Mary Gilliatt's Complete Room by Room Decorating Guide

A follow up to Mary Gilliatt's Interior Design Course demonstrates an array of practical and creative methods to decorate a home, covering how to assess a structure's unique needs, color, lighting, furniture, storage, flooring, window treatments, and more.

Like M. F. K. Fisher achieves for food writing, so does Gilliatt turn many elegant phrases in^B interior home design. Adding to her already long list of books is this room-by-room decorator, which intersperses a history of style with some definitive guidelines--as only a confident and world-known designer can. She emphasizes, for the timid, the emulation of one of three easy-to-follow philosophies: one, suit decorating to a particular style or building or climate; two, try cutting-edge contemporary; or three, go thoroughly eclectic. From there, accompanied by compelling color photographs, each chapter is devoted to one room in a home, covering a brief room ethos (e.g., Shakespeare's "My library was Dukedom enough") and available decorative options in walls, lighting, flooring, windows, furnishings, and accessories. Her opinion filters through every nook and cranny. Treat windows like eyes, she advises. Or remember that less is more in halls, staircases, and landings. Visual sidebars add to the already overstuffed portfolio of information. One book truly fits all. Barbara Jacobs
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