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Summary
Summary
Recipient of the Gold Medal in the Living Now Awards-Home Improvement
The essential do-it-yourself guide from one of the top designers in the country that uncovers the secret home design rules used by the pros
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.
Reviews (2)
Booklist Review
Ignore the sugars, honeys, and dollfaces you may find here, and avoid any sentence ending with an exclamation point. Once you look beyond the cutesy trying-too-hard-to-be- colloquial prose, New York City interior designer and magazine contributor Griffin does have decorating secrets and tips to share and to use. Much of her knowledge is revealed through black-and-white illustrations, a better perspective on home realities than fancy four-color photographs. And much of the book's value lies in the very pragmatic ideas and techniques promoted. Afraid of color? Remember that if the combination exists in nature, it'll work in your home. To ensure that bathroom wallpaper endures (at least for a while), open the door (and window) right after a shower or bath. Looking for empty decorating space? Try over the headboard or beneath the hall table. Don't let the book's very traditional organization by room dissuade you from more than a glance; despite some seemingly arbitrary likes and dislikes (for instance, go to the big-box store for kitchen and bath design!), Griffin's know-how will successfully populate any room in the house.--Jacobs, Barbara Copyright 2009 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Griffin, contributing editor for Elle Decor and one of House Beautiful's Top 100 American Designers, dispenses "practical decorating standards and timeless rules that are second nature to design professionals." In a breezy, down-home style, she provides decorating advice for every room of the home, from simple redecorating to handling a complete remodel. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
INTRODUCTION As an established interior designer, I thought, quite frankly, I was the cat's meow. I imagined ladies all over the country wistfully longing to engage my services. I just knew they secretly coveted my counsel, wishing for the payday that would allow them to have me come work my mojo on their manses. Who on earth, reasoned I, would want to tackle the thankless task of decorating their own home when they could hire an expert to magically transform it into an Oasis of Paradise in the mere twinkling of an eye? Surely a winning lottery ticket was the only thing keeping us apart. Darling, how wrong I was! Nothing could have been further from the truth! Newsflash! American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) polls indicate that most (49 percent!) American homeowners prefer to handle their own decorating--only 14 percent of them used an interior designer's services, whether on a beer or champagne budget. The more I thought about it, the more sense it all made: You want your home to look like you and nobody else, you take pride in where you live and how faaabulous it looks, nothing feels better than saying, "I did it all myself!" when it's finished, and who wouldn't want to save on all those fees decorators (have to, to be fair) charge? So I got with the program, picked up a pen, and set out to put to paper some of the practical decorating standards and timeless rules that are second nature to the design professionals who implement them daily, but ones that most folks don't know about. These are the design truths that transcend style, era, and aesthetic; the tips, proportions, and trade secrets that will help you create flowing, balanced, warm, and great-looking rooms that are delights to behold and to be in, whatever decorative style you favor. It's the secret stuff your decorator would have told you if you were hiring one; the design musts without which you can't successfully do a room but don't want to pay a pro to learn about, either. They're the questions that people who do use a designer ask, too. All for the price of the book! Honey, What! A! Bargain! I've made it all shamelessly simple (whew!), and packed Design Rules with the information that knowledge-seeking do-it- yourself designers of both sexes shouldn't live without, wherever a sofa meets a chair. If you have an idea of how you want your space to feel when it's finished, but aren't quiiiiiiiiiite sure how to get there, then, sugar, this is the book for you! We'll go room-by-room throughout your entire house and show you exactly what you need to know in order for everything to flow and be visually successful. We'll attack furniture placement, size, and layout; color, lighting, window treatments, painting, flooring, cabinetry, materials, finishes, specific proportions and dimensions, and, of course, accessories, darling! We'll cover everything you need to know about decorating . . . and have a giggle or two while we're at it, because as Dorothy Draper once famously said, "Decorating Is Fun!" So let's get started. Excerpted from Design Rules: The Insider's Guide to Becoming Your Own Decorator by Elaine Griffin All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.