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Interior Decorating Book Report
This is the first one of several interior decorating book reports I'm putting together for you. Let's start with some of my oldest, trusted 'paper friends'.
Among the different types of interior design and decorating books, I'll give most of the typical coffee table books a wide berth – the kind with lavish double-page photographs that show where Mr. So-and-so, the famous Italian architect, and his aristocratic wife "get away from it all".
Not that there's anything wrong with this type of interior decorating book. Visually, they're often stunning, and if you're good at translating that inspiration into your own home, then you can get a lot of mileage out of them.
But books about 'dream retreats' don't show you how to achieve the 'old French castle' or 'New York loft' look without actually buying your own château or NYC loft first.
That's why I want to focus here on a few books that are inspiring as well as brimful of ideas and usable advice.
First up, Terence Conran. (Actually, he's Sir Terence Conran, having been made a Knight of the British Empire by Her Majesty in 1983. You can download a free 80-page booklet about the designer-restaurateur-entrepreneur's success story here.)
There are currently over 20 interior decorating and interior design books on the market that bear his name, but that doesn't mean he has authored all of them in their entirety. Some of them just contain an introductory essay by Conran, and a knowledgeable team of interior design experts has written the rest.
This doesn't take away from the books' value. They all show Conran's great eye for solidly well-made, intelligent, liveable, un-gimmicky design (and testify to his fantastic pool of researchers/writers and his access to a veritable treasury of photographs.)
My guess is that pretty much any interior decorating book that's sold under Conran's name would be worth buying – particularly the ones you can now get second-hand, for silly money, at amazon.com.
The five 'Conran' books in my library all contain sections on
- different styles and looks to get your inspiration from
- planning (asking the right questions, assessing the options and weighing them against your own needs & preferences)
- furnishings and materials, and
- a clear and well-illustrated DIY or 'How-to' section.
All of them are also lavishly showered with a large variety of good color photos to illustrate each and every point.
Here, I'd like to recommend two of Conran's older interior decorating books; the pictures show the German-language volumes I bought more than a decade ago. Updated versions are available, but I haven't looked into them yet so I don't know how they compare to the originals.
 Terence Conran, The Essential House Book: Getting Back to Basics (London & NY 1994)
As the title suggests, this interior decorating book covers all aspects of a house – designing and decorating your living spaces as well as utilities, safety issues, and troubleshooting tips.
It is a brilliant reference book for design-oriented home decorators, as well as a beautiful picture book for people who want inspiration.
I'll admit that some of the photos show awesome architecture (double-height ceilings, massive windows, open-plan living) - stuff that can't be reproduced in regular, humble homes.
But on the other hand, most design examples in the book were created for more commonplace human dwellings, the kind many people are likely to be able to afford.
Looking at the book in 2008, I find that none of the advice and photos looks dated. It's all fresh, exciting, much of it easy to copy, and incredibly inspiring.
This book is excellent mainstay material for any home decorator's library. You can get the paperback version very cheaply these days, but even a well-preserved copy of the hardback edition would be a good investment.
 Terence Conran, Terence Conran's Kitchen Book (London 1993)
Again, this interior decorating book is not in print any longer, but it's very, very worth buying second-hand if you're planning a new kitchen or an overhaul of your old one.
In true, commonsense Conran style, this source book covers every possible angle of planning and equipping a kitchen that is perfect for your needs and your taste. It's also beautifully and abundantly illustrated, in full color.
Dylan Landis, Elegant and Easy Rooms (New York 1997)
A few days ago, a site visitor contacted me in search of ideas - she was looking for ways to visually "lift" a low ceiling.
I started writing her a list of suggestions. After a while, the flow of ideas turned into a bit of a trickle, and I turned to Dylan Landis' little interior decorating book for support.
I found some more cool tricks, and recommended the book to my visitor.
Dylan Landis is not an interior designer. She is a US-based journalist who specializes in writing about interiors, has a host of designer pals she can pester with questions, and a keen eye for what works and what doesn't.
She claims that her book will help you create "welcoming rooms that exude confidence, polish, and style", mostly on a modest budget. The book consists of 250 bite-size, mini chapters of advice that you can easily consume in a succession of coffee breaks.
Some of the ideas will be immediately useful to you, while others won’t be. And a few, it must be said, are neither cheap nor easy to realize.
But the author promises "that if you try any five ideas from these pages, your home will look better or work better (…) Any five 'recipes' in any combination will make a difference you can appreciate, every time you walk in the door."
This is a promise Landis keeps throughout her book. There are chapters on paint/color, walls, windows, problem rooms, home furnishings, on how to display stuff and how to use interesting detail to your home's greatest advantage. There's also an appendix on the ins and outs of hiring an interior designer, and a list of mail-order resources.
Now, seeing as this interior decorating book is already eleven years old, some of the information (like paint numbers and contact details) will be out of date by now. But much of the content is about timelessly elegant, personal interiors, and will be current for decades to come.
Even if you only use those five ideas, the results will likely be worth every penny you pay for the book.
Is this a 'must-have' interior decorating book? I'd say yes, but there's one potential drawback. The book has no photos, and the few, pretty ink-and-wash illustrations are all black-and-white. You’ll have to see in your mind’s eye how any of the decorating ideas would improve your home.
To me, personally, this is actually an advantage; I want to imagine how my own place would look, rather than seeing how the ideas work in someone else's living space. On the other hand, most people I know prefer interior design or decorating books with lots of colored images, and you may be one of them.
Even so, this skinny paperback could serve you as a handy supplement, a reference companion to more lavish picture books.
There are more books to come to this page … so stay tuned! Also, if you have (or have seen) an interior decorating book you'd like to recommend, please let me know!
Also, check out this article about using a self-development book for home decorating purposes!
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