Designers in Residence: The Personal Style of Top Women Decorators and Designers [Hardcover]

Editors of Victoria (Author), From the Editors of Victoria Magazine (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 2001

“Breathtaking photographs provide a rare glimpse into the living spaces of interior designers. The expected beautiful photos but also a good dose of each designer’s philosophy and decorating hints.”—Los Angeles Times. “A virtual compendium of ideas on creating style. There’s a great deal about color, organization, storage solutions and managing details.”—Baltimore Sun.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In these books the reader is invited to see the homes of some of the top designers in the world and learn their secrets to developing a personal style in decorating. The editors of Victoria Magazine have selected an international group of women, some professional interior designers, to show how each has created her own home decor. With a wealth of color photographs and tips from the decorators, even amateurs will feel they can achieve the casual styles shown here in a Malibu beach house, Harlem townhouse, Pittsburgh 18th-century mansion, and Paris apartment, to name a few. Linley, British furniture designer and grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, presents a collection of photographs of his favorite examples of roomsAentries, living rooms, kitchens, etc.Awith his ideas on what makes them appealing and his personal decorating tips.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap

Behind every beautiful interior is a sure sense of personal vision. From bungalows to city apartments, from a romantic garden house built in a weekend to artistic rooms that are always in progress this book shows how eighteen women designers choose to live-and how they create enriching and comfortable environment.

Whatever your decorating style, you'll discover a kindred spirit in Designers in Residence. One designer accommodates busy family life in an elegant home that takes wear and tear in stride. Another insists on red rooms: "Energy, passion, love of life-when you project that, you get it back." Another uses every corner to experiment with delicate line and color.

When refining your own look, the possibilities-classic formality, unbuttoned chic, ethereal whites, vibrant tones-are infinite, but how to decide? Informative text and exquisite color photographs show each designer's expertise-arranging furniture, selecting fabrics and paints, editing accessories, adding a serendipitous touch-and reveal just how she makes her own choices, and how you can too.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Hearst (December 31, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588160033
• ISBN-13: 978-1588160034
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 8.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,253,996 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth the purchase price, April 18, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Designers in Residence: The Personal Style of Top Women Decorators and Designers (Hardcover)

A very enjoyable read. I enjoyed being invited into the private homes of designers whose work I've read/seen to see how they live. I found their designs interesting and pleasing. I'd like to see a follow-up volume with other designers, such as Joe Ruggiero, Kevin McCloud, Christopher Lowell, etc.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice overview of the homes of top women interior designers, August 25, 2002

By 

Catherine S. Vodrey (East Liverpool, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Designers in Residence: The Personal Style of Top Women Decorators and Designers (Hardcover)

VICTORIA magazine's "Designers in Residence" is a nice overview of the homes of top women interior designers who are based everywhere from several big American cities to Belgium and France and everywhere in between. It's always fascinating to see how interior designers decorate their own homes, instead of those they do for their clients. You get the sense that while their homes represent sanctuary for them--as home rightly should--they also use their homes as design labs, testing this or that fabric or paint finish or furniture placement to see how it might work elsewhere.

The names are ones design mavens will recognize: Sheila Bridges, Rachel Ashwell, Theodora van Runkle (who also did the costumes for several movies, including "Bonnie & Clyde" in 1967), Isabelle de Borchgrave, Charlotte Moss, and more. There is solid, if sometimes unsurprising, information here on aging fabrics, using different decorative and trompe-l'oeil paint techniques, placing pictures on the wall, and so on. The layout of the book is attractive and uncluttered, the focus being solidly on the interiors--as it should be. This would be a nice little addition to the library of any design or interiors fan.

12 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars skip this one - buy "designing women" instead, August 27, 2001

By 

"kidbookfan" (missouri) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Designers in Residence: The Personal Style of Top Women Decorators and Designers (Hardcover)

okay, i admit it, i am a design book junkie. this book, however, definitely does not do justice to the designers or their homes. in fact, the photos are adequate, not nearly on the same level of sophistication of "designing women" by russell - which is a terrific book on some really terrific interior designers. "designers in residence" mirrors the editorial content of the magazine which produced it - "victoria" - of which i am not a fan. if you want an inside tour of some very talented designers - buy "designing women" instead.