The Swedish Room

Rating:
Summary: The Swedish Room
Review: Beautiful book, well researched and written with carefully selected and beautiful photos. A must have for anyone interested in Gustavian interiors and the homes that contain them. The interiors selected for this book are the relatively simpler ones with soft color schemes and a cleaner, pared-down look - ones more acceptable to contemporary tastes - rather than the gilded neoclassical palaces of the same period. If you are interested in the more palatial interiors of the same period I recommend: Neoclassicism in the North, Swedish Furniture and Interiors 1770-1850 . I noticed in browsing through this book, that a number of the interiors selected for inclusion in The Swedish Room are actually the simplest rooms in otherwise grand palaces.
A very pleasing selection of interior views overall and much better than Barbara Stoeltie's similar book, The Country Houses of Sweden.

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive & useful
Review: I have found this book a constant inspiration when considering the Swedish style in general and Gustavian in particular.

The photos and colours are excellent. The text begins by being historically interesting and illuminating but becomes unfocussed and then banal. The translation is awkward in parts. Still the information is superior to the commonly gushy interior design style.

Although there is a section on contemporary versions of the classic Swedish styles, it remains primarily an homage to the original rather than an illustration of an inventive combination.

Nonetheless, an excellent reference book.

Rating:
Summary: A Decorative Artist`s Delight
Review: This is a wonderful book for an a decorative artist or faux- finisher. It has a wealth of information you can use in designing ideas for this very popular time in history . I have used this book many times in designing art for furniture and walls .A must-have for any decorative artist or designer.