Southern Hospitality at Home The Art of Gracious Living

Living in Paradise brims with the best of tropical residential designs. Architecture and interior design experts Annie Kelly and Tim Street-Porter have selected unique interiors that will inspire readers to create their own paradises. The stunning venues in lush settings profiled here range in style from the environmentally sustainable utilizing indigenous materials, such as thatching and bamboo, to breezy courtyard spaces. These homes take into account the dramatic natural landscapes--some are surrounded by tropical plantings, while others open onto dramatic sun-drenched beaches. The interiors incorporate organic textures such as cane and bamboo furnishings, some covered in exotic Indonesian fabrics...

Coming Home: Modern Rustic: creative living in Dutch Interiors Author Barbara de Vries, Introduction by Lidewij Edelkoort A celebration of the innovative, artisanal, and sustainable living exemplified by contemporary Dutch interiors. With a carefully curated collection of interiors, including historic canal houses, restored farms, and green homes, belonging to interior designers, product designers, architects, and artists, this book showcases creative and resourceful living. These properties have been created or renovated and brought into the twenty-first century with typical Dutch style and sensibility—environmentally friendly, imaginative uses of space filled with color and charm and never to be taken too seriously. Each home in the book reflects the personality and spirit of the people who inhabit it. From furniture designer Valentin Loellman’s handcrafted interiors in a traditional worker’s cottage on the Maas river to fiber artist Claudy Jongstra’s farmhouse in Friesland where indigo dye plants grow in the biodynamic garden, Coming Home illustrates fun ideas and easy ways to incorporate individual style into your surroundings. Whether it’s the traditional “lowlands” aesthetic of combining old and new, faded and inviting, into a casual chic or a quirky reinvention of a space that reveals a touch of eccentricity, this book illustrates why the Netherlands is truly loved by so many and can be an inspiration to us all. About the author Barbara de Vries was born in Amsterdam. She has spent most of her career as a designer in the fashion business and in 1991, she created the CK collections at Calvin Klein and subsequently had her own collections in the U.S. and Japan. In 2009, Barbara and her husband, author Alastair Gordon...

Pleasures of the Porch by Daria Price Bowman & Maureen LaMarca First Edition. New York: Rizzoli, 1997. First edition hardcover with dust jacket. 144 pp. Idea book for making the perfect porch no matter the style or location. Includes ideas for areas of solitude, outdoor rooms for parties, and the essentials for relaxation. For every type of house and for every family's style, there is a perfect porch. Whether you want a quiet outdoor niche where family members can lounge with a good summer read, or a casual front porch that encourages passing neighbors to stop and chat, over the years porch styles have developed that foster these very activities. This beautifully photographed volume details the porch's illustrious past, from its origins as the portico, or covered entryway, of ancient Greece to its glory days as the elaborate outdoor sitting room of Victorian times. A discussion of different types of porches follows, with notes on the particular character of each. Suggestions for creating an area for solitude and respite as well as ideas for converting the space into an elegant room for a party include tips on planning for alfresco meals, decorating for festive occasions, and providing the essentials for relaxation. Pleasures of the Porch also introduces you to the furnishings and accesories of this most romantic of rooms. Bentwood rockers and white wicker settees, string hammocks and wide-striped awnings, floral-washed pillows and heavy Mexican glassware...

At Home in Rio by Paulo Thiago De Mello, photographs by Reto Guntli and Agi Simoes. Published by The Vendome Press of New york in 2006. Printed in Spain....