Customer Reviews

Diamond Baratta Design

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have clipped Diamond and Baratta pictures from magazines for years. But nothing prepared me for the arrival of their first book!
As a decorative painter and homeowner who loves to decorate, this book is simply superb! I have more than 100 decorating books, and none of them compare to the joy, exuberance, and warmth that the Diamond and Baratta rooms exhibit. The colors are bright and happy, while the rooms themselves invite the reader in. There's enough inspiration going on to keep a person busy for months - with a museum's worth of pictures. The first few passes through the book are almost overwhelming. If you can't have a cup of coffee actually sitting in one of those gorgeous places, you can have one while looking at them! The layout, paper quality, and photography are superior. Oddly enough, I found the most understated and least exciting part of the entire book is the cover....it gives little clue to the wonders within.
For a homeowner, collector, interior designer, or booklover - this is a great find! Highly recommmend!!

I am floored by the interior design of Diamond Baratta and this book is filled with page after page of incredible rooms. Even if your own taste is more on the mild side--check out this book because it could very well convert you to bringing pizzazz and excitement into your own home. Highly recommended!

I waited for this book to publish after seeing some of their work in magazines-when you see their work you know it b/c of their precision to detail. To be honest-isn't that why you hire a decorator and honestly no one does it quite like these guys!!!
Their pinks are VERY pink- yellows Very yellow but NO ONE does BLUE like these guys do BLUE and that is worth the price of admission!!!!!Enter their world you won't be disappointed!

As the other reviewers have indicated, this is really a wonderful book. Page after page of spectacular eye-candy. Uplifing, gorgeous interiors. A must-have for anyone who needs some decorating inspiration.

Diamond and Baratta are two of my favorite Designers! This book displays the ecclectic environments they help their clients create!

The Diamond-Baretta Design book gives braided rugs a great outing. Being a longtime braider it does my heart good to see Jan Jurta's great rugs showcased in such a fine manner. The colors and decor are exciting and let us know that braided rugs will fit in a lot of different venues and don't necessarily have to be dark and country.

Recommended if you are planning an expensive redecorating project or if you're just dreaming you can afford it.

Basically Diamond Baratta Design is a lovely picture book - If you are a decorator or decorating your own home it can be a good source of inspiration or at least a few ideas .If just a fan of decorators it might disappoint as there is little substantive background information about their careers and philosophy. A good mate to this volume would be a book about Dorothy Draper as the Diamond Baretta team follow through on many of her ideas about color and scale.

These designers can wow you with their floors. They use a lot of painted floors, so you'll see a dining room with a Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign on it. There's another floor that periwinkle blue and stenciled with whales, lighthouses and mermaids.
They are imaginative with rugs too. In Baratta's own apartment, she used menswear fabrics in a modern pattern of concentric squares for a rug.
Although they go for dramatic affects with bold colors, they use white liberally with that. Lamps can be playful (an old leather fire bucket, a teapot, a metal coffee grinder). Be aware, though, that some homeowners might find it too bold.
If you're looking for color ideas to free yourself from dull and bland, then these designers are for you.

This book was written by the designers themselves. After working together for twenty-five years they decided to create a selection of their favorite designs for publication. Their most telling comment was that it became apparent that each of the twenty four projects in this book reflect the clients personalities and passions. As they say: 'We think of our clients as partners and muses and see ourselves as interpreters of their dreams by listening very carefully to them.'

Perhaps the most outstand characteristics of their designs that come through in project after project is the bold use of bright, often primary colors. Not long after that comes a spark of insight as they talk about things like the fabric or lamps or furniture that they had made for this or that project.

All design is a matter of personal taste and desire. The Diamond Baratta designs are bold and striking, but as they say in the quote above, these are not for everyone. I have a hard time imagining some of these homes in a house with four or five kids.

A very interesting book of bold designs that makes for a good idea book.

Great style and advice from Diamond and Baratta. The photos alone are worth the investment. Surprisingly embraces contemporary design as well as traditional. Recommended.