Rating: 
Summary: Designer attitude...
Review: ...what this book is full of... the snobbish attitude of an interior design journalist, bent on showing her knowledge of design terms. The back cover of the book reads "..Create welcoming rooms that exude confidence, polish, and style (whether your budget is lavish or small)." The only thing small budgeted about this book is its price and the lack of usuable pictures.The book talks constantly about using antiques and custom furniture and how guests won't be fooled by "new machine made Oriental rugs". Of course not! That's not the point to a book that is supposed to be about *affordable* design solutions. Mentioning and recommending "designer" paints as opposed to paint of the same quality found at Home Depot isn't "budget minded". The examples of art pieces (eg. authentic African tribal stools) given are not pieces that the average person can lay their hands on, let alone afford. The author would be better placed to say that "reproduction type pieces are available from import stores such as Pier One and Cost Plus". The book gets three stars as there are some decent concepts and ideas presented once you get past the author's attitude, but if you're looking for real inspiration, instruction, and personality in a design book, get "Christopher Lowell's Seven Layers of Design". He is far more helpful and practical in creating truly "easy and elegant" rooms. And, he shows *how* to create them for us visual types, instead of using cute illustrations that give little inspiration to the content.
Rating: 
Summary: A slim book with a mishmash of ideas¿and no photos
Review: A decorating book without photos is like trying to get the flavor of foods only by reading a menu. Something is definitely missing. A disappointing purchase.
Rating: 
Summary: Helps concretise ideas
Review: A wonderful book that gives helpful details, "chair rails" for example, "are at 36 inches high, one shade of paint above the chair rail, one below." The book is filled with usable information on how to achieve a desired look.
Rating:
Summary: Helps concretise ideas
Review: A wonderful book that gives helpful details, "chair rails" for example, "are at 36 inches high, one shade of paint above the chair rail, one below." The book is filled with usable information on how to achieve a desired look.
Rating:
Summary: Helps concretise ideas
Review: A wonderful book that gives helpful details, "chair rails" for example, "are at 36 inches high, one shade of paint above the chair rail, one below." The book is filled with usable information on how to achieve a desired look.
Rating: 
Summary: Basic and uninspiring
Review: Although there were a few cute ideas, most of the information was not helpful to me. It felt like the author was telling me to get professional help (even though I can't afford it) instead of giving me the "secrets" the title promised.
Rating:
Summary: Not that "Easy."
Review: Anyone who is busy and doesn't have much time to decorate may not find this book's suggestions easy to accomplish. After checking it out as a possible Xmas present,I feel it is too flimsy to give as a gift.
Rating: 
Summary: Packed with great ideas
Review: Dylan Landis has interviewed the top decorators in the country and found out tricks that even I can do. I love this book and find myself dreaming about all different kinds of window treatments, even though I bought it to figure out my color scheme. Her prose is witty and fun and the ideas are amazing and truly problem solving. It's far more useful than a glossy, expensive coffee table book.
Rating:
Summary: Natalie Goldberg meets interior design...
Review: Dylan Landis throws you bite size chunks of inspiration instead of a visual slop bucket of inflexible pictures & difficult to emulate styles. This is the perfect book for the right brain decorator who is into "imagination" verses visual stimulus. In its visual favor, however, are the elegent garden-style sketch illustrations & a creative use of font. We all like the picture books because they're colorful and we FEEL inspired, but most often it's pithy text that gets the juices really flowing. :)
Rating:
Summary: Practical, easy to follow decorating ideas
Review: Easy read with bullet style decorating tips. This book is not filled with the ego so many decorating books employ. The writer keeps it simple and her tips are practical. It is easy now to "read" photos in decorating magazines to determine how to achieve the decorator's look.
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