YOSSAWAT

Jacques Grange: Interiors by Pierre Passebon

Yossawat — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:05:27 +0000

Jacques Grange: Interiors

Combining good taste and audacity is a subtle art that interior designer Jacques Grange has perfected for over four decades. As a young man working for design legends Henri Samuel and then Didier Aaron, his talent was soon recognized by the likes of the Rothschilds, Madeleine Castaing, and the Vicomtesse de Noailles. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Grange is known for being able to disappear behind his designs; he believes an interior décor should serve as a “self-portrait” of the occupant and not the designer. His prestigious commissions in New York, Paris, London, Venice, and Marrakech blend Oriental and North African influences with Western styles, from rococo opulence to modern chic. But, remarkably, Grange is not afraid to strip everything away, and to make space itself the main focus of a room. Always balancing virtuoso flourishes with tasteful understatement, Grange’s touch is unique.

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The English Country House: From the Archives of Country Life by Mary Miers

Yossawat — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:48:06 +0000

The English Country House: From the Archives of Country Life (Country Life Magazine)

The English Country House takes a look at the architecture and interiors of sixty-two stunning houses in a range of architectural styles spanning seven centuries—from the medieval Stokesay Castle to the newly built, Lutyens-inspired Corfe Farm—brought to life through the world-renowned photography library of Country Life. More than four hundred color and black and white illustrations provide an insight into the architecture, decoration, gardens, and landscape settings of these houses, which are set into their architectural and historical context by the accompanying text and extended captions.

The book provides an entrée into the houses to which Country Life has had privileged access over the years, many of which are still private homes, often occupied by descendants of the families that built them. Punctuating the book at intervals in the form of booklets on rich, uncoated paper are six essays by leading British architectural historians that set the English country house into its social context and chart the changing tastes in decorating and collecting, the development of ancillary buildings, gardens and landscapes, and finally, its influence in the United States.

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Italian Rustic: How to Bring Tuscan Charm into Your Home by Elizabeth Helman Minchilli, Domenico Minchilli

Yossawat — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:29:59 +0000

Italian Rustic: How to Bring Tuscan Charm into Your Home

A celebration of Tuscan farmhouse style, with practical advice on how to bring the look home.
For anyone who has ever dreamed of living under the Tuscan sun, Italian Rustic is the next best thing—a step-by-step guide to recreating the romance and appeal of the weathered Italian farmhouse. This nuts-and-bolts guide to building Italian-style walks the reader through all the elements that make the rustic Italian home so unique, from the hand-laid stone walls to the artisanal stucco wall finishes.

Author Elizabeth Minchilli, an American design writer based in Rome and Tuscany, received dozens of questions from readers after publishing her last book, Artisan’s Restoring a Home in Italy. The queries went beyond the usual searches for fabric and couches. “People were hungry to know how terra-cotta tiles were laid, or how fireplaces were built,” she says. Italian Rustic, researched with the help of her Italian architect husband, is the user-friendly result: a book that explains, in clear text accompanied by photographs and drawings, how to lay a tile floor a la Italiana, or add a Tuscan-style pergola to any garden.

With more than 300 stunning photographs shot on location in Tuscany and Umbria, the book contains profiles of local artisans, engaging text on how the farmhouse style evolved, and targeted advice on how Americans can find Italian-style building materials and craftsmen close to home. This essential sourcebook will appeal to anyone building an addition or an entire house from scratch, or for homeowners who want to add just a touch of Italian style to their houses.

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Glamour: Making it Modern by Michael Lassell

Yossawat — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:12:43 +0000

Glamour: Making it Modern

Glamour. Itís hard to define yet most know it when they see it. Today, glamour may still invoke the sophistication and refinement of the golden years of Hollywood art deco, but country, industrial and even nature glamour have joined the more traditional modes.

The 21st century has brought glamouróand her sisters, decoration and ornamentationóback into home design news. Todayís most cutting-edge homes embrace design of every kind from every corner of the globe. Itís a marriage of disparate styles that finds no contradiction. Glamour is in vogue in homes that are castles (literally) and in one-bedroom rentals at the fringes of downtowns.

Looking at homes recently featured in Metropolitan Home, Glamour, Making It Modern reconsiders them through the following sections:

concepts: looks at the defining general notions of Modern Glamour, such as sheen and scale,
objects: examines elements of home decoration which are inherently glamorous,
rooms: tours homes where everything comes glamorously together.

With a directory of the designers, some of the best in the business, and a list of resources for available products, Glamour, Making It Modern is purely inspirational and absolutely accessible.

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Nancy Corzine : Glamour at Home by Nancy Corzine, Robert Janjigian

Yossawat — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:47:41 +0000

Nancy Corzine: Glamour at Home

Glamour at Home is an inspirational design primer from Nancy Corzine, a celebrated and respected name in the fields of furnishings, textiles, and interior design. Corzine’s interiors reflect an elegant and sophisticated approach to life that conjures up classic Hollywood style. Her assemblages of mirrored vanities, silk-covered chaise lounges, and gold-leaf black lacquer armoires decorated with chinoiserie in gorgeous light-filled rooms are dazzling. To demonstrate the foundations of her design aesthetic, Corzine presents homes in a variety of settings—urban, rural, and coastal—as case studies. The book is divided into entryways, living and dining rooms, libraries and home offices, bedrooms and bathrooms, kitchens, and exterior areas. Sidebars cover such useful topics as choosing furniture or a textile ensemble that is appropriate for a particular style, how to incorporate mirrors to their best advantage to enliven a space, and artful ways to display treasured objects. These elegant and composed indoor and outdoor rooms are timeless.

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Design Rules: The Insider’s Guide to Becoming Your Own Decorator by Elaine Griffin

Yossawat — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:09:56 +0000

Design Rules: The Insider’s Guide to Becoming Your Own Decorator

Many design books are filled with lavish photography of perfect rooms that most of us can only dream of re-creating. Without any practical advice, the look is unattainable. That’s where Design Rules comes in. Here, Elaine Griffin, one of the country’s 100 top designers (House Beautiful), explains all the practical decorating standards that professionals use behind the scenes to create flowing, balanced, gorgeous design. Packed with helpful illustrations and hundreds of step-by-step tips, Design Rules includes essential advice such as:

• Pick a pleasing color palette (that really works)
• Correctly size their bedsize tables (so they don’t tower over their beds)
• Enhance the visual appeal of windowless rooms (so they’re not dungeons)
• Design furniture arrangements that function and flow
• Style up even the most forlorn kitchens, baths and yes, basements and laundry rooms (honey, no space is too dreadful to be made ultra fab)
• Brighten up their kitchens with a can of paint and a burst of strategically-placed color (location, location, location!)
• Figure out which styles of furniture go together (there is a rule and it’s easy!)
• Make their own personalities shine throughout their homes (because they should)
• And oodles more!

Design Rules is for the growing number of savvy, novice home designers who are well-versed in what good design looks like, but need advice on how to translate it into their own home. It is the home design bible people have been waiting for.

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Restoring a House in the City by Ingrid Abramovitch

Yossawat — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:53:33 +0000

Restoring a House in the City

How to turn an old home into a jewel on the block.
What do a fashion mogul, a Williams-Sonoma executive, a museum curator, and a design-savvy actress have in common? Good taste, of course, but more than that: a shared passion to “bring back,” to carefully restore and artfully embellish, their houses.

They are among the twenty-one real-life renovations featured in this essential resource—from stately town houses to brownstone fixer-uppers—to give the true experience of creating an urban oasis on any street. Whether hunting for rare chandeliers, salvaging floorboards for new tabletops, or removing walls to let more light in, all the nuts and bolts of restoration are here. In Boston, a young family’s renovation takes three years and includes every modern amenity (a media room, home gym, elevator), but saves most of the original interiors (window shutters and seats, marble fireplaces). A Baltimore couple—both stars of the graphic design world—must reconcile their cutting-edge tastes with their traditional surrounds.

From furniture and color to rooftops and terraces, Restoring a House in the City offers a treasury of inspiration and ideas, as well as a lavish illustrated tour of some of the best done renovations in the business.

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Country Living Merry & Bright : 301 Festive Ideas for Celebrating Christmas

Yossawat — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:54:08 +0000

Country Living Merry & Bright: 301 Festive Ideas for Celebrating Christmas

Make this Christmas season Merry & Bright with this delightful volume from the editors of Country Living. Every page is breathtaking, with over 301 enchanting ideas for celebrating the most wonderful time of the year, including fabulous tree-toppers and exceptional ornaments from paper dolls to leather baby shoes. Wreaths and garlands adorn bed frames, doorknobs, and even hang from chandeliers. There are mantelpiece and tabletop displays with a contingent of Santa figurines, dazzling table and buffet settings, special recipes such as chocolate snowflakes, and even some simple crafts—including a silvery cone of jingle bells embellished with a beautifully tied bow.

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Shabby Chic Interiors: My Rooms, Treasures, and Trinkets by Rachel Ashwell

Yossawat — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:20:48 +0000

Shabby Chic Interiors: My Rooms, Treasures, and Trinkets

Rachel Ashwell created Shabby Chic: a peaceful, practical way of living that embraces a respect for the things in our lives we hold dear and keeps them at the heart of our homes. Romantic florals reclining against pure white linen, ruffles of muslin skirting a bed base against bleached floorboards, the deep comfort of a simple nest of fluffy towels – This is Rachel Ashwell’s signature style that for the past 20 years has been a major influence in our modern lives. “Shabby Chic Interiors – My Rooms, Treasures and Trinkets”, an eclectic book of quirky inspiration, falls into chapters according to location, and begins with Rachel’s breathtaking Los Angeles residence. Next, we wander into a photographer’s minimalist mountain-top home in the Hollywood hills before heading to the coast and a beautiful Malibu beach cottage. A truly bohemian hideout in southern California is next on the journey, followed by a peek at celebrity homes, including the house that once belonged to Marilyn Monroe. With rooms combining flea-market finds and objects of pure functionality – an elegant French mirror reflecting a painting, a bejewelled metallic candle holder sitting by a cluster of willow-patterned china, a single faded velvet pillow lounging under the twinkle of a vintage chandelier – this book celebrates all that is wonderfully Shabby Chic.

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Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens (Spiral-bound) by Lena Corwin

Yossawat — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:35:05 +0000

Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens

It’s the natural inconsistencies—the accidental differences between one finished piece and another—that make hand-printed fabrics, papers, furniture, and works of art so interesting. The quirks are what show the maker’s intimate involvement in the process, and it’s that unique quality that first attracted textile designer and illustrator Lena Corwin to hand-printing.

Even though decorative prints are more in vogue than ever, there was until now no up-to-date hand-printing guide—no single source explaining the tools and materials that are used today, or reflecting a contemporary aesthetic. Corwin has given us that guide.

Using step-by-step instructions and up-close photos, Corwin teaches crafters everything they need to know to master stamping, stenciling, and screen printing, from making their own printing devices to trouble-shooting when plans go awry. Her inimitable collection of projects ranges from stamped stationery and simple-to-sew pouches, to stenciled tote bags and furniture, to screen-printed bed linens and upholstery fabric. There’s even a silk-screened dog bed. The author has created original artwork for each project (full-size patterns are included in an envelope at the back of the book), so that every crafter can achieve the same beautiful results. Or maybe not quite the same. Remember: It’s the subtle differences that make hand-printing so special and alluring.

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