Customer Reviews

California Wine Country: Interior Design, Architecture, and Style

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

 

 

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.

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

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.

I collect decorating books (I'm obsessed with them!) and this is my absolute favorite! It's sitting on my coffee table and I look at it again and again; I wish I could find more like it. We have recently purchased/remodled another house and this book was the inspiration for many of the things I incorporated into this house.

Hi, I am the author. The Napa Valley, Sonoma, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez...they are hot now. Everyone dreams of living in the Wine Country. The pages of this book will set you dreaming more...and imagining a trip to relax, go wine tasting, perhaps look at real estate...and certainly to dine at The French Laundry. (See Chef Thomas Keller's kitchen in this book.)