California Wine Country: Interior Design, Architecture, and Style [Hardcover]

Diane Dorrans Saeks (Author), Alan Weintraub (Photographer), Robert Mondavi (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1997

The first book to celebrate Wine Country lifestyle and interiors, California Wine Country offers an intimate tour of the ease and elegance that prospers amidst the vineyards and lush hillsides of the California wine-growing regions. Best-selling style writer Diane Dorrans Saeks walks the personal, memorable, and inspiring homes and hideaways of more than twenty-five Wine Country homeowners -- including an apple orchardist, a painter, a chef, an architect, and a gardener -- as they enjoy the seasonal splendor of outdoor dining, vine-covered vistas, sun-dappled interiors, and the spectacular surroundings of a region where lifestyle marries landscape. One of the most popular travel destinations on the West Coast, the Sonoma-Napa countryside is esteemed for its natural beauty and casually luxurious way of life. Throughout the region, and from the Anderson Valley to the vineyards of Santa Barbara, uniquely decorated homes are treasured for their architecture, seclusion, and unparalleled setting. Saeks visits nearly thirty such houses, including a renovated farmhouse and barn; a rustic family home amidst a walnut orchard; and a dreamy lakeside "tent" home in Sonoma. With more than two hundred beautiful color photographs, California Wine Country brilliantly captures the spirit and flavor of the Wine Country way of life.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

True to the sense of bounty and calm that the California wine regions convey, Diane Dorrans Saeks writes, "Wine Country life is private, peaceful, undisturbed. Rural bliss soothes the mind. The Wine Country encourages simple wonder and gratitude." The inhabitants of the idyllic properties presented in California Wine Country must feel grateful indeed. This unbelievably seductive book of heavenly hideaways is divided into five sections: "Classic," "Poetic," "Rustic," "Collectors," and "Weekends." The Santa Ynez, Russian River, and Alexander Valley regions are explored, as well as the more well-known Napa and Sonoma areas.

Saeks sought out creative people--artists and art dealers, designers, restaurateurs--whose houses range from a splendid Venetian villa near Calistoga to a 12-by-16-foot tent (furnished with antiques) on the edge of a peaceful Sonoma lake. The interiors are magazine-perfect (not a cell phone or fax machine in sight) and true to the prevailing architecture, whether angular and austere or funky adobe. There is a Mediterranean-inspired lusciousness in every photograph: grapes spill from the vines covering a patio, rambler roses cover a wooden gate, and doorways invariably open onto hillside vistas complete with blue sky. The directory at the book's end includes design and furnishings stores, as well as bookstores with good design sections, kitchen equipment stores, and restaurant, hotel, and winery recommendations.

Review

This book takes us on a tour of some of the unique homes in the California Wine Country. With gorgeous photos by Alan Weintraub and an introduction by Robert Mondavi, we explore the interiors of 25 retreats. California Wine Country

By Cathleen Medwick

Diane Dorrans Saeks and photographer AlanWeintraub spent almost a year researching this understandably convivial book. Wine country has become a chic address for vintners as well as for fast-rooting nongrowers. House styles range from a hand-hewn barn whisked from the New Hampshire hills to the Santa Ynez valley to a colonial Australian farmhouse in Los Olivos. Interiors, whether rustic or refined, inevitably offer a place to sit and drink in the glories of the land.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 204 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (October 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811815013
• ISBN-13: 978-0811815017
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 9.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #291,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #53 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Interior Design > Style

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An architect's opinion of this book, May 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: California Wine Country: Interior Design, Architecture, and Style (Hardcover)

This book is a beautiful presentation of Interior (and outdoor) Design, but little true architecture. Most of the profiled homes appear as sets in a film and seem unrealistic as full time residences. As an architect, I will admit that most are wonderful, humanly scaled spaces. I'm not sure why the wine country is profiled-- other than the budgets are fat there. Overall, the book is worth the price.

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice start - but barely a beginning, September 5, 2003

By 

James Preston "Jim Preston" (Santa Clara, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: California Wine Country: Interior Design, Architecture, and Style (Hardcover)

Ms. Saeks did a reasonable job, but the book is close to worthless if you want to design your house in a recognizable California Wine Country style. Katya and I suggest developing a color palette from the book, but after tens of hours of studying it we can not determine a quantifiable style. Consider this book as a raw first start; a survey of modest importance. The interiors are all over the map. The only commonality is their location in California. Worth buying - yes, but only to understand the diversity possible. Is a more serious study necessary - yes. California wine country is a combination of Tuscan, Provencal, and Spanish Colonial/Early California, with Asian influences. Themes and moods vary. Pretty much freestyle designing. However, certain rules will give you a recognizable style. We're working on it.

- Jim and Katya Preston

4.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous source books, January 1, 2009

By 

Sarah Klacka (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: California Wine Country: Interior Design, Architecture, and Style (Hardcover)

One of the best things about this book is that it covers a range of different types of houses, from modern to Tuscan to rural country, all within the same general color palette and sharing some elements of the wine country style. The Tuscan homes featured, my personal favorites, are truly spectacular and the photography is detailed enough that there are plenty of elements to be used for inspiration if not down-right copied!

Visually gorgeous from start to finish even in the styles that may not be your favorites, combines to make a great picture of wine-country style. Warm, relaxing, elegant.