Tuesday 12 July 2011

Interior Design: 5 Useful Books

Old House New Home by Ros Byam Shaw

How do you show off the best features of a home built for another age, while adapting it for modern living? In "Old House New Home", Ros Byam Shaw looks at the many different ways we can furnish and arrange an old building to suit today's needs, whether it is a terraced townhouse or a converted factory. Exploring properties as diverse as a small Victorian townhouse and a former country dairy, she reveals how the design of each home has been reinvented for the 21st century. This book is divided into a series of key styles: 'Period Piece', 'Urban Chic', 'Rustic', 'Recycled Spaces' and 'Country House'.

Choosing Colours by Kevin McCloud

Choosing the right colour for your home can be fraught with difficulties, and with literally thousands of shades of paint available in DIY stores the choice can be overwhelming. With this book, Kevin McCloud has taken the hard work out of home decorating by researching, selecting and combining over 750 colours into more than 60 tried-and-tested palettes that will transform your home. Stunningly well produced and printed in six colours for astonishing accuracy, each palette provides a blueprint for a decorative scheme that you can transfer to your own home confident in the knowledge that they have been sourced by a renowned authority on colour with a brilliant visual eye. Taken from a wide variety of sources - historical, regional and cultural - each palette is made up of a collection of 3-16 colour swatches and features a photograph demonstrating how the colours can be used in period or contemporary settings. With hints and tips on how best and in what situation to use each colour, the swatches are individually matched to a commercially available paint so that you effortlessly achieve each look.

Dream Homes: 100 Inspirational Interiors by Andreas von Einsiedel & Johanna Thornycroft


Everyone has an idea of their own dream home, whether it be a minimally furnished apartment overlooking a city skyline or an informal and colourful retreat in the sun. Whatever your dream, this bestselling book - now available in paperback for the first time - presents 100 inspirational interiors of all styles from around the globe, from New England to Mallorca and from Provence to South Africa. Alongside the work of many of the world's most talented interior designers are homes that have been imaginatively transformed by the vision and commitment of their owners.

The Lighting Bible: Ideas for Every Room in Your Home by Lucy Martin



How do you know what lighting to use to make the most of your interior? Should you use downlighting, uplighting, spots on the floor or the wall, or light the whole space? What light source should you choose, where should you put it and how can you control it? With more than 200 ideas for home decorators and interior designers, this practical guide shows how lighting can transform your home, increase the sense of space, provide practical lighting for working areas and bring warmth, ambience, highlights and drama. The book includes information on the technical aspects – lighting sources, strength, direction, angle, colour, control and so on – as well as on the design and look of lamp fittings, from desk lamps to chandeliers. A room-by-room directory looks at every kind of lighting requirement throughout a typical house – and the best solutions to use.

Thrifty Chic: Interior Style on a Shoestring by Liz Bauwens & Alexandra Campbell



When it comes to creating a home, "Thrifty Chic" shows you how to reuse and restore, revive and revamp, and recycle and reclaim, in order to create a stylish yet individual home without spending a small fortune. Room by room, the book explains how to give old furniture a new lease of life and how to bring a vintage charm to a room through an inspired use of fabrics and paints. There are ideas for window dressings as well as bed and table linens. There are projects for jazzing up old wooden furniture for both house and garden, and suggestions for pulling together mismatched items into cohesive schemes.The all-important finishing touches - display, china and ceramics, glassware, paintings and frames, fabrics and trims - are covered in detail, and you can learn how to create a variety of stylish accessories for your home. Get insider's tips on what to look for at antique markets and in charity shops, and how to care for and restore your bargain purchases. Whether you are creating your first home on a tight budget, or wanting to give your existing home a new look, "Thrifty Chic" contains a treasure trove of irresistible ideas.


All books are available at www.amazon.co.uk

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