Book Review :: Gracious Rooms by Barbara Westbrook
Barbara Westbrook, Gracious Rooms. Published by Rizzoli, New York 2015
Described as the South's most inviting designer, Barbara Westbrook shares her principles for creating beautiful homes that are warm and inviting in her first book, Gracious Rooms. This beautiful book is filled with rich, inspirational images and advice. Westbrook has been designing classically inspired homes with Southern charm and European elegance for over twenty years. Whether it's a fetching country cottage or a sumptuous penthouse apartment, Westerbrook offers advice with polish and patina. Her philosophy is quite simple. "Make it interesting. Make it beautiful. Make it personal. Make it welcoming and warm."
Westbrook walks her readers through 10 stunning homes. You'll visit light-filled lake retreats, contemporary houses, and historic mansions. Throughout these homes she shares her straightforward, usable ideas. Westerbrook imparts her views on symmetry, the use of natural elements in design a room, and color as a means of unifying spaces within a home and creating a mood with materials. Through combining these elements of design and decoration, she turns houses into homes. Her thoughts are. "Make it interesting. Make it beautiful. Make it personal."
This is a book that is poised to grace every elegant coffee table, book shelf or library no matter the reader's prefered style.
Barbara Westbrook, Gracious Rooms. Published by Rizzoli, New York 2015
“Every house has a message to deliver”
Barbara Westbrook, Gracious Rooms. Published by Rizzoli, new York 2015
“Encountering a house for the first time is just like making a new acquaintance.”
Barbara Westbrook, Gracious Rooms. Published by Rizzoli, New York 2015
“Every space should have a one of a kind object of treatment that makes it distinct.”
Barbara Westbrook, Gracious Rooms. Published by Rizzoli, New York 2015
“At a time when anyone can obtain anything online, interiors can easily end up looking generic rather than individualized.”
Barbara Westbrook, Gracious Rooms. Published by Rizzoli, New York 2015
“Curtains can be taken for granted. Of course we need them; they protect us from the sun, the cold and prying eyes. But in addition to function they are the ultimate accessory.”
Barbara Westbrook, Gracious Rooms. Published by Rizzoli, New York 2015
“Even a formally arranged room can be given a friendlier character. Absent guests who bring it to life. A dining room can be the loneliest place in the house, especially if it adopts a stiff bearing. ”
Barbara Westbrook, Gracious Rooms. Published by Rizzoli, New York 2015
“Good architecture generates good decorating. When I am lucky enough to work with great spaces - room that are well lit and beautifully proportioned, that flow smoothly from one to the other - my mission is to make decorating decisions that will only lift them higher. ”
Barbara Westbrook, Gracious Rooms. Published by Rizzoli, New York 2015
“What do you see when you enter a house, a room, a hallway? What sets the welcoming tone?”
Barbara Westbrook, Gracious Rooms. Published by Rizzoli, New York 2015
“Collections are wonderful, tangible expressions of people’s passions. They add tremendous personality to an interior. ”
Barbara Westbrook, Gracious Rooms. Published by Rizzoli, New York 2015
“Adapting antiques is an easy way to bring something old into our time. ”
BARBARA WESTBROOK: GRACIOUS ROOMS By Barbara Westbrook with Heather Mac Issac Published by Rizzoli New York ISBN: 978-0-8478-4505-7
PRICE: $50.00 US
Hardcover / 240 pages / 9 x 12 / 150 color illustrations
Copies wherever books are sold