Customer Reviews

Decorating for Good: A Step-by-Step Guide to Rearranging What You Already Own

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

We are a middle class family with a very nice home filled with items I had meticulously chosen. Nonetheless, I was constantly moving furniture, re-hanging pictures, re-arranging table top items, etc. in an effort to achieve the "decorator" look that you see in magazines. It was hopeless. I, like many of my friends, assumed that I simply had bought the wrong furnishings. I stumbled upon "Decorating for Good" and miracles began to happen. I couldn't believe my eyes when I started using Carole's formula. My husband immediately asked how much money I had spent. Imagine his delight when I quoted the price of the book! At long last I feel my home is settled and PERFECT! THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART, CAROLE!

After reading a newspaper article about Carole Talbott, I finally 'Visually' saw what I have been looking for. I ran out and purchased this book. I have an L shaped room that we use for entertaining and like to have everyone in sight. I have been stumped with this decorating dilemma for over five years. High ceiling here, fireplace there, waterfront property on the oppisite side, nothing seemed to balance out. I had to see what this book could do for me, so I sat down and read it CAREFULLY. I found it very easy to read and understand. Each chapter is a new step. She starts you where you need ot start, and keeps on going to the last detail. Then, I got busy and the transformation was unbelievable. I can not express to you what a wonderful feeling the room has now, just by following this step by step guide. So, if you are serious about wanting to redecorate without a decorator, this book "Decorating for Good" is what you need. Maybe some of today's decorators need to take some of Carole Talbott's advice. I had hired the best in my area and never felt the warmth and comfort I now feel after using the steps I learned in this book, "Decorating For Good." Enjoy it-I did! P.S. It is my favorite gift for giving this Christmas, everyone is getting a copy.

I wish I had, and saved myself some money. This book is frustrating! She talks about selecting architectural focal points as a start to your redesign. But the line drawings (not photos) that are supposed to help you understand her principles don't show you what the selected focal point was or why it was chosen. The other thing that struck me as odd was that she tells you to look at your furniture as shaped objects, rather than functional objects. Well, in a small living room with a TV, you have to look at your furniture's function! I am sure she has a lot of natural talent and her rooms probably look nice--but that doesn't translate to paper here. Buy Lauri Ward's books instead.

If anyone has any interest in decorating at all, you have probably already seen just about all there is out there in the way of ideas, just with a new twist here and there. This is not what this book is about. What I loved about this book is that it is a "formula" of HOW to put your furnishing and accessories togehter to show them off to their best advantage. It's as simple as that. The fact that there are no pictures did not make a difference to me, since the items that I have to work with, would not be the same as whatever pictures may have been shown. Like I said, this book is ALL about using a "formula". I have found it EXTREMELY helpful and easy to understand.I find myself going back to reread certain chapters, to keep my rooms looking "fresh".

So how does she get the furniture in--drop it down from the ceiling area?

Not one picture illustrates how to arrange furniture around design features such as a fireplace in between two large picture windows, or glass doors that most newer houses have these days, or large walkthrough archways, just to name a few room challenges that many people have. Also, most of the groupings did not seem to allow for comfortable passageways for people to get from one end of the room to the other--the rooms were overcrowded with furniture.

I'm glad I borrowed this from the library and didn't buy it. Not recommended.

You only have to look at the poor cover design to know you're in for trouble here. I ordered this book just out of curiosity and am terribly disappointed.

The author has a formula for decorating that misses entirely. Good design isn't about formulas. And if it were, she breaks her own rules regarding focal points, balance, traffic lanes, weight on the bottom and much more.

The room layouts have no doors or windows which so affect the placement of furniture. What was she thinking?

She places two works of art completely to one side of the wall when two walls join going perpendicular to each other. So if one views one wall at a time as one would often do, the arrangement is totally off balance. Huh?

Her teachings on the heights of furniture and matching it up with the height of the wall is a nice try that definitely won't fit many situations. There are too many variables that will conflict.

Her teaching that the art should be equally as wide as the width of the sofa or chair creates an oppressive feeling. The drawings that illustrate this prove my point: the art invariably overpowers the furniture below it which flies in the face of her teaching that the visual weight should be on the bottom, with lighter weighted items on top.

She would have you build a wall grouping from the outside in, rather than the inside out. What?

She clearly doesn't understand scale and proportion and can't even find where she mentions it, so I guess she doesn't know about the Golden Mean Theory or the Rule of the Golden Thumb.

She tells you never to place matching loveseats across from one another when that is a very effective way to arrange them. And she doesn't want you to ever split apart two matching chairs, for instance, when doing so can open up an arrangement idea that is very stunning and just as cohesive as keeping them together.

I'm sorry but if you want your home to have the "Levitt's" or "department store look" with your neat little furniture "set" and no individuality, then you might like her inconsistent rules and formulaic decorating technique.

But if you want your home to look creative, distinctive, original, personal and just plain "feels good when done", a rigid formula is not for you.

I bought this book from a traditional brick & mortar store, big mistake, I should have come here first to read the reviews!

First Ms. Talbott starts with a basic idea, place your largest piece of furniture in front of the architechtual focal point of the room. For the average person this is going to be the fireplace or large windows. If you look at Ms. Talbott's drawings she completely ignores her own advice, unless of course the architechtual focal point of the room is a corner (as shown on the cover of the book). It generally isn't and when a page later you realize she placed it this way because she places the TV on that corner (contrary to her own advice of not making the TV the focal point of any room) you realize why she did this. I found this annoying, she contradicted herself twice.

I realize the drawings are really just to give you an idea and everyone's home is going to be different, but no one has an architechtual focal point in a corner, more than likely it's going to be on that long wall or the wall opposite.

So what should you take from this? Place your largest piece of furniture in front of your architectual focal point and start from there. There I've saved you $15 bucks.

As for the rest of the book it all seemed kind of commen sense to me (and anyone who watches HGTV), grouping art on a wall, following the architectual line of a wall with your art,layering accessories, and rearranging furniture in other rooms of the house e.g. bedrooms, which her advice boiled down to ignore focal points and place the bed where it will fit uh-duh.

I've been waiting for this book to be published after seeing Carole's Website, and after sending for Visual Coordinations registration materials. I think if you had never read a home decor magazine or flipped through some of the decorating books out for the last 10 years, this would seem brand new. Only one idea seemed fresh to me, and that was of patterning lighting sources in a room in a triangle format. All other pages were good ideas, but same, same, same as what everyone else is doing. Disappointing after looking forward to the book's release for so long, and thinking it would help me solve some awkward room layout problems.

I can't believe I spent money to read about this author's ego trip and sales pitch for her business. What transparent hype!Other books on the market are far superior to this one in that they actually showed me how to make my home look so much better. I love decorating and I'm always looking for new ideas, but this was a mistake.My living room looked 100% better before I tried the so-called"formula." I want my money back.

After spending hours looking through piles of interior design books and spending a small fortune on home decor magazines, I purchased Decorating for Good. It will be my final purchase. I love it! I am in the process of getting some new items for my living room and dining area and had not a clue where to start. I had a decorator in (an exasperating experience) and will probably never do that again! After reading through the basic principles in the book, my daughter and I had the living room rearranged in 15 minutes and I knew exactly what I will need to purchase and what I can wait and purchase later. I was able to better define one end of the living room, which must function as a foyer as well. THANK YOU CAROLE!!!WEll Done!!!