Book Description
In this lavishly illustrated book, Hollywood's hottest new interior designer shows readers how mixing and matching designs from different eras and adding an element of the unexpected can redefine any room–residential or commercial.
With a painter's eye for colour, unwavering esteem for the historic, and a finely tuned sense of detail, Kelly Wearstler, one of Hollywood's most talked about young interior designers, has led her Los Angeles–based interior design firm, kwid (Kelly Wearstler Interior Design), to national prominence with an array of noted residential and commercial projects. Now, she shares her famous design philosophies and secrets, and inspires readers to create unexpected style in their own homes. Through full–colour photographs and sketches and informative text, Kelly explains the elements of unexpected style: inspiration, shapes and forms, graphics, texture and colour, masculine vs. feminine, and unusual details. Kelly takes readers through the creative process and shows how a Franco–Chinese piece of vintage wallpaper led her to a shopping spree in Paris and inspired the layered, classic look of the hotel Maison 140 in Beverly Hills. She explains the need for "icebreakers" in a room and how unexpected designs and details can lighten a room's load.
This is the perfect book for anyone looking for new and creative ways to decorate their homes. Whether it's shopping for a bedside table, putting reflective paint on the underside of a dining room table, or finishing a ceiling with high–gloss paint, she inspires readers to add an element of the unexpected to their homes. Others will enjoy living vicariously through Kelly's shopping sprees throughout the US, Asia, and Europe and appreciate discovering how each item found is a starting off point for a fresh and fun room design.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent & Inspiring.......2007-10-05
Kelly Wearstler's creative expressions inspire in her book, Modern Glamour. I found the book to be beautifully presented and packed with ideas I'd love to incorporate into my own work & home.
Eye candy.......2007-08-06
I was pleasantly surprised as to what an interesting read this book is - having bought a copy of this after her second book "Domicillium Decoratus", I wasn't expecting a lot of text. It's not revolutionary, but still an interesting insight to her processes. For those who are fans of Wearstler's style there are lots of photos of completed projects, some I'd previously not seen before - like her old LA apartment, and others of her buying up antiques and art in exotic locations. As a designer, I think this is a good book to add to your reference library. Kelly is a master at combining styles and colours that are seemingly disparate, so it's a great source of inspiration - or even just a bit of eye candy.
A beautiful book.......2007-02-12
Kelly Wearstler's top projects (including her old apartment and her current office) are photographed beautifully and can really provide inspiration if you enjoy her graphic, bold and irreverent style. There's a bit of Dorothy Draper in her aesthetic, in that she too takes classic influences and twists them in a way that is thoroughly modern and completely beautiful. A lovely book.
Are Kelly and Jonathan The Same Person?.......2006-09-27
Is Kelly Wearstler Jonathan Adler in drag? Or vice versa? Both are wildly talented people, who just happen to use the same things in their work, same colors, etc. Jonathan is an artist, who adoringly references and copycats retro pottery, and makes it unqiuely his own. Kelly is a cool chick, good dresser, has tons of style and can make a pretty room out of old glam junk and ideas. I love them both, and their books are worth having. I wish Kelly had more personal rooms. Too many hotel rooms which are very stagey. In the book she says she didn't like doing set design, yet that's what she does - designs sets for cool people like her to inhabit. Hollywood Regency is the word bandied about to describe both Jonathan & Kelly, he sometimes getting the East coast moniker of Palm Beach Style too (and she the West coast of Palm Springs). I say if you shop on eBay you will see all this great junk (just search Hollywood Regency) that I call eBay Regency. Both books give you a few ideas of how to put it together. Jonathan is more playful, Kelly more serious, but both make wonderful, zany, colorful, retro inspired modern human rooms. I think they bring back the words INTERIOR DECORATOR, so refreshing after everyone and his mother is a DESIGNER (used to be everyone's mother was a station wagon driving decorator with a business on the side). I wonder if these two have ever met, and if so do they like one another, or are they really the same person?
By the way get his book too, if you don't already have it JONATHAN ADLER PRESCRIPTION FOR ANTI DEPRESSIVE LIVING - they have it here at Amazon.
Fifteen Minutes of Drama........2006-08-11
This designer clearly aims for exclamations of surprises from viewers. She has an admirable eye for color. But for real class and style, refer to and study truly great and original minds like the late David Hicks, Madeleine Castaing, Jacques Garcia, and the highly intellectual Jacques Grange. Then re-interpret to suit your life and add your own sense drama for a real originality.
Book Description
Seventy–two step–by–step projects for modern do–it–yourself home and office design, by world–renowned designer Todd Oldham.
Love the look of mid–century, modern, retro design, but don't feel like dropping two weeks' pay on an Eames chair? Todd Oldham shares his passion for mid–century modern homes with over 72 do–it–yourself projects for anyone who loves crafts and longs to add character to every corner of their home.
Each project is charted through step–by–step photos and instructions until the fabulously mod end. Other projects include home–computer face–lifts, Xerox wallpaper, aluminium lighting fixtures, and cosy shoe–storage systems. In additional to Todd's brilliantly engineered projects, the book comes complete with a tutorial on modern home design in the form of sidebars and short essays throughout –everything from that now–famous Eames chair to the case–study houses of the 1950s.
Handmade Modern promises to revolutionise the way the reader looks at his or her own home and capacity to beautify a space. Chic, accessible, and fun, this is the achievable new look of modern home design.
Customer Reviews:
Review: Hand Made Modern.......2007-08-07
Designer Todd Oldham, founder of Todd Oldham Studio in New York and host of the Bravo television series "Top Design," provides more nifty project ideas and DIY help in his 2005 book titled Handmade Modern: Mid-Century Inspired Projects for Your Home. Oldham's book contains more than 72 step-by-step projects inspired by mid-century modern aesthetics. Interspersed along with an array of design plans; Oldham's book contains a number of succinct bios on such prominent designers as Isamu Noguchi, Alexander Girard and Charles and Ray Eames.
Oldham is well known for his contributions to the world of accessible design and has often struck me as a gifted mentor and educator. On first review,Oldham's book fulfills expectations with it's vivid "mod-podge" design and brilliantly conceived projects. Upon closer inspection however, Handmade Modern falls short of its expected accessibility with vague instructions and the absence of a much needed list of tools and materials for each project.
From a design prospective Todd Oldham's book is a bit of a let down. Ultimately, the book exists to inform the reader, so how the book does this should be considered most critically. Aesthetically, the book is pleasing and the form is consistent, but unfortunately it falls short in its function.
Copyright © 2007 Of My Own Design, Josh Crain. All Rights Reserved.
Disappointing..........2007-07-12
I'm a huge Todd Oldham fan but, over all, but this book is very disappointing. A lot of the projects seem complicated and/or expensive (also, I think the prices he lists for some of the supplies are too low, making some projects even more expensive than they seem). Given the cost of materials and tools, some things just don't seem worth making. I wish there were more simple, clever ideas for adding Modern design to your home, that don't require a lot of money, skill, tools, or a work space. The instructions and photos are sometimes confusing or incomplete, making them hard to follow. The one thing I like about this book is that Oldham talks about important Modern designers like Isamu Noguchi and Eva Zeisel, but I'm already familiar with their work, so this didn't teach me anything. I love Oldham's design aesthetic, but this is a very weak how-to book. Sorry, Todd!
Innovative Ideas for Hands-On Creative People.......2006-11-14
If you're a creative person who likes to get into hands on projects, this is a book for you. Each section begins with a photograph of an entire room, and the following pages used cropped images of each item with instructions on how to make them. Most of the projects do require some knowledge about construction & materials, however. Tools needed include a jigsaw, sewing machine, or a large space in which to do some of the projects. There are smaller projects though that do not require these things, and the book definitely promotes you to come up with your own creative ideas. One downside though, if you are interested in easy crafts - this isn't the book for you. Readers definitely need to understand the basics in order to find this book useful.
ok for ideas.......2006-11-05
This book was inspirational, and I love Todd Oldham but some of the projects are a little complicated for someone w/o any carpentry skills or lack of work space. I would recommend "Readymade" instead.
One of the worst edited book i've seen....Don't bother buying this book!.......2006-10-30
The goods: The projects are cool and fun to make but not for the ordinary person who does not know how to use a lot of power tools or knows how to sew. The designs of the projects are nice and are pretty up to date with the retro style.
The Bads: This has GOT to be the worst edited book i've ever seen!
In each introduction of the project, the finished item is shown. Then the step-by-step comes but the photos of each step are horribly cropped and doesn't show much. Then the last step is shown and it seems as if there is a page missing. It doesn't feel like there is a "finish" to each and every project. It doesn't show you what the item looks like when it's completed....even if it means repeating the finished photo of the project. I much rather have the "finished" item be shown at the end than at the beginning. I keep turning the pages thinking there is another step to the project....but NO! It feels as if the instructions just abruptly ends. What a waste of my time and money! Don't bother buying this book! It certainly is one of the worst edited book i've seen so far.
Book Description
One of our most important requirements as humans is the dwelling. Designing a home is thus one of the most important challenges architecture has to deal with. On the one hand, architects must create homes that guarantee with the highest of quality the wellbeing and comfort of their inhabitants. On the other hand, architects must learn how to manage a client's limited budget by reducing costs without affecting the quality of the final result.
Affordable Home Design showcases a wide array of solutions to this same architectural challenge of good design and structure on a budget. The projects featured include extensions of houses and apartments already in existence, ecological housing design, sustainable and structurally cost-effective homes, and new buildings in strictly coded conservation zones. Through more than 250 full-color photographs, this essential book reveals how today's architects are able to adapt to the necessities of a more affordable budget when approaching the always exciting necessity of designing a home.
Customer Reviews:
Shallow coverage.......2006-01-21
This book says almost nothing about affordable home design. In fact, it says almost nothing at all. Most of the book is dedicated to large photos, some of which are grainy in quality. The written descriptions of the houses include, at most, a sentence or two about some "affordable" feature, while most of the noteworthy features of the houses look quite expensive. It's as if the publisher decided to make another book about mostly modern houses, then put the word "affordable" in the title just to sell more books. If you want a book on this subject, buy another one instead.
Projects which focus on budget-saving ideas.......2005-05-12
Affordable Home Design; Innovations And Renovations is packed with solutions to appeal to designers on a budget who want to keep quality without high expense. Here are projects which focus on budget-saving ideas and sustainable designs, covering both new construction and renovation projects from single family homes to apartments. Energy saving ideas are a big part of Affordable Home Design, with discussions revolving around originally commissioned idea versus finished project considerations. Martha Torres received a degree in architecture in Venezuela and has coordinated a number of design projects: her expertise lends to a fine set of ideas.
Book Description
Modern Country blends the quiet, simple elegance of classic country with a clean, modernist edge to create an entirely new interior genre. When classic country is infused with modern design, it becomes bolder. It offers a contemporary attitude, a confident feel that mixes periods, patterns, and pedigrees but embraces the element of restraint. As noted photo stylist and author Nancy Ingram says, "Mix it up and pare it down!"
Customer Reviews:
Truly defining "modern country" style.......2006-11-09
Good-bye gingham, hello French linen. This book is pretty terrific and very inspiring. For one, it defines modern country in most of the photographs, although there are a couple of rooms that seem very dated, perhaps "country" in the 70's, which is the reason I gave it 4 stars rather than 5. As an intuitive stylist, I definitely got a lot out of the way items were displayed, as well as the mix of color and texture in many of the rooms. This is definitely one of my favorite decorating books. I wouldn't recommend it for the novice decorator, but for anyone looking for inspiration to "freshed up" a room, this could be helpful.
Charming Country Style with Chic Appeal.......2006-07-27
If you are dreaming of the country or want to redecorate your house...or even just find a few new decorating ideas, this book is filled with charming style and chic appeal. Classic and comforting designs warm the pictures as antiques add mystery and a sense of the past.
A granite washbowl is perched atop a antique wooden cabinet, modern lamps blend with wicker chairs, an indoor grass garden adds calm and outside tables find their way into the living room.
The antique, teal-painted cupboards even have sight wear and glass containers filled with breakfast cereals. The ideas in the kitchens are "on display." The teacups are not hidden and country fruit dinnerware highlights the country appeal. Baskets are found throughout whether they are wicker or metal.
The bedrooms have Victorian style with plump down comforters and upholstered chairs for reading. A laundry room doubling as a workout room - now that is something new. This book is filled with unique ideas like chalkboard paint on cupboards so you can leave notes. They even have chalkboard painted mugs.
~The Rebecca Review
Book Description
The 1950’s house was a scientific triumph, designed in a laboratory and tested on inhabitants of all ages before being built for the masses. Never had homes been so thoroughly contemporary, with antiques and period styles entirely banished. Mid-Century Modern explores the interior decor of this seminal decade, concentrating on all aspects of a home's decoration—walls, flooring, surfaces, lighting, and, of course, furniture. Case studies examine beautiful present-day homes that exhibit mid-century style in an exemplary way, and suggest ideas for taking the 1950’s look—complete with collector's pieces—and mixing and matching it with elements from other eras.
Customer Reviews:
Great Design Ideas.......2007-09-06
This book is filled with spectacular color photos of mid-century modern home interiors. Lots of ideas here for color schemes, furniture layout and incorporating mid-century aspects into any room of your home.
Mid Century Modern.......2007-08-01
An absolutely stunning book & a must for any mid ce
ntury enthusiast. Fabulous photographs & narration.
Very inspiring.
mid-centry modern: interiors, furniture, design details.......2007-05-12
this book is very good if you are interested in retro, modern design. I highly recommend this book.
interesting but lite.......2007-01-16
Great overview of MCM style, but not as complete of descriptive as I expected.
Get the fifties look for your contemporary home.......2006-10-01
Could someone possibly put together a better tome on Mid-Century Modern interiors than this exquisite piece by Bradley Quinn? They'd have one helluva tough time trying.
This book is fairly short and slim, yet every single page and photograph has relevance. Each photograph is of some aspect of a home interior and is absolutely fantastic. Not a single wasted shot. I'm assuming that the majority of people interested in this book are admirers of 1950s decor and would like to incorporate elements of this into their homes. What is so wonderful about this book is that the pictures themselves are of contemporary homes that have been decorated in that Mid-Century style, resulting in achieving that look without appearing dated - certainly the effect that I'm striving for! You want elegant beige lounges or loud primary colored kitchens? It's all here. And you just gotta dig the living room on p.42! Wow - have red and yellow ever been used to such devastating effect in such circumstances? And this is just one example of many.
Although it's doubtful that people buy books like these for their text, I think in this case, they'll be glad they did. Quinn discusses at great length the various components that made up the Modern style, providing tremendously useful ideas for home decor. He doesn't get into tedious sociological analysis like so many of these type of books do. Instead, he goes straight to the interesting stuff - how mid-century modern arose within the history of design, the components of the architecture and the lifestyles of the homeowners back then. Each chapter is broken down into a different aspect of decor - color, materials, lighting etc. Why can't all interior design books be arranged in this way?
I can absolutely recommend this book to anyone looking for '50s ideas for their home. I doubt I'd ever need to buy another book on this topic. Unless Quinn sticks in more pictures for a second edition.
Book Description
For most folks, creating a home where the decor reflects their personal style and taste requires more than just simply perusing the pages of a catalog. Unique style comes with successfully blending the old and new, the unexpected with the familiar - a white antique stove and modern chrome refrigerator placed side by side, or a 50s kidney-shaped coffee table accented by an Adirondack chair. Enter Found Style, the modern-day guide to the mix-and-match aesthetic. From vintage treasures to contemporary furnishings, family heirlooms to flea market finds, authors David and Amy Butler take a friendly approach to creating spaces that are courageously unique - and undeniably stylish. Illustrated with 200 inspiring color photographs, Found Style offers up a host of innovative ideas, as well as tips for honing one's flea market savvy, and blending old and new with unexpected dash. Found Style is a celebration of creating eclectic personal style and a resource for those who live for the hunt.
Customer Reviews:
Finally, a MODERN vintage syle book.......2005-08-21
I own 2 decorating books, and this is one of them. What separates this book from the other "vintage" or "flea market" books is that the syle is MODERN and artful, not the shabby chic-ish or country styles that I detest. These looks are for people who love the look of vintage and flea-market finds, but with a hip, modern, and arty spin.
Nothing Creative.......2005-08-16
The book placed vintage items in houses vs. looking at vintage items and creating new functional things with them. I was looking more for ideas for projects. This book did not spark anything creative in me. I can purchase vintage items and place in my home just like they did. This book was just a bunch of pictures...things that anyone can do.
Decorating for those with more creativity than money!.......2005-03-08
This book is full of wonderful, artistic ideas; each page better than the last. I wistfully moved from an old, 1920's bungalow into a brand-spankin'new townhome and have referenced Found Style many times for ideas. This book isn't for the cookie cutter, Christopher Lowell set; it's for creative people who prefer to have homes that reflect who they are artistically. I don't want my home to look like a Pottery Barn showroom. I want to create a comfortable and cozy, yet clever environment that you just can't find at a home decor store. Just as the name implies, the book imparts creative ideas for found objects, salvage and thrift store finds. For those of us who love frequenting flea markets and thrift stores, Found Style is the perfect book for giving us ideas on how to use our finds in clever and unique ways. It has enabled me to turn my suburban, builder beige townhome into something distinctive with vintage character.
My new design bible.......2004-04-19
This book really made my day: full of fabulous, inspiring photos of the exact style I aspire to in my home: vintage but never cutsey, a little edgy and raw, but still cozy and natural and playful. Ingenious ideas here, and a great blend of folksy, country and urbane and sophisticated. I only wish there was a whole series by these two.
I love this book!!!.......2004-02-06
This is one of the best decorating books out there if you love the vintage look and mixing new with old. Ideas in how to use what you may already have and how to incorporate antique and "junk" items in new ways. This book includes chapters on living rooms, home office/art studio, kitchen, bedroom, bath, etc. I look through this book again and again and see something new each time. I hope David and Amy are working on another book!
Book Description
Guidebook, idea book, and workbook all in one, this hard-working kitchen design book provides inspiration and advice to keep readers on track, on task, and on budget. With a focus on modern kitchen design, this book provides clever ways to organize kitchen design projects large and small. Five complete kitchen designs are profiled with before and after photos, layouts, and design plans. The user-friendly format includes worksheets, checklists, charts, and data recording sheets. Readers can keep track of ideas by placing magazine tear sheets, color chips, and fixture information in the provided storage space. A logical, detailed approach offers realistic solutions and a complete treatment of the subject with design and decorating information and practical advice for navigating the many choices.
Book Description
Modern furniture, with its clean lines and pure shapes, has its own cachet. Dating from the 1920s to the mid-1960s, it represents several stages and sources of development: Marcel Breuer, who created tubular steel for chairs, tables, stools, and sofas in the 1920s; Gilbert Rhode and Russel Wright, who designed maple and birch furniture with sweeping, aerodynamic lines for Heywood-Wakefield in the 1930s; Bruno Mathsson and Alvar Aalto, who used blond birch plywood and heat-molding techniques to produce graceful furniture in the late 1930s; and architects and industrial designers who made goods with molded plastics, laminates, aluminum, and stainless-steel after World War II. By profiling the interiors of 14 homeowners, New Classic Style shows how to mix these pieces with traditional furnishings. Strategies include combining shapes to achieve harmony, using color to unify diverse furnishings, and contrasting the old and new. The results are dramatic, exciting, and comfortable. The book also explains key furniture shapes and important figures from each period in design history.
Customer Reviews:
GREAT book for novice decorators........2004-08-21
This is a great book if you are looking for new ideas for your home and you don't want to spend a fortune. Also a great book if you want to NOT do what everyone else is doing!
An exciting book.......2003-03-20
I can't think when a new decorating book excited me as much as this one. I buy a lot of decorating books, but New Classic Style is so chic yet so helpful all at the same time. The premise, which is carried out stylishly by the photos, involves mixing classic furnishings from all eras and genres to create "personal" style. The book is so what I'm all about and what I see my friends doing. I've never seen a book on how to create your own mix before.
Book Description
A master of mosaics presents 20 stylish new projects for the contemporary home.
Customer Reviews:
Martin is great.......2007-08-16
I have been a mosaic artist for seven years and I would say this is a good book no matter what your level of experience. I also enjoy Martin's work and like to see what he is up to. Great resource and inspirational too.
Milifiori in Mosaics.......2007-06-27
I may be a bit predjudiced as a moaic artist myself, specializing in millifiori, but I loved Martin's extensive use of this wonderful material throughout the pages of his book. Used as accents and as full areas of pattern, he has shown the reader an exciting new direction that modern mosaics is moving using a very old traditional Italian glass but in adventurous new ways.
Now that being said, Martin offers a variety of interesting and inspiring projects for all levels, rating his projects on a difficulty scale of 1-5 and on a working scale of a few hours to several days required to complete each project. He also offers several different methods of working, including techniques such as direct, indirect, transfers, outdoor casted concrete and working over wood, metal and glass as a substrate.
Not all of it is for everyone, but I am sure there is more than one project in Martin's book that will inspire you to want to run to your craft table and start pulling down the tiles. For me, it was his wonderful Storm Lights and his 'Day of the Dead' Mosaics in smalti and millifiori.
Bravo Martin, you are one of todays' leaders in contemporary mosaics. Laurel Skye
Book Description
Modern Asian Living features the new wave of Pan-Asian interior design that draws elements from Japanese Zen style, opulent Thai style, the best of Bali, and more. This book serves as a showcase for Asia's hottest young designers, artists, gallery owners, and furniture makers. It features floral arrangements by the world-renowned Sakul Intakul, furniture from Ou Baholyodin, artworks from Christian Liaigre, and paintings from prominent Asian artists. Ideas and tips for decorating leap off the pages, while the overall aesthetic will interest anyone enthusiastic about modern Asian style.
Books:
- Moisture Control Handbook: Principles and Practices for Residential and Small Commercial Buildings
- More French Beaded Flowers: 38 Patterns for Blossoms, Leaves, Bugs & More
- Neoclassical (Architectural & Design Library)
- New International Bible Dictionary
- Noise Control Manual for Residential Buildings (Builder's Guide)
- Obsidian Alliances (Star Trek Mirror Universe, Bk. II)
- One Thousand and One Arabian Nights (Oxford Story Collections)
- Outdoor Kitchens: Designs for Outdoor Kitchens, Bars, and Dinning Areas (Quarry Book)
- Polymer Clay Creative Traditions: Techniques and Projects Inspired by the Fine and Decorative Arts
- Professional ASP.NET 2.0 Special Edition (Wrox Professional Guides)
Books Index
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