Candice Olson on Design: Inspiration and Ideas for Your Home (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

• Candice’s fresh, honest approach to design shows readers how to create rooms that are beautiful and functional, perfectly geared to what they love and how they live.
• With her trademark humor and sense of fun, Candice shares design secrets, smart tips, and practical advice to help readers plan and execute successful room makeovers.
• 24 dramatic before-and-after room transformations reinvent living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, bedrooms, basements, and more!
• Quick-read sidebars highlight favorite features and ideas that readers can use in their homes.

About the Author

Candice Olson is one of the top interior designers in North America. Her signature style incorporates creativity, practicality, and timelessness to create sophisticated yet accessible designs. On Divine Design, Candice invites viewers into the lives of homeowners undertaking a dramatic space renovation for an upcoming event. She confidently guides them through the complicated process—including knocking down walls and building rooms from scratch while sharing her incomparable knowledge of the latest trends in domestic style. Candice’s expertise is firmly grounded in hands-on experience: Candice’s personal redesign and renovation of a derelict urban house won Canadian House and Home magazine’s annual design contest in 1994. Multitalented and energetic, Candice toured the world as a member of the Canadian national volleyball team while also earning her undergraduate degree from the University of Calgary. She then moved to Toronto to attend the School of Design at Ryerson University. After graduation she was a much-sought talent. She honed her skills working for several of Canada’s top design firms before launching her own residential and commercial design firm, Candice Olson Design, in 1994. Today, Divine Design is shot in Toronto, Canada. She confidently balances professional activities with family and home life, making her a personality who easily relates to the millions of busy homeowners who embrace her exciting, but practical, style ideas.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (January 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0696225840
• ISBN-13: 978-0696225840
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,171 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #21 in	Books > Home & Garden > Interior Design > Decorating
  #21 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Architecture > Interior Design
  #22 in	Books > Home & Garden > How-to & Home Improvements > Decorating

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Follow Up to the Show, August 20, 2006

By	Cindy Brock "Sharing Life's Abundance" (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews

My husband and I love the show and believe that Candice is the ONLY designer we would ever hire to decorate our home (if I didn't do it myself). This book is great because it contains the designs that appear on the show and allows us to view them in detail (since it's hard to grasp everything in 30 minutes). The ideal reader for this book is someone who loves Candice, loves the show, and is not looking for hand-holding, step-by-step information. It's for those of us who see something we like and then want to incorporate portions of one (or more) of her designs in our own environment.

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How Divine, April 18, 2006

By	Sonya "readaholic" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

I am a big Candice Olson fan and she is my Mom's favorite TV designer/decorator. This book DOES feature projects from her TV show, but this was a plus for me. I have TIVO'd and recorded on DVD my favorite shows, but this is a great companion to the show. The advantage of the book it that you can focus in on a detail you might not have noticed on the show. There were actually two redesign projects in the book I have not seen on TV, so that was nice bonus. What I really like about this book is that the before and after pictures were of the same perspective AND the photography/lighting of the rooms was top notch. Even the smaller photos of the before rooms are clear.

Even if you've never seen Candice Olson's TV show (Divine Design) you will find this book chock full of great photos, descriptions and her complete layout of each room. If you have never seen her work, when you see the before pictures, then the after pictures your mouth will drop open. It's amazing what she can do. What I like about Candice as a designer is that her designs are totally focused on creating a beautiful design but also incorporating a family's lifestyle into the design. She does not just create "show rooms" she makes the rooms functional for the family. My only quibble, which is the same quibble I have about the TV show is that there are no costs listed. You have NO idea how much these rooms costs! Saying that, I would gladly save my money to have her come and decorate a few rooms in my house! It's too bad for me she lives in Canada and not the U. S.

What are my thoughts on this book..."How Divine."

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love Candice!, March 13, 2006

By	T. Pastorelle "design book collector" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is one of my two favorite design books (Nate Berkus' Home Rules is the other). After watching Divine Design for years, I was using many of the principles learned there as I started a major renovation. I was happy to see this book and ordered it immediately. The only thing that was disappointing is that it only features designs that have been previously featured on Divine Design (I remember them all). I was hoping for a few tips from other projects. But I definitely refer to it regularly when making those small but important choices in renovation.