dream house, and it shows how his principles and passions guided him through the five-year process of reconstruction, restoration, and decoration. With the aid of plans and drawings, as well as numerous photographs of the house. how it looked in the 1920s, shots of when he bought it, and snaps taken during reconstruction — Saladino traces the architectural work involved. Then, in a superbly illustrated tour of the house and grounds, he proves that he practices what he’s preached for more than 30 years. Juxtaposing light and dark, old and new, classical and modern, monumental and miniscule, hard and soft, Saladino creates the serenely timeless interiors and gardens that are his hallmark.
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- Part of the pleasure of Villa is the detail – every photograph is carefully captioned giving an idea or a lesson, from a master craftesman. –villa
- The infrared photos Mr Saladino includes among the color ones are ghostly and lovely, and Mr Saladino’s interiors are as painterly as ever. –New York Times
- This big, square, beautiful book is about a single house. But what a house! In 1985, Interior Design Hall of Fame member John Saladino came across the ruins of a 1920’s Italianate stone villa overlooking the Pacific in Santa Barbara, California. Divided into four sections, Architecture, Interiors, Landscape, and Entertaining–this last part including dinner menus and recipes–the book is beautifully illustrated. “Before” images and construction photos give some idea of the four years of reconstruction and design work, perhaps the source of the house’s punning name, Villa di Lemma. Interior views and vignettes show Saladino at his celebrated best, creating old-world character and patina but able to snap a room into the present with deft touches. Note his own 1970 table lamp, with its clear glass cylindrical base, juxtaposed with an Italian Renaissance chest in the bedroom. An enclosed DVD, narrated by Saladino himself, adds a tour of the house and its grounds. Is anything missing from this justifiably elaborate presentation? Just one thing. Although site plans, drawings of interior details, and delightful freehand sketches are all provided, there is no floor plan. Other than that, here is an extraordinary subject, handsomely recorded. –Interior Design
- Villa by John Saladino chronicles the architectural designer’s transformation of a dilapidated 1920’s dwelling into his personal paradise; the bonus DVD narrated by the author takes viewers on a tour. –Elle Decor
- Villa is designer John Saladino’s personal account of restoring an Italianate 1920’s stone ruin set in the California hillsides. Room-by-room and garden-by-garden, Saladino gives a personal tour of his romantic home, illustrated with atmosphere-drenched photos that highlight his connoisseur collections of antiques, architectural fragments and art. Discover Saladino’s talent for creating “axes of desire” and admire the Napoleonic bed floating theatrically in the center of his master bedroom. The tour of the gardens reveal Saladino’s knack for unifying classicists tastes with modern sensibility. –The Atlantan
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