Book Description
Answers to help home decorators make their favorite colors work in any space.
Innovative color ideas that incorporate paints, fabrics, and accessories.
Color basics and how-to techniques for every room in the house boost decorating confidence.
Unique color scheme recipes and color swatches accompany inspirational photos.
Easy-to-navigate chapters are organized by color.
Interior designers and color experts answer questions on common color dilemmas.
Special quiz provides home decorators insight to color personalities.
One-of-a-kind, 16-page insert gives readers take-along color recipes for buying paint, fabric, and accessories.
Customer Reviews:
A good reference book.......2007-06-08
Learning from experience takes too long. It is better to read this book so that designing with the right combination of colours is more cost effective and less hassle.
Good color combos.......2007-03-09
This is a good book on color for your home.
The first part of the book covers the color wheel and basic color theory. It's nothing new, and not really detailed, but a nice overview.
Then each chapter focuses on a different main color. The pictures of the rooms are beautiful - very much like you might see in Better Homes, Country Home, or Country Living magazines - and usually show a good use of the color scheme they are portraying. It is not too trendy, most seem like you could live with them for many years.
I would have liked to see deeper and brighter oranges though. Leaned heavily toward apricots and corals.
Also needed more warm-toned browns.
The end of the book has all the color schemes used in the book, for matching to paint chips or fabric samples. Also a nice way to match color schemes if you were planning a whole house, since the main color in a plan turns up as an accent in other plans.
This book could also be useful to crafters looking for new colors to try together. I'm thinking of using some of the color schemes in knitting.
Very helpful.......2007-01-09
This is a great reference book. Having just built our home, I needed some professional help in the coordination of the colours I wished to use and it gave me some fresh great ideas I would never have thought of on my own. Highly recommended.
Helpful & Inspiring!.......2007-01-05
This book offers some rare inspiration that I've been hard pressed to find elsewhere. What it does especially well is lay out multitudes of color combinations that one would not normally think of as harmonious...then provides great photographs of actual rooms tastefully done in these purposed color schemes.
I'm a Garden Designer by profession ...not an interior decorator...but there are very few color guide books relating to plants thathave anything new to say. I often rely on the tools of Interior Designers & their books for help. I've bought several books on the this topic & this book is by far one of the best....& it's not only helpful indoors but has been useful in giving me ideas for outdoor groupings of furniture & planters, house colors etc too....
I highly recommend it & suggest anyone looking for new & innovative color schemes check into getting this book!
Unique and helpful.......2006-05-18
Excellent book to provide inspiration and ideas for selecting and mixing color schemes. Information is divided by color families. Each room has a sample color palette. In addition there is a complete section at the back of all the color palettes used so you can bring them with you when you select your paint. I refer to this book often.
Book Description
For nearly 50 years, home decorators have turned to Better Homes and Gardens New Decorating Bookto transform their houses into warm, personal havens for their families. The tradition continues with this all-new edition. It's your personal guide to the styles, colors, textures, fabrics, wall and window treatments, flooring, lighting, and accessories that define today's interior design. More than 900 photographs, 100 illustrations, and friendly, informative text offer you ideas for every room in the house: the kitchen, living room, family room, dining room, bedrooms, guest room, kids' rooms, baths, home office, and even outdoor areas. A fun, insightful quiz helps you discover your unique style, while a showcase of 12 houses introduces you to a diversity of decorating approaches. In addition, there are useful tips on maximizing storage, arranging rooms, and accomplishing room makeovers. Easy-to-follow descriptions make projects and quick decorating solutions a snap. This updated classic—a dream book, workbook, room-by-room planner, and design primer bound into one volume—is guaranteed to show you how to achieve fresh, affordable style throughout your home.
Customer Reviews:
Love this book! .......2007-09-26
I highly recommend this book! This is by far one of the best decorating books that I have purchased. Lots of iedeas in many decorating styles, all done with class.
It's the same as the 2003 book, with newlywed pages added.......2007-04-22
There are 72 pages added at the front, aimed for newlyweds, with chapters such as "your first home", "your first living room", etc. Then you will find the 432 pages from the BHG New Decorating Book copyrighted in 2003, which was and still is a nice book. But, if you already own the 2003 book, you probably wouldn't need to buy this "newlywed" New Decorating Book.
Not Much New.......2006-11-07
I bought this for my wife. She thinks that the pictures reflect decor that is a bit dated.
Dreadful...Outdated design even for 10 years ago..........2006-06-14
The interior design featured in this book was absolutely horrid. Even though this book is almost 10 years old I find it hard to beleive that garish clashing floral prints and variations of plaid were all the rage in 1997. Judging by the quality of BHG's magazines I expected so much more. Thank goodness I got it used for $1.59...
Inspiring and informative.......2006-05-18
The pictures alone are beautiful and inspriring. You can get so many ideas just from looking at them. Add the text and you have a book full of ideas, advice and suggestions for all styles. It even inlcudes organization tips. I will definitely refer to this often. It's hard to find a book that has both excellent info and pictures - this one's got it all!
Book Description
Gardeners learn the joy of creating color in the garden with ease
Any gardener can transform a dull perennial patch into a visual paradise with the expert tips in these beautifully illustrated pages. Written by a trained artist, The Gardener's Palette offers inspiration and instruction on "painting" with nature's colors. With a simple introduction to the color wheel and basic color theory, green thumbs learn to use harmonies and contrasts in the garden as an artist does on canvas. More than 300 glorious color photographsmany in close-up detailshowcase brilliant uses of color in gardens both real and impressionistic, including masterpieces by Monet and van Gogh.
This accessible guide offers chapters on container gardens, explaining how to experiment to create simple and complex color schemes by arranging and rearranging plant pots. Sections on background colorsneglected in other booksexplore the visual roles of greens, grays, and whites in the garden. There are even suggestions on using pots, fabrics, and other outdoor decorating materials to enhance nature's hues. This handsome volume makes a wonderful gift for anyone striving to achieve color confidence in the garden.
Customer Reviews:
Best book going.......2005-01-28
What a treat--a book about color in the garden that doesn't get bogged down on the differences between cadmium yellow dark and cadmium yellow medium. This is a highly readable book that both experienced and beginning gardeners will find useful and informative. With apologies to James Bond, no one has done it better.
a good starting point.......2003-08-24
If you don't know much about color theory and want some ideas on how to make color combinations work in the garden, this is a good starting point. I didn't learn a lot, but I found the photographs useful as they helped confirm that some of the ideas I have for my own garden should work out.
One topic I haven't seen covered in other books was the impact of house color on urban gardens. Most books seems to assume you have acres of space to work in with a woodland in the background. I have a typical city lot with a 10-15 foot wide border surrounding the house. Thus the background looking from the street or yard is almost always the house, and the background looking from the house is usually another house. The photographs in Eddison's book make it clear just how important the house color is to the overall impression of your borders and beds.
Another nice touch is the way Eddison relates color schemes to works of art (in particular of J.M.W. Turner and the Impressionists). I hadn't really thought of looking at paintings to come up with compelling color schemes for the garden, but I will now!
Book Description
In The Harmonious Garden, Catherine Ziegler describes fail-safe design methods. Even novice gardeners can compose plant arrangements that successfully incorporate color, form, and texture. The first section presents 149 integrated compositions. Ziegler fully describes the plants in each arrangement: Latin name, quantity and size, environment, and USDA zones. Full-color photographs illustrate each composition, and the author discusses the key principles underlying each harmonious design. The second section offers more detailed information with suggestions for successful design combinations.
Customer Reviews:
Even more information that the title suggests.......2003-03-24
In addition to more than 140 attractive combinations, with color photos and drawings to illustrate exactly what makes up the plantings in each photo, this book contains a load of practical and insightful observations. It's a treasure for UK, European, and US gardeners with its careful and accurate attention to zones; it's an inspiration to gardeners everywhere because of the education it offers about what underlies this author's ideas about combining plants.
Each planting combination has a photo and annotated drawing, as well as three to six or so paragraphs which are loaded with tremendously valuable data points. How much space might the combination be expected to occupy? What foliar changes occur as the plant occurs? What is unique about the combination's color, form, texture? Do any of the plants re-seed? What compatible plantings would extend the season of interest? When in the season was the photo taken?
There is a separate section with details about specific plants included in the combinations. Three appendices (bloom options by exposure, season, and color [which increases the value of this book far beyond the combinations it suggests]); foliar options; an extensive cross-reference between common and botanic names) add much more value. Finally and typically for publications of Timber Press, a fine index makes the book easy to use over and over.
There are less expensive books about planting combinations, but no book that I know of that offers broader and deeper information to help gardeners find their own beautiful planting harmonies. One good thing about this book's price point is that you can be virtually assured that few novice gardeners own it; thus, it would be an excellent and much appreciated gift.
Basic principles of color and form.......1999-09-20
Generally, an excellent reference. The author methodically and analytically (if you appreciate that sort of thing) takes the reader through combinations of color and form and explains why the combinations work. The author's taste in color is subtle, however, and you will not be shown high contrast or exciting color combinations. The same restraint applies in the author's use of form. There are appendices that discuss various plants and combinations, although not in depth.
Book Description
Forty important garden flowers — morning-glory, tulip, peony, daffodil, zinnia, dahlia, iris, petunia, delphinium, fox-glove, snapdragon, many more. Caption for each drawing gives common and scientific names, usual colors, blooming season, whether annual, perennial, or biennial. Full color reproductions on covers.
Customer Reviews:
Very Pleasing.......2007-05-01
I bought this book not to color in, but as a source for clear line drawings of flowers to use in other design work. It works very well for that, with nice, unfussy illustrations of the flowers. Just as important as the blooms, the leaves and stems are also accurately rendered. There is very little addition (birds, butterflies, etc.) - that's fine with me, but some users might want a more detailed picture to color. The small colored guide pic's are apparently done in colored pencil, and provide a lot of detail for realistic coloration.
My one reservation is that some of the illustrations don't show the blooms full-on, but only in profile and 3/4 views. I always want to be able to see how the center of a flower is constructed. Overall, though, very nice.
A Gardeners Must Have.......2007-04-11
Whther your thumb is green or black you cannot go wrong with this. I just purchased these Dover COloring Books for my mother and she loves them. The detail is out of this world and the variety of colors you can use are only limited by your inagination. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Great for Elderly or Alzheimers Patients .......2007-03-16
I purchased this coloring book for my grandmother who has Alzheimer's. It helps her feel as if she is accomplishing something and also she is using her mind and hands to stay in the lines. It's an ideal coloring book for anyone who wishes to color like they use to.
Love to color and learn.......2006-11-04
My daughter has enjoyed learning the names of different flowers and then coloring them. She remembers them more because she has a chance to color them. We also use the internet to look up the different flowers and learn more about them and what colors they are. She enjoys this also and it helps her to create her masterpiece.
Garden Flowers Coloring Book.......2002-07-15
Thank you Amazon for carrying a wonderful selection of Stefen Bernath's books!! I use this particular book, by Stefen as a guide for watercolour sketching and painting. Garden Flowers contains a collection of more than thirty common flowers showing detailed shape and colour, including colour guilds that can be referred to for accuracy. An excellent reference book.
Amazon.com
For those gardeners intimidated by the thought of planning color symphonies, creating color echoes, or applying any color theory to the garden as a whole, Choosing Plant Combinations will come as a welcome relief. Granted, color is the single most important effect gardeners work with--nothing is more important to the first impression a garden gives and the emotional response it evokes. However, color can be a challenge to work with, as it depends greatly on surrounding colors, quality of light, and individual perception.
The author, Cathy Wilkinson Barash, describes her book as "a non-designer's garden design book." Her idea, and it is a good one, is that pleasing gardens are built combination by combination. You don't need an overall scheme, but rather dozens of workable combos of two or three plants that, seen as a whole, make up a garden. All plants are clearly identified in 250 full-color photographs that illustrate ideas for effective combinations. Barash also explores the role colored and variegated foliages, architecturally shaped plants, and ornamental grasses play in creating pleasing, long-lasting combinations.
While the book's design (graphically lively to the point of excess) itself is questionable, the photographs are nevertheless lovely and may inspire gardeners to experiment, loosen up, and help them to worry less about using color. Nothing can set a mood or enliven a garden more than the bold use of color and form, and Barash's new book provides plenty of ideas to encourage gardeners to do just that, one plant combination at a time. --Valerie Easton
Book Description
This book does the homework for anyone who wants to create a beautiful garden but lacks the time to plan and design. It helps readers achieve maximum effect with minimum effort, with examples of combinations in the book for a bold or subdued look.
Gorgeous, full-color photographs of different plant combinations based on color and form.
Plant combinations shown give optimum effect using the aesthetics of color and form—including single color, bold color, subtle color, similar form, subtle form, and bold form.
Suggests alternative plants that give the same look and add to the regional diversity of the plant material included.
Combinations are adaptable to all regions of America.
Includes complete cultural information and mail-order sources for every plant shown.
Customer Reviews:
Stunningly beautiful.......2000-03-24
If you're looking for inspiration, this is a gorgeous book. Packed with beautiful photos and unusual plant combinations.
I've been too busy drooling at the photos to read, but this is one of the most beautiful-to-look-at gardening books I've seen this year.
Ideal if you are trying to design around a colour scheme, or just want inspiration to get started.
Book Description
In this landmark guide to transforming your garden settings into living works of art, bestselling author and celebrity home garden designer P. Allen Smith draws on his talents as both master gardener and artist to offer simple ways to create gardens that burst with color. In P. Allen Smith’s Colors for the Garden, Allen reveals the basic techniques he uses to fashion the kind of jaw-dropping creations that have made him one of the country’s most sought-after garden designers.
Exploring the concept of creating art with flowers and foliage, Allen makes it easy to paint your “garden canvas” with a perfect palette of plants in every shade and hue to achieve a variety of magnificent effects. Here, he simplifies the process of selecting and creating compelling blends of colors to complement home and personal style, be it bright and energizing or more subdued and soothing.
In the first section of the book, Allen offers five color confidence-building ways to select a garden palette that reflects your taste and style; he begins by walking you through the process of connecting colors both inside and out, so that the interior and exterior of your home and the permanent features in your garden become the canvas upon which you begin to apply your color choices. Allen’s approach establishes a color bond between your home and garden that blends them into a cohesive unit while enhancing the beauty of both.
In the next section, Allen supplies easy yet evocative lessons on how to “paint” your choice of colors onto your landscape, from creating a garden canvas to applying bold “brush strokes” of color, shading, and texture to the garden setting. Finally, marrying the practical to the creative, Allen provides a complete, user-friendly plant directory—a color-coded resource guide that helps you choose the right plants based on their color theme, growing zone, and light requirements.
Both inspirational and eminently practical, P. Allen Smith’s Colors for the Garden is an indispensable reference for gardeners of all skill levels, and a welcome addition to the bestselling P. Allen Smith Garden Home series.
“My sincere hope is that the ideas and images found on these pages will inspire and encourage you to try your hand at painting a landscape full of your favorite colors. Once you’ve had the experience, I’m sure you will find there’s nothing like the thirill of living in your own work of art.” —
From the Introduction
Customer Reviews:
helpful, inspiring guide.......2006-04-10
The new book from P. Allen Smith is a lovely book full of clear pictures and advice that is useful and realistic while at the same time not being too restrictive. Many pages in the back of the book with plant suggestions and ideas and P. Allen's own advice using cool, hot and neutral colors as well as some of his own favorite choices. I have found this book very useful.
A rehash of his previous books - don't bother with this one.......2006-03-28
I expected more from this book given I own P. Allen Smith's previously published books P.Allen Smith's Garden Home and Container Gardens. But this book gave no additional information that wasn't already written in his other books. In addition, some of the photos were also repeated from his previously published books. Lack of information on how to mix and match colors in plantings made this book worthless. Basically what this book is, is just an encylopedia of plants categorized by color. I expected more!
Customer Reviews:
Two books in one, neither especially effective.......2005-03-23
Although it isn't immediately apparent from a flip through the book, Decorating With Color has two sections. The first, on applying color theory, is pretty good, and made me want to learn more. Ah, I thought. Now that I have the basics, the rest of the book will go into the subject in more depth.
But it didn't work that way. Instead of extending the initial overview (which covers the effects of different color palettes on decorating rooms), the second section switches into an introduction to faux finishes and how to apply them. That's very nice, but it it's no longer about decorating with color; it's now about decorating with paint.
More formally, the sections of the book include: A sense of color; the color palette; color effects in your home (which sounds like color theory but the first subhead is "quick paint effects"); color and style (primarily the use of stencils).
I took the book out the library, so I'm happy to have picked up the bit of wisdom this book had to impart. However, I suspect there are much better books out there to serve my initial impulse: to learn how to choose colors for my new home.
excellent resource for faux!.......2003-06-24
I have dozens of books on faux and color theory. This book is the best one. It combines both subjects. It covers the different faux techniques as well as how to apply color. The photos of finished rooms are great, and the photos of each step make learning very easy. Even though I am a professional decorative painter, I still am learning more from this book.
Book Description
An "abundant garden" is one that is effusive, emotional, demonstrative, and unrestrained. ABUNDANT GARDEN identifies nine design aspects of an abundant garden-and shows how each one is used in a specific garden. Each garden is located on Bainbridge Island, Seattle, WA, in the heart of one of America's most highly regarded horticultural "edens." The book takes the reader on a tour with insightful and imaginative photographs and beautifully written text.
Includes brief essays before each garden "journey" that will describe the abundancy concept that the related garden exemplifies.
Includes specific plant recommendations and practical recommendations that will address the needs of gardeners across the country.
Customer Reviews:
An Abundance of Garden Dreams!.......2005-04-21
Rare is the gardening book where I actually read the text instead of just gazing at the photos. This highly readable resource first caught my eye in the bookstore just by its title - I am a student of the "say yes to abundance" way of spirituality and I am grateful I said "yes" to this book! Its tone is not a bit hoity-toity like some of its ilk, and it offers a very approachable, manageable, yet dramatic method of banishing any signs of visible dirt from your flower gardens. Although I have been gardening for 20+ years, when I moved into a newly constructed house with unconstructed garden space two years ago, I made the mistake of buying hundreds of plants in a frenzy just to fill the spaces. Currently I am left with a haphazard melee of my own design (or lack of design) and now I need to put some fundamental order into the chaos. This book is going to be a close companion for me this summer. And the photographs - wow, I made myself take two days just to look at them all when the book arrived because I simply did not want the experience to end. There are chapters on gardens for cut flowers and romantic cottage venues. Other chapters provide ideas on how to use architecture, water features, and garden-related implements in the plantings. Each chapter visits a specific garden and gives insight into each owner's personality as manifested in their creations. And the captions of each photo are actually useful; they identify plants while at the same time explaining methods involved to create the look. I highly recommend this book for any flower gardener. It's already a favorite for me!
Product Description
America's leading color expert shows how to choose the right color combinations for all your rooms based on Color Moods from your own personality, nature, and travel. Most decorating books start out telling readers how to achieve someone else's notion of how a room should look. This book is different. It helps you determine how you want yourself, your family, and your friends to feel when entering each room in your home. It combines psychology with a practical how-to and reveals which colors and color combinations will achieve the feeling and personal style you want to project in each room.
Customer Reviews:
Color Me.......2003-06-13
This book explained things I never did know about colors and served a a tool when creating my web site. The author take you through the history and usage of colors. It is truely a worthty purchase.
Web Developers with no sense of color look no further..........2003-03-22
As a web developer I spend most of my day writing code and worrying about the code working on all browsers, etc. Up until recently I had no desire to learn about color and the feelings behind it. If you are in a similar situation look no more. This book has made a permanent position on my desk and will continue to help me with the design and development of my future projects. Hats off to the authors....
I have fully recommended this book to the entire Long island Flash User's Group (LIFUG).
Excellent tie-in to pantone colors.......2003-01-15
Easy and quick to read and understand. Ties into the Pantone Color Guides very well. Combine this books, the Textile Guide, and ColorCue TX for a real lock on the color issues of interior design.
Simply beautiful and real.......2001-12-03
I love the book because it gives you so much inspiration and it is so well explained.
The pictures are beautiful and you learn so much about colours just by enjoying reading the articles.
As a Colour Designer I find it very easy to follow and ressourcful of informations. I get more confident to talk about colours and passionate too, because this book was written by someone loving colours and it simply feels good.
A great color resource.......2001-10-25
This is an excellent book, written by someone who is truly a “color expert.” After reading this book, you’ll be able to select a color scheme to create an intended effect. In my opinion, one of the most helpful aspects of this book was Ms. Eiseman’s list of 15 neutral colors listed on page 59. It’s easy for most of us to pick one or two colors that go together pretty well, but after that things get pretty confusing. These 15 neutral colors, which go with absolutely any color scheme, are wonderful for selecting colors from across the spectrum that will remain harmonious with any color scheme. And you might be surprised to find that colors like True Red or Midnight Navy are “neutral colors.” You will find lots of interesting details like this in the book.
Although this book is in and of itself an excellent resource, I don’t believe that it can be considered a complete resource without the reader also having a copy of the Pantone Textile Color Guide Paper Edition as its companion (and the author makes reference to that on page 173). As with any printed book, the colors of this book are not reproduced exactly as they were intended. However, the Pantone guide gives you a dead-on perfect rendition of the colors Ms. Eiseman cites in the book. This is important if you want to match up paint swatches or fabric colors to those in the book.
Books:
- Conceptual Physics
- Conifers: The Illustrated Encyclopedia (2 Volumes)
- Creative Concrete Ornaments for the Garden: Making Pots, Planters, Birdbaths, Sculpture & More
- Designing the New Kitchen Garden: An American Potager Handbook
- Designing with Succulents
- Easy Gardens for South Florida
- Edible Forest Gardens (2 volume set)
- Elementary, My Dear Watkins (Smart Chick Mysteries, Book 3)
- Elementary, My Dear Watkins (Smart Chick Mysteries, Book 3)
- Essentials of Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- ServSafe Essentials with the Scantron Certification Exam Form
- Health Promotion Throughout the Life Span
- Walking Shadows: Orson Welles, William Randolph Hearst, and Citizen Kane
- A Chain of Events: The Government Cover-up of the Black Hawk Incident and the Friendly Fire Death o
- Battleship Missouri: An Illustrated History
- Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't
- Earthquake in the Early Morning
- West's Federal Taxation 2005: Corporations, Partnerships, Estates and Trusts, Professional Version
- Unit Roots, Cointegration, and Structural Change
- Soldiers in Hiding
Household Hints
| How-to & Home Improvements
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
The Color Scheme Bible: Inspirational Palettes for Designing Home Interiors
Choosing Colors: An Expert Choice of the Best Colors to Use in Your Home
Color Solutions (Better Homes and Gardens Books)
Decorating Idea Book (Idea Books)
Color Your Home: More than 65,000 at-a-glance Room Combinations
