Book Description
This beautifully illustrated guide from top interior designer Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill reveals the best of architectural and furnishing detail from England and America's most enduring decorating styles of the last 400 years.
A companion volume to her 2001 Classic Design Styles, this book focuses on architectural details from seven distinct historical eras and identifies the vital details of each period. Carved stone fireplaces, marble columns, tapestry wall hangings, eighteenth-century windows, and plain and painted plaster wall finishes, as well as cushions, tassels, and curtains are all detailed with an eye to applying them to our homes today.
With in-depth historical surveys of each period, illustrated feature by feature, the book is filled with beautiful photographs and hundreds of creative ideas accompanied by insider tips, practical advice, and inspiration from one of the world's top interior designers.
About the Author
Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill is the daughter of the 11th Duke of Marlborough, whose family home is Blenheim Palace. She lives in London and runs the highly successful design company Woodstock Designs. She is the author of six books, including Classic Design Styles, Classic Entertaining, and Classic English Interiors.
Classic Interior Design: Using Period Features in Today's Home FROM THE PUBLISHER
This beautifully illustrated guide from top interior designer Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill reveals the best of architectural and furnishing detail from England and America's most enduring decorating styles of the last 400 years.
A companion volume to her 2001 Classic Design Styles, this book focuses on architectural details from seven distinct historical eras and identifies the vital details of each period. Carved stone fireplaces, marble columns, tapestry wall hangings, eighteenth-century windows, and plain and painted plaster wall finishes, as well as cushions, tassels, and curtains are all detailed with an eye to applying them to our homes today.
With in-depth historical surveys of each period, illustrated feature by feature, the book is filled with beautiful photographs and hundreds of creative ideas accompanied by insider tips, practical advice, and inspiration from one of the world's top interior designers.
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
Period architecture and decoration are examined in these books by two well-known interior design writers. Gilliatt (Mary Gilliatt's Complete Room by Room Decorating Guide) leaves out the "nuts and bolts" of home restoration, which she feels has been well covered in other books, and instead focuses on the decision-making process of whether to renovate or restore older homes, which she defines as those built between the 16th century and the 1950s. In the first half of the book, she reviews decorative styles in Europe, Britain, and the United States, followed by the history and development of such architectural features as windows, doors, and staircases, all provided to assist with identifying home styles. The remaining portion includes 350 color photographs of individual homes from around the world that have been faithfully restored, completely renovated, or transformed from their original purpose-such as a railway station converted into living quarters. Spencer-Churchill (Classic Georgian Style; Classic English Interiors) describes interior decorating styles from 17th-century Baroque to late 19th-century Victorian. This internationally known designer provides examples of the appropriate type of furniture, halls, windows, and floors for each style and accompanies her examples with 200 color photographs. Although not intended for the faithful re-creation of a period interior, the suggestions will allow an amateur decorator to add proper period touches to a contemporary home. Neither book surpasses Katherine Sorrell's The Ultimate Home Style Guide or Lawrence Schwin's Decorating Old House Interiors for practical advice on period decor, but both books would be appropriate for libraries whose patrons have a great interest in period decorating styles. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Art & Photography
Book Info
