Rating: 
Summary: Too, too much!
Review: I love old, glamourous things, pieces with history and beauty. There are plenty of them in this book, but as a decorating guide, I found it a little too rich for my taste. Some rooms are over the top, and some, to me, are hideous! But taste is a very individual thing. Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic books are more my style, I think.
Rating: 
Summary: What a waste of glossy paper!
Review: I ordered this title expecting a sophisticated interior design book that would provide me with decorating ideas. Instead, I got this silly vanity project filled with puzzling and anachronistic illustrations yanked from 19th century books and magazines and photos of the author's friends/clients playing dress-up. Photographs that actually capture the "Paris Apartment" look are few and far between. (And, don't let the price tag fool you--this is a small book of 144 pages, made smaller by the large font and other space-swallowing page design strategies used.) The book isn't a "how-to" either. Most of Strasser's descriptions of decorating techniques are sketchy and self-serving.
Then there's the text! Here's a sample: "Kirsty, a hard-working model, fills long hours with a hectic schedule and travels all over the globe . . . Kirsty herself was the inspiration for our beautification plans: An angel both in temperment and appearance, she belongs in an aerie in the clouds. When the pressures of earthly life deplete her spirits, she can fly away home to her secret haven." I bet the book's ghostwriter is counting his or her lucky stars that it's not their name on this miracle of literary ineptitude.
In the five years I've been buying books from Amazon, this is the only one I've ever returned. If you are even remotely interested in decorating, design, good taste, or for that matter, books, hit your back button now. A truly loathsome title that attempts to capitalize on current decorating trends...
Rating: 
Summary: LOVE THIS BOOK....
Review: I was bored with my friend and we when to a used bookstore and dugg around for a bit out of pure boredem. I radomly picked up this book and could not part with it. The book has great ideas, and I just fell in love with the book. I litarty could not part with it for a days. If you love shabby chic with a more paris romatic inspatired look on a buget, this is a great book.
Rating:
Summary: Over the top
Review: I went to school in Paris and have spent much of my adult life commuting back and forth to Paris. I bought this book because it seemed relevant to my life. BUT I have never seen a Paris apartment that looked anything like these. I have no idea why they call the book Paris Apartments. If you want your apartment to look like it's right out of the "red light" district, a cabaret, or the Moulin Rouge, go ahead and buy this book. Otherwise, don't waste your money.
Rating:
Summary: an inspiration!!
Review: I've been looking for a book like this for a long time! I flipped through it quickly, taking in all the details, and was so inspired that i completely redecorated my studio without spending a DIME... i used things i already had but hadn't thought of using for decorating.. old fabric and necklaces, bits of cording, etc... and did it all in ONE DAY... the change is amazing, i feel like i have my own personal retreat now.. it's become MY place. i've never seen another book like this and i probably never will!
Rating:
Summary: Just Not Practical
Review: If you are looking for a book that can inspire you, perhaps this is it. However, I just didn't find this book to be practical in the least. Every room was so over the top, you wonder how anyone could accomplish anything in these apartments. I understand the idea of a haven, but i kept thinking about all of the dust that could get stuck in all of the billows of fabric and trinkets that were were literally wall-to-wall in every room. And where to sit? Where do you eat? There was NO "virgin" space that could be considered useful.
I consider myself to have a pretty open mind, but nothing in this book was worth keeping. I returned it the day I recieved it. I agree that any of Rachel Ashwell's books would be a better buy than this. Her books are great for inspiring your home, but also inspire party ideas and treasure hunts.
Rating:
Summary: Richly illustrated book of great decorating ideas
Review: If you love the look of old Hollywood glamour, of rich velvet and smooth satin fabrics combined with anitque, vintage furniture, this is the book for you. The ideas are great for both apartments (if your apartment lets you paint, you will love all the ideas) and houses. This book has totally changed what I look for in furniture, both new and vintage, and shown me how to "think outside the box" in decorating more than ever before. The pictures of other people's "Paris Apartments" are extremely inspirational. If nothing else, this book is worth the price just for the pictures, and, though small, it makes an excellent coffee table book. I love it!
Rating:
Summary: Richly illustrated book of great decorating ideas
Review: If you love the look of old Hollywood glamour, of rich velvet and smooth satin fabrics combined with anitque, vintage furniture, this is the book for you. The ideas are great for both apartments (if your apartment lets you paint, you will love all the ideas) and houses. This book has totally changed what I look for in furniture, both new and vintage, and shown me how to "think outside the box" in decorating more than ever before. The pictures of other people's "Paris Apartments" are extremely inspirational. If nothing else, this book is worth the price just for the pictures, and, though small, it makes an excellent coffee table book. I love it!
Rating:
Summary: She is a hypocrite
Review: It is absolutely true what one reader said about this woman and her book......a flea market budget? yeah right! A flea market for the rich and famous maybe....but not an ordinary joe. Its so true check out the website and you will see for yourself! comforters for like 600$....come on get real and if that is an indication of the rest of the products i didnt even bother to look......
Rating: 
Summary: Almost perfect - though not quite
Review: The 'Paris Apartment' style is not for everyone, but it is certainly a much needed reaction to the Pottery Barn, pre-fab, one-size-fits-all approach that is sweeping the nation.There were but two faults with this book. Firstly, it could have used more photographs, or at least captions to clearly indicate which photographs were a result of which techniques so that one doesn't have to read a whole page of text while trying to find a quick reference. Secondly, the author rather glibly assumes that one has access to patient friends who can paint murals and make stained glass for free. This may be a reasonable assumption in Manhatten, but it certainly isn't in Podunk USA and those in Podunk also want to live well. (I must confess that I was also baffled at how everyone seemed to have a landlord who was perfectly okay with having the ceiling painted, the overhead light fixtures replaced, and the walls embellished with mouldings. Is it only in college towns that slumlords want their slums back in more-or-less the same condition they were rented out in?) But on the whole, The Paris Apartment contains a wealth of jumping-of-points from which the active imagination can conceive of marvelous things to do with even the most awkward room.
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