Design Rules: The Insider's Guide to Becoming Your Own Decorator [Paperback]

Elaine Griffin (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 3, 2009

Recipient of the Gold Medal in the Living Now Awards-Home Improvement

The essential do-it-yourself guide from one of the top designers in the country that uncovers the secret home design rules used by the pros

Many design books are filled with lavish photography of perfect rooms that most of us can only dream of re-creating. Without any practical advice, the look is unattainable. That's where Design Rules comes in. Here, Elaine Griffin, one of the country's 100 top designers (House Beautiful), explains all the practical decorating standards that professionals use behind the scenes to create flowing, balanced, gorgeous design. Packed with helpful illustrations and hundreds of step-by-step tips, Design Rules includes essential advice such as:

?Pick a pleasing color palette (that really works)

?Correctly size their bedsize tables (so they don't tower over their beds)

?Enhance the visual appeal of windowless rooms (so they're not dungeons)

?Design furniture arrangements that function and flow

?Style up even the most forlorn kitchens, baths and yes, basements and laundry rooms (honey, no space is too dreadful to be made ultra fab)

?Brighten up their kitchens with a can of paint and a burst of strategically- placed color (location, location, location!)

?Figure out which styles of furniture go together (there is a rule and it's easy!)

?Make their own personalities shine throughout their homes (because they should)

?And oodles more!

Design Rules is for the growing number of savvy, novice home designers who are well-versed in what good design looks like, but need advice on how to translate it into their own home. It is the home design bible people have been waiting for.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Ignore the sugars, honeys, and dollfaces you may find here, and avoid any sentence ending with an exclamation point. Once you look beyond the cutesy trying-too-hard-to-be- colloquial prose, New York City interior designer and magazine contributor Griffin does have decorating secrets and tips to share—and to use. Much of her knowledge is revealed through black-and-white illustrations, a better perspective on home realities than fancy four-color photographs. And much of the book’s value lies in the very pragmatic ideas and techniques promoted. Afraid of color? Remember that if the combination exists in nature, it’ll work in your home. To ensure that bathroom wallpaper endures (at least for a while), open the door (and window) right after a shower or bath. Looking for empty decorating space? Try over the headboard or beneath the hall table. Don’t let the book’s very traditional organization—by room—dissuade you from more than a glance; despite some seemingly arbitrary likes and dislikes (for instance, go to the big-box store for kitchen and bath design!), Griffin’s know-how will successfully populate any room in the house. --Barbara Jacobs

Review

"It's by far one of the best practical decorating guides to come down the pike."
-Jennifer Boles, Peak of Chic

"Elaine Griffin is the Diana Vreeland of decorating. Ignore her smart and stylish directives at your own risk! This book has the answers to so many seemingly simple decorating questions-- I love it!"
-Kate Betts, editor of TIME Style & Design

"Creating one's own style at home can be daunting. Elaine Griffin demystifies the process with a smart and savvy, no-nonsense decorating primer. Translating the basics of chic design for the nonprofessional, she provides irresistible, foolproof tips that make sense for every taste, style and budget."
-Margaret Russell, editor in chief of Elle Decor

"[A] great new book...I love Elaine's accessible writing style, a breath of fresh air in the often stuffy atmosphere of decorating. Thrilling!"
-Temo Callahan, creative director, Studio Printworks

"Elaine nails it with her step-by-step, practical approach...Design Rules is a great tool and inspiration for all."
-Colin Cowie, designer and author of Colin Cowie Chic

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Gotham; 1 Original edition (November 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592405061
• ISBN-13: 978-1592405060
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #270,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

"A person's home -- what it looks like, where it is, how it's lived in -- reveals more about him than absolutely anything else in the world," says New York interior designer Elaine Griffin. "Now creating a beautiful home is definitely a time-consuming task, but, sugar, I promise you that it'll never be a thankless one! When you make the effort to style up your castle, it will love you back every time you walk in the door and say, 'aaaaahhhhhh.'"

Elaine is a graduate of Yale University and studied at the New York School of Interior Design. She began her design career in the office of architecture and design legend Peter Marino. A recognized tastemaker known for her infectious sense of humor, Elaine designed the Good Works Makeovers for Oprah's O at Home, and is ranked as one of House Beautiful's Top 100 American Designers. Her work frequently appears in design magazines and on television nationally.

A native of the Deep South, Elaine was the designer of the acclaimed Fall 2006 Southern Accents Showhouse at Hampton Island, Georgia. Design Rules: The Insider's Guide to Becoming Your Own Decorator is her first book.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars May be useful if you are very inexperienced November 14, 2009

By K. Waldron

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you are looking for a book to make decorating more approachable, then this might be a good book for you. If you are looking for more advanced guidance - beyond "wallpaper looks great in X room" to "the best sources for wallpapers are A, B, C" - beyond "mix two or more stains [for wood floors]" to "this mixture looks great on white oak: XYZ" then this book will not be satisfying. I have read countless decorators say that mixing several stain colors produces better results, but which colors? Which brands of stain? What percentages of each color?

I was excited about this title because I saw it reviewed - very positively - in two shelter magazines I read, but it is disappointing because it is so very basic. This book may be useful if you have never decorated a room before and have no intuition for how to do so, but it lacks depth. I have read it cover to cover, and I have not learned anything I did not already know (and I am not a professional decorator). Perhaps because I was expecting the book to be a resource, I was also annoyed by the "we're close friends having coffee" tone of the book (the reader is "sugar" "doll" and "honey" throughout). The conversational tone makes weeding through the chit-chat for the information even harder.

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Does not live up to expectations November 13, 2009

By Kentucky Girl

Format:Paperback

I really wanted to like this book as I am decorating my home on a budget and felt that learning a few decorating tips would enable me to avoid costly mistakes. First and foremost, this is the first decorating book that I've read that lacks photographs. There are a handful of sketches of room layouts and furniture styles, bur absolutely ZERO photographs. I understand that the book has an instructional objective, but photographs would have been most helpful.

The book is also not well organized. There are many sections in the book that are six or seven paragraphs long and have no bullet points or lists to highlight the important information. Additionally, I found the author's rambling, Southern style of writing ("Designer Girlfriend can't have that honey") to be quite annoying.

While the author may offer a few helpful tips, the book lacks photographs and is not pleasingly organized. I would not have purchased this book had I flipped through it at the bookstore.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Back to the Basics...and Beyond December 14, 2009

By Reginald Lewis

Format:Paperback

What I love most about Elaine's book is that she teaches. Most decor books are all about "showy" interior pics and aspiration-al living that most people can't live up to. But Elaine's book teaches us how to work with what we have and how to love it. To me that's what a good decor book is all about.