Product Description

Villa Décor demonstrates how to juxtapose various periods and styles to create rooms that are never dull or predictable. Consider the French way of melding past with present or the Italian knack of linking rooms with patterns and palettes. These and many others will inspire decorators to recreate the regal simplicity of a villa décor in their own homes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #262618 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

From the Publisher
Betty Lou Phillips demonstrates how to virtuously juxtapose various periods and styles in widely diverse, satisfying rooms that are never dull or predictable. Quite French elegance and Italian romance combine to create the simplicity of sweet life - la dolce vita.

About the Author
The author of Provencal Interiors and French Influences, Betty Lou Phillips has appeared on Oprah.

Customer Reviews

Quiet French Elegance & Italian Romance
"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you are looking for a rich European style to inspire you in your own decorating, "Villa Décor" is a warm and comforting experience.

Betty Lou Phillips demonstrates decorating secrets, like linking rooms with patterns and palettes with out detracting from the furnishings. Her work has appeared in Southern Accents, Traditional Home & Bath, Window and Wall, and Decorating as well as many magazine covers. She is a professional member of the American Society of Interior Designers and also has a penchant for quotes.

There are six main areas to explore:

Old World Elegance
New World Excellence
High-Minded French
Italian Panache
Points of View
Magnifique in America

The minute I opened this book, I was in love. The lush carpeting and tapestry pillows, the piano in a sunlit room with the sun casually falling on an eighteenth-century buffet a deux corps. It was a music room of dreams.

Not only do you enjoy the aesthetic elements, you actually learn the names of a variety of decorating techniques and Italian and French furniture names. You could also recreate a room by finding similar items. The bedroom on page 74 is to die for: Lavish comfort with sensuous linens and goose-down duvets, not to mention bed hangings (looks like a four poster bed).

My main thought while reading this book was "All these rooms look like good rooms to read in." One picture does show a rather elegant two-story library with a spiral staircase and many of the rooms have fireplaces and cozy couches.

I've been dreaming of redecorating my bedroom and this book gave me quite a few dreams.

You simply must look for:

French Influences
Provencal Interiors: French Country Style in America

~TheRebeccaReview.com

Very Disappointed
One glance through this book and it is immediately obvious that this is "Villa Wannabe"--American Style. If you think you are really in a foreign country when you visit Epcot, then you might think this book represents French or Italian Villas, but it does not. It shows homes of American clients that are chock full of 'so called' decorative accessories and fru-fru treatments sold to them by eager Interior Decorators. Save your money and put it towards "Venetian Palazzi", This reasonably priced large format book
has wonderful photographs that show
great details of interior and drawings of the exteriors.
The text is in 4 languages. I love "Venetian Palazzi". OR
Venetian Palaces
by Alvise Zorzi, Paolo Marton---a much better investment.

Well Done Coffee Table Book
If you are looking for design ideas that match Phillips Mediterrean and French looks, this is a good book. I collect many books on design and hers are well-illustrated. Additionally, they describe the manufacturers of the decorative items & fabrics. While some of the interiors she show are a little "Dallas" or Nouveau, overall they are filled with homes that appear well built with good materials and interior design. I would recommend this one.