The Comforts of Home: Creating Relaxed Rooms With A Romantic Feel

Rating:
Summary: inspiring design
Review: Although I am very interested in interior design, I am rarely compelled to purchase decorating books. Nonetheless, Comforts of Home lured me in with its beautiful photos of attractive interiors. Not only are the pictures inspiring, but Bartlett provides simple strategies for the reader to attempt this look on their own. There are not many tips only because the look is achieved by following a very small set of guidelines. If you treasure this style of design, you'll treasure this book.

Rating:
Summary: My kind of romantic
Review: I enjoyed this book because it appealed to my sense of style. I love modern decoration and variations on it also (ie modern country,cottage,ethnic, etc) and this did a very good job of adding a romantic feel without it being fussy. Great pictures and wonderful ideas. A-

Rating:
Summary: Not what the title suggests
Review: I give this book 3 stars for lovely photography. But it does not contain many real-world decorating tips and certainly not those in what I would call the romantic style, as the cover claims.

Mostly, it is about how to inject a little color and freshness into extremely minimalist and modern rooms. The author does this by using things like a pair of glittery shoes on an old stairway. She's also found of huge gilt mirrors leaned on walls and dressmaker's dummies.

The pages are beautiful, but the ideas are not practical. And with the cold minimalist backdrops, not what I would consider romantic either.

It's an interesting read, if you like interior design, but the style is not very accessible. It is nothing like Shabby Chic or Cottage. I found it pretentious, impractical, and not at all relaxed.

Rating:
Summary: Not what the title suggests
Review: I was known that it would not be a decorating book -- but I was expecting a lot of inspiration to make my home an enviroment of peace and relaxing. And, finally, I was upset and disappointed. I think the author registered only one house's interior -- the same furniture, rooms in different angles every page. There was a pair of pink shoes that appeared three times in different positions, as if their owner was relaxing in same place of this house! Three times! Maybe the photographer wanted to use all the pictures he took, without editing the material very well. I felt the I lost money and time. Sorry.

Rating:
Summary: The contents do not seem to go with the title
Review: The book promised me comfort. What I see are very chilly rooms in cool whites and pastels. Nothing comfortable and snuggly here. And there is a lot of repetition in terms of the rooms shown. Also no ideas that I can use. Big waste of money.

Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous photos, not much else
Review: When I got the book I was very excited, it's beautiful to look at, and a simple style is what I like in home design. Unfortunately when I sat down to read I found almost nothing helpful in actually creating a simple, useful room design. Instead there's page after page of beautiful photos, with some interesting but not useful accessorizing tips. For instance, leaving a pair of oriental slippers on the staircase strikes me as more of a navagation hazard than a decorating statement. Also the author's idea of simple seems to have very narrow limits, like using all neutrals with only touches of blue and pink. Or using 1950's style furniture (anybody ever heard of Shaker? Mission? apparently not this lady). If you run into it in a library, leaf through the photos, don't bother reading it.