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Discovering Home with Laurie Smith: Find Your Personal Style
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Average Customer Ratings:
Laurie uses her own home, personal design journal, and classical training to teach design techniques.
Inspirational, full-color photos capture Laurie’s before-and-after design process.
Gives homeowners confidence to work with any home’s architectural "bones."
Strategies to arrange furniture, choose colors, and play with patterns to create rooms that reflect personal interests and tastes.
Expert advice for window treatments, lighting, fabrics, color schemes, and accessories.
DESCRIPTION:
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 747
EAN: 9780696224065
ISBN: 0696224062
Label: Meredith Books
Manufacturer: Meredith Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 192
Publication Date: 2005-09-06
Publisher: Meredith Books
Release Date: 2005-09-06
Studio: Meredith Books
SIMILAR ITEMS:
• Candice Olson on Design
• Home Rules: Transform the Place You Live Into a Place You'll Love
• House Beautiful 750 Designer Secrets: Exclusive Design Ideas from the Pros
• Divine Designs with Candice Olsen: Kitchens and Baths
• Decorating Idea Book (Idea Books)
CUSTOMER REVIEWS:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Pretty much of a vanity project for Ms. Smith
Comment: The photos of her home are beautiful but this read more like a remodeling diary of Ms. Smith's own domain. Many of the pictures are repeated over and over again. Clearing exploiting her fan base here and basically a vanity project.
The Ultimate Decorating Organizer - Now you can always have your home at your fingertips! Finding & keeping measurements, colors, & samples is quick and easy.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Bravo Laurie!
Comment: A staple for experts and beginners alike. This book stands out because it's the first interior design book I've READ cover to cover. Her insights into the design approach and the appeal of, "One must truly study the details of a house to understands it's bones." have helped me to look at design differently. The book is all about Laurie's mid-century modern home and I think that the personal story throughout make it all the more interesting. Rarely in decorating books do you get to see the whole house and how each room plays off of another. I hope Laurie decides to write more great books...they'll all be on my shelf!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Interesting Ideas
Comment: I have been a fan of Laurie's work on Trading Spaces for years. She seemed to be one of the few designers that actually took design seriously on the show for a long time and didn't just try to go for shock factor (ie. toilets in a bedroom or straw glued on walls).
I am a fan of the midcentury look in Laurie's personal home (it reminds me a little of the home on Bewitched), showcased in this book, but I did wish it would have shown photos of her past work outside of the show. Maybe she will have future books that focus more on that aspect.
If you enjoy Laurie's style on the show, you won't be disappointed by this book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Nice style, great tips!
Comment: I love this book, and read it again and again. Some of the rooms have way too much furniture for my liking, but still, the ideas are good. I enjoyed the laid back atmosphere with some great art on display, and a focus on natural materials.
Especially the last few chapters, where Laurie talks about color, fabrics and acessories are a good source of information.
But I also liked the simple idea of replacing a wall with built in bookcases, thus creating a symmetrical space at the back-end of the bookcases... simple yet effective!
And her tip of picking your wall color as last step was a real eye opener!
Coincidentally, the colors used in her keeping room and living room are very similar to what we have in mind for our living room. So, her choice in fabrics is very inspiring... I guess if you don't like this golden yellow/green combo, the book might be disappointing regarding visual clues. Still... the background info should help you finding your own color combination, and how to pull it off in your home.
Petra
How to Make Loads of Money as a Designer - Free interior design ebook, plus great selection of home decorating ebooks from interiordezine.com.
Home Decorating Interior Design Workbook - Unique step by step decorating workbook for any room in your home!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Thorough Discussion of Laurie's Design Techniques
Comment: This wasn't what I initially expected, but I hadn't read the description ahead of time. I did enjoy it, however, and it is as described - a book about Laurie Smith's design philosophy and techniques as they play out in her own home.
I like the fact that she uses her whole house to show different variations of her general style in her home. She discusses general ideas and tips that anyone can take and apply into their own home while giving specific examples of what that meant in her own home. For example, she stresses working with a house's "bones," which led her to a more modern style than she typically likes in her own house. She took what she had and worked with it to create something that fit her preferences.
Read this book as a way to get the creative juices flowing about your own home. Don't look at it as a book of plans to copy directly. If you want to put your own personal mark on your home's design, this book will help you figure out how to do it, rather than design your home for you.
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