Customer Reviews

At Home With Carolyne Roehm

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As a fan of Carolyne Roehm's A Passion for Flowers, I was anxious for the release of At Home with Carolyne Roehm. Given her instinctive sense of color, texture, and proportion in designing luxuriously elegant flower arrangements, I was hoping to see her talents applied to interior design in her latest book, At Home. I had expected to see favorite rooms in her houses with tips on decorating, but please be advised, "At Home" refers only to entertaining including menus, recipes, place settings and more flower arrangements. Although I was frustrated at having misinterpreted the title, the sheer loveliness of her ideas on seasonal dinners, afternoon teas and picnics did make up for some of my disappointment.

If you're interested in still life photography or design layout, you will enjoy the visual appeal of this book. Chapters are organized by season and subdivided into holidays and other events. Roehm creates poetic tableaux - for example, a springtime picnic photo shows a canoe laden with cushions, picnic basket, fruit and flowers. It's moored at the banks of a grassy island (yes, owned by Roehm) and leafy branches trail at the surface of the water.

I have tried a few of the recipes, which are for the most part, simple and tasty. But what makes Roehm's meals extraordinary are not the recipes, but her impressively extravagant collection of china, silverware and glassware. Although there is an appendix ("Details") on table setting design and care of china and linens, etc., this is not for someone who is looking for an extensive "how to" a la Martha Stewart. It probably wasn't meant to be.

I believe Roehm simply offers us artistic inspiration. This is her visual interpretation of a year's worth of entertaining. And while most of us don't have the extensive resources she has, we are still able to draw several ideas about presentation that will delight our own guests.

Page after page of lush photographs--flowers, table settings, rooms, vignettes. Roehm's color sense is superb. i.e.her use of brown with red, or sprouting spring green with violet. Although the settings are lavish, the ideas are inspiring and certainly adaptable to a lesser scale than her own. We can learn from these photographs.
The recipes are hearty, easily followed, and particularly appropriate for less formal dining and buffets. I would, however limit the overdose of mixed herbs in the shrimp and bean soup to one combined tablespoon). At the end of the book, in the Details appendix, are small inset photographs of table setting paraphernalia. This section could be very helpful as a reference guide to table setting know-how in general.
I found this book to be a culmination of Roehm's Four Seasons Notebooks, but it is still different enough,informative enough to warrant adding to your collection. At Home with Carolyne Roehm is one of my choices for this season's gift giving since it's all about the love and warmth of home and hearth. I cannot imagine a more beautiful book. At least until Roehm's next book is published.

Once again,the statuesque Carolyne Roehm has dazzled us with a sumptuous collection of words and images creating a world in which we want to live now. Her touch is at once delicate and confidently bold in her use of color,groupings of furniture, objets and recipes.Her style is not at all derivative,but conveys vast knowledge of not only the art of living well, but how to really enjoy life. Regardless of the amount of money spent, these are ideas, not merely pretty pictures. Hopefully Carolyne will treat us to more of her world with additional peeks onto her lush life.

A person's life is expressed in little details. Choosing flowers, wine or table linens can be frustrating. Carolyne Roehm's new how-to visually presents hundreds of options in making your personal vision a reality. The book is thoughtfully divided into spring, summer, fall and winter entertaining sections. Gorgeous photos of table settings include close-ups of flower details, accessories, and best of all -- menus with recipes. Ms. Roehm gives expert advice on where to find similar table accessories pictured and reveals her favorite retail haunts. Encouraging words and thoughtful descriptions liberate the reader, empowering one to learn by many excellent visual examples. If you aren't lucky enough to have your own event planner, use this beautiful new guide year-round for ideas and inspiration. Entertaining secrets from behind the scenes of the best homes in the world will dazzle even your pickiest guests!

I have collected decorating books over the course of the last 20 years. This book, At Home with Carolyn Roehm, is as perfect as it gets. Gorgeous photography, menues, ideas galore. It will inspire me for years to come.

This book should have been called "Entertaining with CR" or " CR's Table". It is a great book in entertainment for every season. This is not a book about home. I am a big fan of Ms. Roehm. I have purchased all of her books and extra copies to give as gifts. All her books make beautiful gifts (including this one). The title of this book is misleading. I had expected to see Home Decorating Ideas including furniture and accessories. The closest description to a home is a Carriage House. "A Passion for Flowers" had beautiful pictures of her apartment in Paris and what used to be Weatherstone. I had expected to see more of these. The book mentions that these 2 homes no longer existed at the time the book was written. If not for the misleading title, Ms. Roehm's talents in entertaining and table decorating make this a beautiful book.

The publication of this book was delayed for 1 year and I was in torture loving Carolyn's other books as I do. To say I was disappointed when it finally arrived is being kind! When I want recipes for great food I go to Martha but from Carolyn I expect recipes for living a VISUALLY beautiful upscale life involving interiors and flowers. With this book (really more of a cookbook and she has a COOK), she "dumbed down" for the Shabby Chic crowd and Martharized her offering for the rest of the public. My eyes teared over A Passion for Flowers. I put this one on the shelf and never looked at it again. I rate all her other books 5+ each!

I saw this book for the first time on Oprah and was very impressed with Caroline's ideas. When I saw the book I was completely dazzled. I am an author and an illustrator, and just looking at these pages makes me want to start painting! Fabulous.

What a feast for the eyes! I loved the photography and her lavish table settings. I, too, entertain a lot and use themes to guide my table settings and my menus - so I loved all the ideas that she shares. She plans each "event" around the seasons - utilizing the flowers, food and color palette of spring, summer, winter or fall. I use this book as I do cookbooks - as an inspiration for whatever ocassion is on tap - paging through for anything that jumps out at me.

I thought the shots of the flowers were particularly bold and graphic - encouraging the readers to use fresh flowers as a centerpiece or accent whenever possible.

I have been a huge fan for many years and recently visited Weatherstone (her home in Connecticut) when she had a wonderful tag sale this past June. She was there (in that magnificent setting)signing books and was as gracious and beautiful as ever. Her line of gift wrap is gorgeous - encouraging us all to take the extra time to make even the package look spectacular. For those of you who don't know - she has a wonderful quarterly newsletter available through her website www.CarolyneRoehm.com. It is packed full of sumptuous details and ideas to stimulate all your decorating and entertaining senses.

I am a Connecticut-based Interior Designer/Photo Stylist who loves everything beautiful - and this book is exactly that.

It's a beautiful book with lush pictures. The Details section at the back is very helpful. My only problem is that she didn't give recipes for all the dishes that she mentions. It would have been nice to complete the ensemble with a complete menu.