"Chintz in glorious faded colours, curtains meticulously swagged, fringed and tasselled, the most comfortable upholstery and expertly applied paint finishes, all set in timeless interiors and discreetly lit to show off beautiful antiques and paintings. These are the hallmarks of the style developed by Colefax & Fowler in the post-war years and currently more fashionable then ever. This informative and fascinatingly anecdotal book tells the story of the firm's founder, John Fowler, and shows his style evolving through his association with Sybil Colefax and Nancy Lancaster and later through his work restoring National Trust houses. It describes the expert craftmanship and technical skills which produce the ageless Colefax & Fowler look, and shows examples of their current work in different types of rooms in a wide variety of locations, ranging from Badminton and Sudeley Castle, large and small country houses, to flats and mews houses in London and abroad."

Little has been written about the expression of English eccentricity through individual interior design. This work looks at everything from a contemporary rendition of Gothic opulence in Notting Hill to a Victorian interior in Devon, along with private houses, eclectic museums, restaurants, bars and theatres.

Now for the first time in an inexpensive paperback edition: the "bible" of First Empire style in interior decor, one of the most important and influential sourcebooks in the history of French design, reprinted from the rare 1812 edition, and essential reading for interior designers, architects, and architectural and social historians.

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This special edition revives an acclaimed work. Exquisite photographs showcase England’s finest buildings, guiding the reader through five centuries of English architecture and interior design. In this new, special edition of a cult classic work, photographer Derry Moore and interior designer David Mlinaric take readers on a panoramic tour inside some of Britain’s finest buildings, guiding them through five centuries of English interior design. Mlinaric’s informed text and Moore’s perceptive photographs present the best examples of both public and private buildings— from sixteenth-century Haddon Hall, Chastleton and Knole to seventeenth-century Hatfield and Wilton; Houghton Hall and Syon House from the eighteenth century; Apsley House, the Palace of Westminster and Waddesdon Manor from the nineteenth; and twentieth-century examples including Charleston and the Apollo Victoria Theatre. The work of British masters including Inigo Jones, William Kent and Robert Adam, as well as of influential twentieth-century tastemakers such as Nancy Lancaster, Pauline de Rothschild and David Hicks, is revealed in striking photographs and authoritative texts. Anglophiles, armchair tourists, and lovers of grand interiors will relish the photographs of these wonderful buildings, while discovering more about the designers and architects who built them, charting the evolution that has made British style so alluring, enduring, and widely imitated over the centuries.

Having worked in period interiors for all her successful transaltantic career, Henrietta Spencer-Churchill turns to her key area of expertise: architectural detail and how to incorporate period details into your own home. This comprehensive guide to the best of three centuries of the most enduring decorating styles, explains and illustrates the distinguishing characteristics from both the European and American periods, and from the Baroque through the end of the nineteenth century. Henrietta shows how architectural elements of these classic decorating styles can be adapted and used in the home today to produce her trademark understated grandeur. Divided by period, each section begins with a beautifully illustrated introduction and chronology of interior styles, with a guide to the history, nature, and the most enduring aspects of the time. Covering both architectural and furnishing detail, photographs illustrate the best of period features and schemes from real homes, and Henrietta shows how to use influences from the past to create a period feel.

The eagerly anticipated first monograph to celebrate the fifty-years-and-counting career of decorating legend Mario Buatta. Influenced by the understated elegance of Colefax and Fowler and the doyenne of exuberant American decor, Sister Parish, Buatta reinvented the English Country House style stateside for clients such as Henry Ford II, Barbara Walters, Malcolm Forbes, and Mariah Carey, and for Blair House, the President’s guest quarters. The designer is acclaimed for his sumptuous rooms that layer fine antiques, confectionary curtains, and sublime colorations, creating an atmosphere of lived-in opulence. This lavishly illustrated survey—filled with images taken for the foremost shelter magazines as well as many unpublished photographs from the designer’s own archive—closely follows Buatta’s highly documented career from his professional start in the 1950s working for department store B. Altman & Co. and Elisabeth Draper, Inc. to his most recent projects, which include some of the country’s finest residences. Buatta shares exclusive insights into his process, his own rules for decorating, and personal stories of his adventures along the way.

Excerpt from English Interior Woodwork of the XVI, XVII and Xviiith Centuries: A Series of the Best and Most Characteristic Examples of Chimney-Pieces, Panelling, Staircases, Doors, Screens, &C In treating such a subject as this, though formerly only inadequately treated even in the manner referred to above, it is difficult not to repeat in a small degree what has been given before; but the endeavour has been made to strike fresh ground as far as possible, and only to present what has been illustrated elsewhere, when it is so good an example of the type to which it belongs as to make its inclusion desirable. Even in these instances the subjects have been drawn anew from the author's own measurements, and are generally shown in a different and more practical manner. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.