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Rating: 
Summary: great inspirational book
Review: I can be critical of design and house books after seeing so many, so it's a relief to finally be able to give a book five stars. The photographs are authentic and detail everything from interior to exterior, including gardens. The essence of French provincal style is captured and distilled here. The writing is clever and concise, although you'll hardly notice it because the pictures are so brilliant. This is an essential book if you're trying to capture the French provencal look in house design or interior design. This book gives you an authentic source reference.
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking
Review: I picked this book up from the table of new releases at a local bookstore, sat in a chair, and didn't move except to turn the pages for the next 90 minutes. In more than 200 color photographs, The Provencal House explores the beauty of 16 Provencal homes - interior and exterior details, uses of color playing off the landscape, curves and arches and doorways. It's a beautiful celebration of an architectural way of life rooted in the land and its traditions.
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Summary: Beautiful Book!
Review: I'm an architect with the task of designing a "French" style home. This is one of several books I ordered to use as references. The appeal of this book for me is that it includes exterior architecture, interior design/decor, & gardens/landscapes. It is extensively illustrated with color photos & captions (my kind of book...). I can't critique the text because I have not yet had time to read it. But I can't get enough of the pictures!
Rating:
Summary: great inspirational book
Review: I'm an architect with the task of designing a "French" style home. This is one of several books I ordered to use as references. The appeal of this book for me is that it includes exterior architecture, interior design/decor, & gardens/landscapes. It is extensively illustrated with color photos & captions (my kind of book...). I can't critique the text because I have not yet had time to read it. But I can't get enough of the pictures!
Rating:
Summary: A Real Joy
Review: My family and I recently bought a farmhouse in Provence, something we've been dreaming of doing for a very long time. It's been a joy to restore our new home, but even more of a joy to simply live in it and enjoy it. This book has been invaluable to us in the restoration of our home, and, even if it hadn't, the 200 full color photos of 16 gorgeous Provencal homes make it worth owning.Bright yellow and bright blue are the traditional colors of Provence and we've used them in our home for everything from the kitchen tiles to the wash on the stone exterior to the fabric that covers our furniture. Like many of the homes in the book, we've let old timber beams remain exposed and a jumble of copper pots and pans, as well as fresh herbs from our garden, hang on a pot rack in our kitchen. Like the farmhouses in the book, our house has huge stone fireplaces in the living room, the bedroom and the kitchen. We've learned to use these fireplaces the way they should be used and I'm sure they'll come in very handy this winter (here in the mountains of Provence, it gets cold, unlike the warmer winter temperatures of the coast). THE PROVENCAL HOUSE not only explores traditional farmhouses like ours, it details town houses and manor houses as well and you can find a wealth of styles to choose from, from traditional to very contemporary (the traditional, however, has been my choice). You don't have to be a resident of Provence like I am to enjoy THE PROVENCAL HOUSE. Francophiles in other countries can learn how to decorate their homes in the Provencal style, a style that is both comfortable and lovely. I love this book. I've found it informative, helpful and a real joy just to look at.
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Summary: BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS....
Review: Pure and simple, for most of us PROVENÇAL HOUSE is a coffee table book filled with exquisite detail found in several dozen homes in the south of France. Author, Joanna Thornycroft, has classified the structures Andreas Von Einsiedel photographed into `Town', `Manor' or `Country' houses. Short on text and long on photos, the premise of this publication seems to be a picure is worth a thousand words. Beginning with houses in the French Rivera and ending with Le Murier in hameau das Auvis, the author takes you on a trip through the land painted by Van Gogh and Pagnol.
Some of the homes are "simple" cottages, others the more ornate domains of the landed gentry or super-rich movie star. My favorite shots were taken in gardens, and show flowers, pots and rustic gates across cobblestone walkways that lead to the lane or another room of the garden. Small details such as a decorative window latch covered with several centuries of paint, delft-like kitchen tiles, and a rooster weather vane, remind me of the land of the Cathars-those God-fearing people who lived in this land that once harbored them as heretics who may or may not have been far from God but who must have understood how blessed life can be when the sun shines.
Architects may get some ideas from the recessed windows, the red tiled roofs, the stucco blue walls, and the marble bathroom fixtures, but the fabric-lined antique china cabinets, and nifty little accent touches in the various rooms depicted so lovingly make this book a must for interior designers and others seeking the "look" of Provence.
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