Product Description

750 of the best decorating ideas from House Beautiful magazine Tips and hints from professional decorators From paint colour to furnishings, accessories and fabrics Lavishly illustrated with colour photographs throughout It's huge, oversized, filled with colour, and packed with 750 unique, innovative ideas from House Beautiful. The magazine's experts show how to turn ordinary interiors into breathtaking, livable homes: they go through every room offering suggestions for window treatments, lighting, and storage and exploiting even the smallest spaces. Discover how to use colours and patterns, personalize and accessorize a space, and make room for a growing family. House Beautiful combines every theme and style to compliment your home.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #623201 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The editors of House Beautiful magazine have pulled together this large, inexpensive, though ultimately simplistic book. Arranged by chapter headings such as "Colors & Patterns," "Walls, Windows & Floors," and "Space & Storage," the book does offer a bounty of decorating ideas with hundreds of beautiful photos in an attractive layout. With only one to three photos per double-page spread, this book is candy for the eye. Written in the margin are ideas addressing each photos-some helpful, but most obvious or silly. In the chapter "Personalize & Accessorize," one caption reads: "An object by itself is only and object. Juxtapose it with something else and it becomes a composition." "Recite a poem at your next dinner party" is another suggestion. Though the book is quite beautiful, it's not very helpful; home decorators looking for solid ideas or step-by-step instructions for decorating should look elsewhere.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Great photos, lousy advice
This is a gorgeous coffee-table style books overflowing with fabulous photos of interiors. I say interiors rather than homes because it clear that no one could actually survive in any of these ornate, pristine, elegant, and rather stuffy rooms.

The "750 tips" are given in sidebars, and poor production has allowed that some of the tips are not on the same page as the photo to which they refer. This book also contradicts its own advice - frequently - as when it says to "always hang pictures 10" above seating" accompanied by a lovely photo of a sofa that is backed up directly against framed pictures. Or when they advise not using scatter pillows on chairs or stools, yet this is done throughout the text.

750 is a bit of an exageration - they break down "how to build a fire" into many small tips, counting each one.

Overall, a fairly useless book, but the photos are pretty. A nice gift for the billionaire on your list.

This book is for those interested in a certain decor style
Unfortunately, it's not my style. This book has NO tips about decorating within a budget or exactly "how-to" decorate. The photos are of over-filled rooms with over-patterned furniture and (in my humble opinion) hideos "knick-knacks." I don't know what this style is, but I don't think most people would find this book inspirational.