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Home Decorating

Just In the Door: House Beautiful: The Home Book

15 years ago

Fresh in the door on a lovely afternoon -- a hardcover decor book from the folks at House Beautiful magazine -- "House Beautiful: The Home Book" by Carol Spier. We had been discussing the magazine here -- so I thought I'd mention this book .....

Its new (published in late 2008 by Hearst/Sterling) and this is a BIG book with 464 pages and 500 color photos!

So -- there is a LOT of eye-candy AND information too. Naturally many of the photos are from the magazine -- and many of them have been featured in blogs throughout the blogosphere but I've spotted new (to me!) ones too!

Written in three parts: One: Understand Your Home; Two: Elements of Design; and Three: Design, Room by Room. Lots of quotes and ideas from designers PLUS lots of extras on colors and choices for almost anything for your home.

And believe me -- it covers the whole range of styles, shapes, colors etc.! So there may be something in this one for most of wonderful group here!

Bought mine at Amazon -- of course.

Brewing tea and slicing up a fresh pound cake -- and settling in for a good long, long look and read .....

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

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Comments (9)

gracie-2006
15 years ago
Oh my- now I am jealous! I would love to curl up to such an adventure. I might have to wait until a cold rainy day to do just that! Let us know what you find while browsing through all the pages ,that we may need to incorporate in our own decor!! I love pound cake- Yum! Enjoy your indulgence!
jaybird
15 years ago
wait, wait, wait....I'll be right there....... You just have to promise me a kitty cat for a vibrating, heating pad!!!!!
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In my new home, I have a housekeeper come every other week. I like clean homes. I do NOT like the actual job of cleaning them. I'd rather work in the garden, or do some cooking, or deal with the chickens, or keep up with physical maintenance and house painting/staining, or do graphic arts or anything else. I'm fine with doing laundry, too. I clean up after myself in the kitchen, but the housekeeper does floors, bathrooms and general dusting/windows and such. And I now have a robot vacuum who is pretty decent at what he does. He even has a name: Sharkey. I'm not crazy about cleaning his filter, but it comes with the territory and lasts five minutes... I didn't have a housekeeper back at my old CT home. One reason my getting out of there and getting the place on the market is taking so long... especially since I then had a full time job that lasted well over the standard 40 hour work week. THIS one will be clean! But it doesn't need to be anally-House Beautiful clean. Simply lived in and tidy. My reasons for not wanting a fully white kitchen or other rooms are not about appearing clean, but about my just only wanting white as an accent. Aesthetically. That's what works for my sense of eye appeal.
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teacats
Original Author
15 years ago
In this house -- you have a choice of FOUR cats -- including one that snores and wheezes .... another one weighs in at nearly 20 pounds .... and yet another old one that barely weighs two pounds ... and finally - one wee stubborn cat that insists on stretching every ten minues or so and checking your face intently (I have no idea why she does that!)

So far I must say that this is a GREAT read ...

Jan
Oakley
15 years ago
Thanks Jan. I'm always on the lookout for a good decorating book.

I was just diagnosed with diabetes, did you HAVE to mention pound cake???? lol. Brings back memories of Virginia Pound Cake my mom always fixed, who was from Virginia. Yum. Eat some top crust for me, will ya? :)
moonkat99
15 years ago
I'm off to run errands, one of which is to stop at Borders to spend the holiday gift certificate I received :)

I was going to browse the artsy-craftsy section, but now that I'm getting so immersed in this forum & see how much wonderful knowledge is floating around, I may have to check out the home decor section as well. I'll definitely see if this book is there, thanks!
artlover13060
15 years ago
Warm, homemade pound cake sounds wonderful! My DH is a pie person, so I rarely choose a dessert that I like. I always tell myself I'm not eating any anyway....

Teacats, I hope you enjoyed your special alone time. I think we all need to treat ourselves OFTEN.
walkin_yesindeed
15 years ago
Sorry to hijack the thread, but: oakley, how are you feeling? type I or type II? My sister's type I and does occasionally eat the odd slice of pound cake... hope you're doing well, anyway.

Love pound cake, and that book sounds fabulous!

Artlover, I'm with you on pie. I always think piecrust is a waste of perfectly good calories that might otherwise go to chocolate, which I think corresponds better with the divine plan.
angeldog
15 years ago
I am getting it tomorrow! Can I bring over the Angel dog? She's good with cats except the ones next door. They're always in her territory.
Oakley
15 years ago
My book came in the other day and it has to be THE best inspiration book ever. Picture after picture of every style imaginable!

And for those of you who don't like wallpaper, lol, this book may change your mind.

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