Customer Reviews

Bunny William's Point of View: Three Decades of Decorating Elegant and Comfortable Houses

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was fortunate enough to see Miss Williams give a lecture on this book, complete with slideshow presentation. It was a delight to hear this funny and engaging woman relay the stories behind these interiors.

That personal touch doesnt really come through in the book. It's telling that the most interesting parts are about her own NYC apartment and her home in Costa Rica. Her previous book--about her Connecticut farmhouse--is like sitting down with an old friend (it even has recipes). This isn't in the same vein, and thus all the disappointed reviews on here.

Still, Williams is a legend, and the work she has done for her clients is worth studying. Many of the interiors look as though they have evolved and been collected over time, which is a hallmark of her style.

Her rooms are at least more interesting than the sterile, joyless snoozefests featured lately in Architectural Digest and Elle Decor.

Her best advice: pick neutral finishes for your kitchen cabinets, and above all a neutral backsplash, using accessories to satisfy your color cravings. Your tastes will (or should!) evolve over time...and that expensive turqouise backsplash wont be easy to replace. All Americans need to read that chapter and sign it!

I saw the less-than-stellar reviews on here and decided not to buy the book. Well....during Christmas shopping, I saw the book at a bookstore and decided to take a peak. So I grabbed the book and found a comfy chair. Well, I'm glad I did. I bought the book and read it cover to cover.

I found it interesting to read how her childhood experiences led her to become a decorator. Her art classes taught her to see the "whole composition" and helped her to understand color and light; Her early job at an antique store helped to educate and train her eye; Tours of historic homes taught her about furniture arrangement and serve as a source for inspiration and art museums serve as the inspiration for color combinations.

This book also offers an interesting look at how she approaches a project, where she always starts, where she gets her inspiration and what guides her when making design choices.

While the homes in the book belong to the uber rich and many of her design choices are way beyond most peoples budget, the underlying message is to educate your eye to good design and create a comfortable home for the way you live.

I highly recommend it.

I love Point of View but before ordering a second copy as a Xmas gift I read seven Amazon reviews. I was persuaded to order the book on John Fowler but found it's small, dark, dated photos a huge disappointment, as did the giftee, who preferred Point of View. Bunny Williams has assembled a coffee table book of glorious photos supplemented by decorating guidelines for those of us less talented. If you recognize good design but can't create it from scratch and you don't want to hire an interior designer, this is an inspiring, delightful and enlightening place to start. Point of View is what it is and it is wonderful!

I adored Ms. Williams first book -- so this new book was on my Pre-Order List as soon as it was available. But this book turned out to be more a sales book for her clients than a design book. Her first book was warm and charming -- as is her wonderful country home that it portrays in its pages. BUT this book is cold as the rooms it shows --- mega-mansions for the uber-riche!

Regular readers of decorating magazines will have seen most of this before; probably about 90% of these projects have been previously published. And within the book many of the rooms are repeated several times, adding to the feeling of deja vu all over again. Despite the decorator's talent and the attractive photos, most readers will not feel satisfied after thumbing through this book. Undoubtedly some clients declined to have their homes in the book, but it hardly seems like three decades worth of work. It looks more like a decade and a half presented here. If the same effort spent to publicise this book had gone into the development, one cannot help but think it would have produced a much better result. While the architecture of the houses and apartments is generally top notch, and nothing about the decorating is objectionable (well, with the exception of some hideous taxidermy prominently featured in one project), there is not much substance to either the decorating or the text. This is not necessarily a book professionals would return to over and over to pick up subtle nuances of design. But, that said, there are a few remarkable projects and it would be an attractive addition to any coffee table.

I would have to agree with the previous reviewers that, compared to Ms. Williams' previous book, "An Affair With a House" this book disappoints. I think the interiors are beautiful which we've come to expect from Ms. Williams, but what disappointed me most was the fact that there was not one bedroom, similar to most peoples', which was about 12 x 15 feet with 8-foot ceilings. To see Ms. Williams' vast talent in a room like that would have been something to see. Also, I think her other books were so personal whereas in these interiors, she had to keep the clients tastes in mind. But what is truly wonderful about this book, as with the others, is Ms. Williams' writing style, which is straighforward and never disappoints. Overall, I would recommend this book; it's her "point of view" and one has to take it as that.

I have liked Ms Williams other books a lot, those about her own home and garden and I own both. Here she seems to have had the need to showcase a few nouveau riche clients' houses in the form of a thrown-together book of glamour (?) photographs of little merit and text with almost no worth. This was a REAL let-down and what's more it sadly shows how she'll use her talents to, what one terms, "whitewash a pig" .......the new, empty caverns of her recently rich Wall Street clients.

I own both this book and "An Affair with a House", and because they are such different books, I don't feel they should be compared. "Point of View" is definitely not the sequal to "An Affair with a House". Although I certainly enjoyed "An Affair", I eagerly anticipated this new book because of it's promise of sharing the designer's methods and inspiration. It does exactly that - perhaps not in a tutorial format, but certainly in its own narrative and personal way. The organization of chapters into the various elements of a room helps this book stay on point. The advice is sage and more than worth the price of the book.

Unlike several of the other reviewers, I plan to revisit this book again and again. The insights, paired with the photos, are insprational and informative. And although the rooms are grand, the principles Ms. Williams shares with us are universal. They could be applied to any room in any home (even a plain bedroom with 8-foot ceilings). When I purge my library of the fluffy but pretty coffee table books (which I do almost annually), this book will stay put.

I also bought this book despite the less than stellar reviews because I thought that I would learn more about interior design from this great master.
I was right.. for every design project featured Mrs. Williams explains the principles that led her to choose the fabrics, furniture and colors used, as well as explaining the balance and harmony of design that she was after.
The interiors are a visual feast, and even though every one of the homes is absolutely and entirely out of my reach, the principles of great design apply to tiny cottages as well as to sumptuous houses. I surely learned how to use some of Mrs. Williams design secrets.
Thank you, Mrs. Williams.

I was really surprised by this book and not in a good way. Spacing errors and typos in expensive books really drive me nutso. Also the stuff just looks plain "old" and tired. Her previous book was better but the only real interesting thing in that publication was the barn - and I think that was mostly her husband's Point of View!
A real disappointment.
Stylemaven