Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Kitchens ( Sunset Design Guides )

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Kitchens: A Sunset Design Guide is an inspiring reference for ideas to create a well-designed kitchen. This fresh and modern revised edition of the 2008 best-seller includes all the latest in design and materials, along with indispensable remodeling advice from professional kitchen designers. Readers will discover pages full of the advice they need to create a uniquely livable room by adding their own personal touch. Updated photography throughout renders this the ultimate guide to creating a stunning kitchen that fits the reader's home, style, and budget.

Nell Hill's Rooms We Love

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In "Nell Hill's Rooms We Love, "decorating maven Mary Carol Garrity coaches readers on how to affordably decorate rooms they will fall in love with. Named "One of America's hottest little retailers" by "Fortune" magazine, Mary Carol Garrity's mini empire of three decor stores are a Midwest regional phenomenon and have become landmarks in the decorating world.

Remodelista: A Manual for the Considered Home

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Carlson, founder and editor in chief of the interior design and home remodeling website Remodelista.com, visits 12 homes that exemplify her signature style, which is light filled and uncluttered, containing a mix of modern furnishings and vintage finds. The book also takes a closer look at an additional nine kitchens and five bathrooms. These 26 residences--none of which have appeared on the website and are located primarily in California, New York, and London--are shown in close to 500 color photographs. The author provides simple design projects, storage ideas, and a list of 100 Remodelista-recommended everyday items such as lamps, dinnerware, glassware, cookware, and linens. A guide to remodeling offers practical information on handling budgets and contracts and straightforward advice from professionals, while a list of resources completes this comprehensive volume. VERDICT An excellent source of inspiration for those interested in renovating their house or just revamping a room. Library Journal (11/01/2013)

Thursday, October 31, 2013

40 Projects for Building Your Backyard Homestead: A Hands-On, Step-By-Step Sustainable-Living Guide

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Provides details on how to build more than 40 projects--sheds, feeders, fences, and other structures--to enhance readers' sustainable living.

Friday, October 18, 2013

Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic Treasure Hunting & Decorating Guide

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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 enter 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 bejeweled 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

House Beautiful Color: The Perfect Shade for Every Room

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"House Beautiful Colors for Your Home" presented 300 colors--each with a color swatch, manufacturer, and name or number of the paint--that were designers' favorites and provided a helpful guide to paint color for the home. Here, "House Beautiful" contributor Cregan ("House Beautiful Blue") offers even more information about how interior designers who have been featured in "House Beautiful" tackle color, presenting more than 400 color photographs of professionally designed interiors and gardens. Cregan includes comparisons of how a particular color is used in contemporary vs. traditional styles and its use for walls and as an accent in various rooms of the home. There is also a section in which designers describe how they employed a specific hue as they decorated a room, along with examples of various color schemes.
Library Journal (10/01/2013)

Orla Kiely Home

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Internationally renowned designer Orla Kiely describes her career as 'a journey in pattern and color'. Her distinctive palette and graphic and stylized motifs in clean repeat constructions, have won her devoted fans across the world, and have helped to turn what began as a small British business designing bags, into a global fashion, accessories and homeware brand.
Following the success of her first book, Pattern, Home opens the door on Orla's own house for the first time, and offers inspirational insights into using pattern and color, mixing old and new and turning a house into a liveable home. The book ends with series of beautifully photographed case studies of some of the mid-century modern homes she most admires.
'I have always been inspired by architecture and interiors so the move into furniture and homewares was completely natural', Orla says. 'To me, the home is where we can truly express our style and personality, where we can be playful'.

Real Homes: Inspiration Beyond Style


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"Real homes" are a reflection of their owners' personalities and interests rather than a homage to current trends. In her perceptive photographs, Solvi dos Santos shows a range of living spaces that satisfy fundamental needs but are also private works of beauty and self-expression.This collection of homes, from a warehouse in Paris to a converted church in the Hudson Valley to a farmhouse in Ibiza, reveal spaces that are original, functional, and aesthetically pleasing. Mixing materials, periods, and styles--country comfort with contemporary, traditional finishes with sleek and modern materials--the spaces communicate an effortless effect and a sense of everyday living. With hundreds of beautiful photographs accompanied by texts by Phyllis Richardson, the book will appeal to everyone who is seeking inspiration to create a home that springs from one's personal history and taste.

Landscaping: How to Use Plants, Structures & Surfaces to Transform Your Yard

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"HomeSkills: Landscaping" offers a complete look at every aspect of landscaping, from early design to project execution. First, you'll gain an overview of the many options at your disposal, featuring popular DIY products that are readily available and affordable. You'll learn which yard elements will best fit your home landscape. Flagstone patio, vinyl fence, healthy row of perfectly situated arbor vitae--no matter which direction you take, this hardworking book covers all the essential skills you need to make it happen. Planting shrubs and trees, sand-setting interlocking pavers, laying out fences and stone walls . . . you'll learn the best techniques for creating all of the beautiful planted and built elements that define any successful home landscape.

To Eat: A Country Life

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At their home in North Hill, Vt., Eck and Winterrowd (who died in 2010, when this book was in progress) nurtured a seven-acre garden, reveling in its bounty and embracing harmony with nature. These elegant reflections on gardening and the vegetables and fruits they grow, harvest, and eat over four seasons offer a joyous celebration of our connection to food and the Earth. Writing about our attitude toward what we eat, for example, they observe that "we misuse our food. We treat it as a mere necessity when it is in fact an enormous pleasure... A simple cabbage or broccoli or cauliflower is, however you prepare it, goodness and pleasure, and what else ought we to seek in our lives?" About blueberries, they have the following to say: "Blueberries have every virtue. They are handsomely shaped, with dark sinuous twigging and foliage that in autumn turns a brilliant red." And on the artistic side of gardening, they write, "If gardening has a purpose, it is to engender plenitude, a delicious human fantasy that want is banished... the Eden of our imaginations, here and now." Gardeners and cooks should have a copy of this book, beautifully illustrated by Bobbi Angell and with recipes by Beatrice Tosti de Valminuta, in their kitchens, next to their garden tools, or on their nightstands. Publishers Weekly (04/08/2013)

From the Ground Up: A Food Grower's Education in Life, Love, and the Movement That's Changing the Nation

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Following a restless childhood and adolescence in the affluent Chicago suburb of Winnetka, Nolan and her boyfriend set off for the Southwest as soon as she graduated from high school in 1987, ultimately landing at the Zendik Farm, a hippie commune. Nolan spent over a decade in this idiosyncratically controlled environment in which free love was encouraged, but close relationships weren't. She and her young daughter (whom she had with a friend at the commune) ultimately left the nomadic commune, returning home to live with her parents and to nurse her wounds and figure out her next steps. Realizing that her organic gardening skills could be useful, Nolan established the Organic Gardner, a company whose aim is to teach clients how to grow organic vegetables in their own gardens. The concept caught on, and she soon found herself with a rapidly growing company. The narrative thread about her experiences as an organic entrepreneur is told in conjunction with the stories of her courtship with a fellow Zendik resident whom she eventually married, her creation of the 5,000 sq. ft. Edible Gardens at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, and her efforts to repair her fractured relationship with her immediate family. These episodes, along with flashbacks to the commune, make for a disjointed read, but Nolan's enthusiasm for bettering the world is charming and infectious.
Publishers Weekly (05/06/2013)

Monday, September 9, 2013

DIY Ideas: Projects and Tips for Every Room ( Better Homes & Gardens Do It Yourself )

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Nothing feels better than a project well done. The experts at Do It Yourself (TM) magazine know this better than anyone. That's why we've filled this must-have book with creative projects, helpful step-by-step photos, and detailed directions. Inside you'll find:
  • Real-life homes filled with inspiring projects
  • Storage solutions for every room in the house
  • Furniture projects to make--or make over!
  • Easy window treatments
  • Handmade decorative accents to personalize your home and garden
  • Tips on painting anything!
  • Helpful how-to information you can refer to again and again
  • So what are you waiting for? Whether your goal is storage, style, efficiency, or comfort, you'll find the inspiration, information, and help you need in DIY Ideas.

Country Living the Little Book of Big Decorating Ideas: 287 Clever Tips, Tricks, and Solutions


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Taking on home decor for both inside and outdoor living, McColl collects the best ideas from past issues of "Country Living" magazine. Close to 300 photographs show 287 tips for storage, display, furnishings, and color. Much is made of repurposing items, such as using an oak log as a stair handrail or a step stool as a side table. Instructions are included for more than 25 projects, such as creating curtain tiebacks from silver flatware and transforming an old dresser into a wet bar. Many ideas are quite simple and incorporate suggestions on the use of paint and advice for displaying one's creations. Library Journal (06/01/2013)

House Beautiful Quick Changes: Fresh Looks for Every Room

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Featuring over 200 color photographs, this collection offers readers ideas for making simple but effective interior decorating changes. This title includes advice from professional interior designers about updating the look of living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, entryways, and gardens, as well as suggestions about decorative accessories, wall treatments, display, and soft furnishings. Although some of the projects will require time and effort, such as painting or wallpapering a room, the tips are inspiring and fairly straightforward. Library Journal (06/15/2013)

Katie Ridder Rooms

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Katie Ridder's extraordinary palette, her playful mix of antiques and modern pieces, and her eye for unusual decorative accents have established her as a leading figure in the world of interior design. Clients from Buenos Aires to San Francisco to Nantucket have commissioned Ridder to design their lofts, pavilions, summer houses, and luxury apartments. Now everyone can derive design inspiration from her unique approach--whether it's something as charmingly simple as a coral finial atop a table lamp or as dramatically daring as intense blue walls stenciled in an oversize paisley motif--on every page of this idea-saturated book.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Organize Your Home: Clutter Cures for Every Room (Better Homes and Gardens)

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Cures For Every Room" is your comprehensive guide to getting--and staying--organized at home.Packed with solutions for every room that any homeowner can put to use right away, "Organize Your Home "covers both sides of the organizing equation: the psychology of paring down possessions, reducing clutter, and staying organized as well as the nuts and bolts of finding the right bins, baskets, drawers, and more to store the items you do keep in attractive and efficient ways.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Christine Walkden's No-Nonsense Container Gardening

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Using containers or pots as a base for your gardening is so versatile--try making an eye-catching design feature by growing herbs in a zinc bucket, growing spring bulbs in a pretty olive oil can on your patio, or growing a complete salad in some old tyres. Growing your own containers is both rewarding and fun. This book is packed with Christine's tips and techniques, from planting to deter pests to choosing the right container for the right crop, along with handy advice on feeding and watering, knowing when to harvest, and treating common diseases. All the projects included are perfect for beginners and provide inspiration for the more experienced gardener; there are even ideas to turn little fingers green.

Monday, June 24, 2013

The Artful Garden: Creative Inspiration for Landscape Design

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A revolutionary pioneer of the naturalistic New American Garden style, van Sweden (Architecture in the Garden) explains how gardeners can glean inspiration and borrow effective techniques from the arts. Whether the muse is painting or jazz, mystery novels or modern dance, van Sweden offers practical advice on how thoughtful examination can help the amateur gardener understand and control color, line, volume, light, and movement in the garden. He encourages the gardener to think in terms of composition, orchestration, rhythm, and pattern, and shows how these are employed successfully in his own award-winning gardens. One need not be a connoisseur to benefit from this advice. Less important than whether one has cultivated taste is whether one can understand why one's preferences are personally appealing. Van Sweden offers straightforward advice for translating that idiosyncratic understanding into an assured garden design. Particularly illuminating are his conversations with artists, including painter Robert Dash and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, about how their artistic visions find expression in their private gardens. Like the author's classic Bold Romantic Gardens, this is a refreshing, innovative source of inspiration. 98 photos. (Feb.) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

Rosemary Verey: The Life & Lessons of a Legendary Gardener

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Decades before Martha Stewart, Verey was a fiercely determined, supremely talented, and ambitious gardening superstar modestly camouflaged in sensible shoes and pearls. Her laburnum walk at her home at Barnsley House is one of the most famous garden images in the world. Her roster of clients included Prince Charles and Elton John. Her books were the definitive references for aspiring Anglophile American gardeners. In this well-crafted, very personal biography, one of her apprentices, attorney and gardener Robinson, paints a loving but clear-eyed portrait of this great designer. Those who only know this doyenne of British gardening through the genteel, authoritative voice of her books will meet a more complicated character in these pages. Beneath her calm upper-class exterior was a very ambitious woman, motivated by financial pressures, troubled by family relationships, and pinched by vanity. In this intensively researched and absorbing tribute, Robinson has revealed her friend and mentor's struggles as well as celebrating her talents, grit, and graciousness. 39 color and black-and-white photographs.Publishers Weekly (12/24/2012)

Thursday, June 20, 2013

The Beautiful Edible Garden: Design a Stylish Outdoor Space Using Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs

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Bennett and Bittner specialize in blending herbs and edibles with ornamentals in limited yard space with an eye toward sophisticated design. Aided by 200 color photos by David Fenton and Jill Rizzo, the authors, who live in California (and it shows in plant selection), offer guided steps and insights for putting together an edible garden that sings with beauty. A mushroom centerpiece, a fruit and nut orchard, and a plum wreath are among the book's innovative offerings. The authors take readers through the process of planning, preparing, and planting with lucid and accessible instruction that includes the principles of landscape design. Even so, don't be fooled by the step-by-step approach. The book is detailed and thorough, and requires thought to assimilate its valuable information. Best first to read it carefully, front to back. Then take it in hand, grab a shovel or spade, and get into the dirt, which, if directions are followed, is destined to become your canvas, your masterpiece, and your dinner. Publishers Weekly (12/17/2012)

A Guide to Bearded Irises: Cultivating the Rainbow for Beginners and Enthusiasts

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It is not an exaggeration to write that horticulturist and author Norris (Iowa Gardener's Travel Guide) is crazy about bearded irises. In this funny and informative guide, he shares his passion for the flower and his expertise gained from years as one of the country's most respected iris breeders. Norris is a charming guide. It's difficult not to be seduced by his enthusiasm and tantalizing descriptions of the colors, textures, ruffles, and patterns of the iris species. For those who have never grown the flower, he provides an overview of the different types of irises and straightforward advice on cultivation and propagation. Those who already grow this perennial garden favorite will find it impossible to explore this gallery without compiling a wish list for their own gardens. A resource section with specialty nurseries, public iris gardens, and organizations, along with an index, make this a complete guide. 318 color photos. (June) Copyright 2012 Reed Business Information.Publishers Weekly (05/07/2012)

The Organic Seed Grower: A Farmer's Guide to Vegetable Seed Production

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The rising demand for organic fruits and vegetables in our supermarket produce aisles has recently put more pressure on agricultural companies to supply an equally organic variety of seed stock. In this exceptionally informative and well-organized guide to producing organic vegetable seeds, Washington State University plant-breeding specialist Navazio frames this demand as a golden opportunity for small farm operations and other botanically inclined entrepreneurs to fill a burgeoning business niche. After an introductory section providing a short history of agricultural seed collections, as well as a brief lesson on reproductive crop biology, Navazio gives well-explained, detailed instructions on cultivating seeds from the nine different families of vegetables, from Alliaceae (leeks and onions) to Solanaceae (peppers and tomatoes). A third section overviews tricky topics, such as calculating isolation distances between different crops and dealing with seed-borne diseases. Although Navazio's guide is primarily aimed at small and large seed-production enterprises, novice gardeners can also benefit from learning how to harvest and store their seeds for future growing seasons.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)Booklist (12/15/2012)

Bathroom Ideas You Can Use: Secrets & Solutions for Freshening Up the Hardest-Working Room in Your House

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A 176-page design and inspiration book that is packed full with gorgeous photos of beautiful bathrooms and highly desired bathroom fixtures. This is a hardworking, editorially-driven source book, guide book and manual for people who are beginning the bathroom remodeling process. "Bathroom Ideas You Can Use" contains page after page of useful information and intelligent discussion, but still features hundreds of beautiful photos of rooms, materials and fixtures. All of the most common fixtures are included: multi-head shower stalls, tubs and spas, vanities, lavatory sinks, toilets and bidets, vent fans and even saunas and infrared steam baths. Accessories can transform a plain bath into a luxury salon, including: towel warmers, anti-fog mirrors, cabinetry and cabinet organizers, paper holders and towel rods, shower doors, and home electronics. Whatever your plans may be, from a simple refreshing to a complete makeover, your next bathroom remodeling project starts here.

World's Fair Gardens: Shaping American Landscapes

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In today's linked world, new ideas speed around the globe at a fantastic rate, regional differences are losing their sharpness, and international events all seem to share the same homogenous corporate veneer. Editor and author Maloney (Chicago Gardens: The Early History) chronicles a time when international exhibitions such as world's fairs were crucibles of innovation. The nine great fairs that were held in the United States between 1876 and 1940 left their mark on America. The millions who visited the fairs were introduced to European planting schemes and exotic tropical plants, new technologies that ranged from the miraculous mechanical lawnmower to breathtaking outdoor electric lights, and engineering feats that would change the landscape of some of America's greatest cities. The fairs also solidified the reputation of many of America's most important landscape architects, whose work still remains in some former host cities. It's hard to imagine any single event being so influential today. Those interested in the history of American landscape design will find Maloney's tour an illuminating guide. 53 color and 70 b&w illus. (Nov.) Copyright 2012 Reed Business Information. Publishers Weekly (10/15/2012)

The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food

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In this enchanting narrative part memoir, part botany primer, part political manifesto Ray, author of the acclaimed Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, and lately returning to her childhood obsession with farming, has a mission: to inspire us with her own life to "understand food at its most elemental... the most hopeful thing in the world. It is a seed. In the era of dying, it is all life." Ray is inspired by the eccentric, impassioned, generous characters she visits and interviews, gardeners and farmers who populate the quietly radical world of seed savers, from Vermonter Sylvia Davatz, self-proclaimed "Imelda Marcos of seeds, "' to the more phlegmatic Bill Keener of Rabin Gap, Ga., who gives Ray two 20-inch cobs of Keener corn, grown by his family for generations, as well as Greasy Back beans and some rotten Box Car Willy tomatoes to save for seed. Despite the book's occasional tendency toward polemic, avid gardeners will relish recognizing their idiosyncratic, revolutionary sides in its pages, and it's likely to strike a spark in gardening novices. Even couch potatoes will be enthralled by Ray's intimate, poetically conversational stories of her encounters with the "lovely, whimsical, and soulful things happen in a garden, leaving a gardener giddy." Agent: Sam Stoloff, Frances Goldin Literary Agency. (Aug.) Copyright 2012 Reed Business Information. Publishers Weekly (06/04/2012)

Friday, June 14, 2013

Candice Olson Favorite Design Challenges

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Candice Olson Favorite Design Challenges follows the model established by Candice Olson Kitchens & Baths. It features two dozen of Candice's stunning room makeovers, described in Candice's approachable and authoritative voice. Her gorgeous room sketches and design boards show how each design took shape. More than 200 full-color before-and-after photos provide a wealth of visual inspiration, while Candice's tips and insights into what makes each space work give readers practical knowledge for planning their own room redos.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

American Home Landscapes: A Design Guide to Creating Period Garden Styles

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Garden historian Adams ("Restoring American Gardens") and landscape designer Burchfield here collaborate on this oversize book detailing trends in American garden design from the Colonial era through the end of the 20th century. They begin by sharing information on how to conduct historic landscape research using primary documents. They also include material on conducting a site inventory and developing a landscape plan. The next chapters cover specific time periods and include a discussion of the architectural styles of homes built then, landscape designs of the time, and landscape features such as paths, driveways, fences, hedges, seating, garden accessories, and popular plants cultivated. Case studies are provided for each period. Extensive plant lists, arranged by geographic region, offer choices of plants available at the time, and conclude each chapter. Photographs, drawings, and contemporary advertisements illustrate the text, and an extensive bibliography offers avenues for further exploration. Library Journal (04/15/2013)

Teaming with Nutrients: The Organic Gardener's Guide to Optimizing Plant Nutrition

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Just as he demystified the soil food web in his ground-breaking book Teaming with Microbes, in this new work Jeff Lowenfels explains the basics of plant nutrition from an organic gardener s perspective. Most gardeners realize that plants need to be fed but know little or nothing about the nature of the nutrients and the mechanisms involved. In his trademark down-to-earth, style, Lowenfels explains the role of both macronutrients and micronutrients and shows gardeners how to provide these essentials through organic, easy-to-follow techniques. Along the way, Lowenfels gives the reader easy-to-grasp lessons in the biology, chemistry, and botany needed to understand how nutrients get into the plant and what they do once they re inside. (Don t worry: you won t have to learn college-level science.) Teaming with Nutrients will make you a better informed, more successful, more environmentally responsible gardener and will give you a new appreciation for the plants you grow.

House Beautiful the Apartment Book: Smart Decorating for Any Room - Large or Small

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This updated edition of "House Beautiful"'s classic "The Apartment Book" features a fully revised interior design and new photos but retains its focus on making your first apartment a showpiece of style. Arranged room-by-room, the book surveys a wide array of decorating techniques, showing professionally decorated rooms and real-life examples of before-and-after projects. Informative sidebars provide the how-to for storage, lighting, painting, entertaining, hanging art, and more. Available in hardcover for the first time, "The Apartment Book" will inspire you to make your living space personal, upscale, functional, and beautiful!

Furniture Makeovers: Simple Techniques for Transforming Furniture with Paint, Stains, Paper, Stencils, and More

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Blair was a stay-at-home mom who took advantage of naps and early bedtimes to start something spectacular. Her first project was painting kitchen cabinets; then she moved on to refinishing furniture from thrift stores. Today she owns Knack Studios in South Carolina. Her amply illustrated book shows why her repurposed furniture is in demand. The variety of techniques she describes in illustrated detail is eye-opening 24 of them, ranging from the expected, like stripping and sanding, to the inspirational, such as adding wallpaper. Little tips abound: use an overhead projector to display an image for tracing onto a piece of furniture; e-mail artwork to an office supply store to print instead of buying a pack of expensive transparencies for use at home. She saves the best before and after photos for last. The designer, who gives a name to each piece, is exceptional. The only question is: can the average home redecorator absorb her artsy knack by following directions in a book? If anyone can teach the way, Blair can. 300 color photos. (Apr. 9) Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly Used with permission. Publishers Weekly (03/18/2013):

Secrets of a Stylish Home

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Many of us dream of hiring an interior designer to create the perfect home, but it's an expense that few of us can manage these days. The affordable alternative is to undertake the work yourself, and Secrets of a Stylish Home is just the book to show you how. Written by interior designer Cate Burren, it is both a practical guide to working through a project and a visual reference of attractive design ideas. With chapters on the importance of finding your style, planning your layout, using color, creating your scheme, and managing your project, Secrets of a Stylish Home takes you through each stage of either redesigning your whole home or simply tackling the makeover of a single room, distilling the knowledge that Burren has gathered over the years into clear, easy-to-follow steps. Her insightful advice is accompanied by numerous real-life case studies, drawings and plans that help clarify the processes described, and beautiful images by interiors photographer Simon Whitmore. Whatever your experience of interior design, this book will give you the know-how and confidence to develop your own style and transform your living space.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Bring the Outdoors in: Garden Projects for Decorating and Styling Your Home

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Probably everyone knows someone who's a natural arranger. The question is whether that flair can be taught "you can achieve a great look even if you aren't a green thumb!" the book promises by slavishly following instructions, even those in a profusely illustrated book. Powers, a stylist and former editor at Martha Stewart Living, clearly has a flair for arranging stunning combinations of containers and live, dried, or pressed plants. Undoubtedly, her ideas are inspirational, perhaps especially so to those who are already talented with lichens and moss. Among the 22 beautiful combinations are a colorful floral garland, a sophisticated braided willow wreath, and a revival of flower pockets, small holders made of fabric and designed to hang from doorknobs. Detailed care needs, which are demanding in some cases while low- to no-maintenance in others, complete the descriptions. An appendix lists sources. If you already have a vision, you're good. If you aren't an artiste, not so much. Publishers Weekly (04/08/2013):

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The Rose


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A new edition of this stunning guide to the rose grown in gardens, featuring eighteen new varieties of roses that have been bred recently; includes more than 800 varieties.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Matthew Mead's Ultimate Recycled Style Guide

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Discover how to transform common flea market finds into fabulous treasures to feather your nest with the help of design expert Matthew Mead.
Re-imagine every room of your home with this collection of stunning photos and expert tips for cleaning, painting, and re-crafting.
Be inspired by every gorgeous page filled with colorful, creative, and chic ideas. Flea market shoppers, bargain hunters, crafters, and anyone who appreciates great design will find plenty to love in Matthew Mead's Ultimate Recycled Style Guide.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

How to Live in Small Spaces: Design, Furnishing, Decoration, Detail for the Smaller Home

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In How to Live in Small Spaces, Terence Conran explains that what's paramount to livability is not the square footage you have, but how you divide it. In this comprehensive, full-color book, Conran tackles the many challenges posed by small spaces. Chapters cover storage, bedrooms, children's rooms, lighting, extension and much more. "Assessing your needs" checklists and "Points to consider" sidebars add valuable ideas. Six case studies conclude the book with excellent examples of great designs.

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

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The McGraths, the mother and daughter team who write the popular blog goodbonesgreatpieces.com, identify items of furniture they feel add extra flair to residential interiors: the love seat, demilune, bench, dresser, slipper chair, side table, and occasional table. With close to 200 color photographs, the McGraths justify their choices by describing the pieces' versatility--a bench can provide seating at a dining table--the use of the pieces in their own homes and residential commissions, and the color and decorative accessories to complement each piece. For each item, they offer a selection of various styles with emphasis on quality construction and timeless design. A list of resources is provided. VERDICT The decorating tips contained in this book will give amateurs an abundance of ideas for adding special touches to their decor. Library Journal (09/01/2012):

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Fairy Gardening: Creating Your Own Magical Miniature Garden

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Fairy gardens are enjoying an astonishing surge in popularity and now you can begin making your own enchanting miniature landscapes, complete with pint-sized accessories, diminutive plants, and quaint fairy figures. Gardeners Julie Bawden-Davis and Beverly Turner provide you with step-by-step instructions for creating a magical garden that will attract Thumbelina herself! Learn how to design, plant, accessorize, and care for your very own small corner of the world by following seven simple steps, including choosing the perfect container, planting luxurious pint-sized plants, decorating with properly scaled accessories, and telling a story through the delicate fairies you choose to inhabit your magical wonderland. Included are full-color photographs showcasing various types of fairy gardens and accessories, which are sure to inspire the designer in you! And best of all, these perennial gardens are perfect for the busy gardener, as they require less than ten minutes per week to maintain--this could be your new favorite hobby! For the inner child in us all, Fairy Gardening is sure to enchant both the novice and the experienced gardener who wishes to stir up Lilliputian flights of fancy.

The Organic Backyard Vineyard: A Step-By-Step Guide to Growing Your Own Grapes

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In "The Organic Backyard Vineyard" expert Tom Powers walks the small grower through the entire process of growing grapes, with a month-by-month maintenance guide covering all regions of the U.S. and Canada. He explains everything a beginning grape grower needs to know: how to design and build a vineyard, how to select grapes for each region, how to maximize yield using organic maintenance techniques, how to build a trellis, how to harvest at peak flavor, and how to store grapes for wine-making.
Updated from his self-published version, this edition includes organic growing information and all new photography. "The Organic Backyard Vineyard" features everything a wine lover needs to build and care for a backyard vineyard.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Country Living Simple Sustainable Style: Ways to Make a House Your Home

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In his previous book, "Restore. Recycle. Repurpose.: Create a Beautiful Home", Florke discussed his decorating style with an eye toward sustainability. Here he focuses on his "three muses of design: comfort, economy, and color," as demonstrated in seven homes, from an Iowa farmhouse to a Harlem, rowhouse. Accompanied by more than 150 color photographs, Florke describes the renovation and decoration of the kitchens, living and dining rooms, bedrooms (including kids' rooms), bathrooms, and porches with decorating advice and tips on the restoration process. Safety concerns, flea market shopping advice, and exterior design suggestions are also included.
Library Journal (02/15/2013):

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

The Backyard Parables: Lessons on Gardening, and Life

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Kirkus Reviews (11/01/2012):
Reflections on being saved, and finding happiness, through gardening. Early in the book, Roach (And I Shall Have Some Peace There, 2011, etc.) includes a quote from Bertrand Russell: "Every time I talk to a savant I feel quite sure that happiness is no longer a possibility. Yet when I talk with my gardener, I'm convinced of the opposite." This conundrum encapsulates this third book from Roach, a longtime blogger and former editor for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. From the descriptions within, the author gardens in much the same way she writes--nothing is turned away, provided there's a suitable space for it. Roach considers the sounds of gardening, terminology, different pricings of what she grows to sell, childhood gardens, the passing of seasons--both for a garden and for a person--and the contributions of science toward the creation of a more pleasing experience of garden tending. The author is also unafraid of poking fun at herself and the many well-entrenched habits of gardening she cannot back away from--for example, having spent a lifetime gardening in long pants, she tried shorts only to relent within the half-hour, feeling that she was doing a disservice to the colors of the flowers with "the color of the canvas I provide with my tender flesh." Roach scatters gardening tips throughout the book, noting that other books provide more along those lines but that these tips are shared in the interest of spurring on readers to return to their own gardens. Many a gardener will likely find that motivation from this pleasant book. COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.