Dark grout around tile makes sense from a cleaning standpoint, but what does it look like in a kitchen backsplash and counter?
How do you hang curtains from an open-air porch with a stifling westerly exposure? How can you turn an antique cabinet into a kitchen island?
You will find these answers and other clever ideas, plus photographs of what it all looks like in real people’s homes, in the first of this month’s Good reads.
“THE NEW DECORATING BOOK” By Denise Caringer, 408 pages (Better Homes and Gardens Books, $34.95)
Editor Denise Caringer, who was recruited from within the ranks at Better Homes and Gardens to build a more dynamic book division, offers up a strong effort in this, her first, book. This is one of the best decorating books of the year.
She lets the nearly 500 color photographs sprawl big and bold across the pages, and then fills in with quick hits of text to explain her point.
“It’s a big, beautiful coffee-table book, but it will also help you get the job done,” explains Caringer.
Good organization helps readers navigate the book’s 400-plus pages. Caringer devotes a separate chapter to the major rooms in the house (living rooms, family rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, kids’ rooms and home offices are among them), and then follows with additional chapters on specific design topics. Such as: furniture arranging, color schemes and lighting.
Don’t miss the six pages showcasing the vintage Chicago home of designer Alessandra Branca. Her style’s Old World, updated.
“ANDREE PUTMAN”By Sophie Tasma-Anargyros, 192 pages (The Overlook Press, $45)
The spareness is this book’s title is fitting. It’s a compilation of works from the most elegant of all modern minimalists, French designer Andree Putman.
Writer Sophie Tasma-Anargyros, a Paris-based journalist, presents 17 years of interiors and objects from Putman, who has become almost a cult figure to her followers.
And rightly so. She has commanded some of the most prestigious commissions of modern day, including designing the interior for Air France’s Concorde and stores for fashion’s elite (Azzedine Alaia and Thierry Mugler, among them).
For anyone who loves Putman and her style, this 192-page, hardback is a must.
