Description:
As the Pacific Northwest becomes ever more popular, a book like Anne Wall Frank's Northwest Style seems perfectly timed to highlight the eclectic interior and exterior styles that exemplify the region. Along with stunning photographs by Michael Mathers, the prose conveys the casual "style without a style" nature of the many beautiful homes featured. Northwest Style takes a look at better than three dozen homes that range from a city apartment in downtown Seattle to a houseboat on the Willamette River in Oregon, as well as a couple of patrician homes that command some of the most amazing views of the waters and mountains of the Northwest. It's evident that one of the trademarks of this style is the influence of many cultures, as is the natural look of exposed wooden beams, high windows to let in the seldom-seen sunlight, and a profusion of artifacts from the region's fishing and logging heritage. There is a conscious effort in many of the homes pictured to define a portion of the West, be it Asian influences, the frontier sensibilities of bow saws and mounted bucks gazing down from above the fireplace, or the persistent architectural use of wood, as in the thoroughly appointed log cabin overlooking Hood Canal. At times, some of these techniques result in a home that is more museum than living space, but all are striking and do a good deal to show just how much independent spirit is still alive in the Northwest. Northwest Style is less about any one definitive Northwest image than it is a sampling of the spectacular cultural and environmental influences of the Pacific Northwest. This, along with the extensive list of galleries, antique shops, and decorating stores in the book's appendix, provides a elegant look at the many possibilities open to those who call the Northwest home. --Kris Law
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