Elegant and Easy Rooms: 250 Trade Secrets for Decorating Your Home [Paperback]

Dylan Landis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 1997

Dylan Landis has an inside track with the decorating pros. Elegant and Easy Rooms will tell you their opinions on everything from how to arrange furniture in comfortable and imaginative ways to how to choose a color to create a certain mood or period (in the 1940's a particular shade of yellow was the most popular). The chapters include: Paint and Color, Walls, Windows, Problem Rooms--Great Solutions, Home Furnishings, The Art of Display, and Telling Details. There will also be an incredibly useful and valuable appendix listing all the best mail order resources for everyone's decorating needs. It will be illustrated with charming, elegant black and white drawings that will further entice you to upgrade your decor.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It's easy to see why this nifty little book is already a bestseller in the crowded home-decorating field. If you're put off by--or just need a break from--all those plush design books filled with gorgeous but intimidating photos of rooms you can't afford, Elegant and Easy Rooms can help you meet your decorating needs as it gently but firmly shatters common decorating myths and offers countless specific alternatives. For example, white walls aren't the best neutral or the ideal way to maximize space, but there are plenty of other "safe" choices; a tiny wallpaper pattern won't make a small room seem airy but a bolder motif actually will. Those color coffee-table volumes are great for inspiration but often require effort to extrapolate specific, usable ideas. Here you can open any page at random to find concise, terrific advice drawn from the author's own considerable knowledge and from noted designers and design publications. You'll also find strategies for working with a professional designer even if you're on a tight budget. There's so much excellent and readily accessible information that even seasoned do-it-yourselfers will find themselves spurred to spruce up their decor after perusing this book. --Amy Handy

From Library Journal

Each of these books gives a different view of some of the major issues in home decorating. Interior designer Hanby-Robie has written an easy-to-read workbook to be used by the do-it-yourselfer. She discusses furniture, wall and window treatments, fabrics, flooring, interior design accessories, and planning. For all topics she never advocates a particular style but gives practical advice to enable consumers to make knowledgeable home-decorating choices. Landis, a contributing editor to Metropolitan Home, takes a "helpful hints" approach to interior design, much like Leslie Linsley does in her 15-Minute Decorating Ideas (LJ 5/15/97). The "workable (and) designer-tested" tips are divided into chapters for topics such as color, windows, and display. Appendixes provide information on hiring an interior designer and a helpful list of mail-order resources for home furnishings. Stoddard, the interior designer and much-published writer, updates Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman's classic The Decoration of Houses, first published 100 years ago. More style conscious and less tip-oriented than the authors of the other two books, she gives her own comprehensive interpretation of how to decorate a home in the last years of the 20th century. All three titles would be excellent, broad-interest additions to every public library.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Dell; 7th edition (September 8, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044050774X
• ISBN-13: 978-0440507741
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.2 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,539,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dylan Landis is the author of the debut novel-in-stories NORMAL PEOPLE DON'T LIVE LIKE THIS, a Newsday Top Ten Book of 2009 and a More magazine choice for Top 100 Books Every Woman Should Read. ("The characters...are blessedly extraordinary," wrote Vanity Fair's Elissa Schappell.) A former journalist & author of six interior-design books, Landis has won a 2010 fellowship from the National Endowment from the Arts. Visit her at DYLANLANDIS.COM.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

72 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific investment!, February 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Elegant and Easy Rooms: 250 Trade Secrets for Decorating Your Home (Paperback)

I've seen a lot of mixed reviews for this book, and I can understand that it's not for everyone. What I like about it is that it not only gives you ideas but tells you how to carry them out. The skill/expense level can vary, but there is a broad range of ideas to choose from. There are no photographs in this book. I think the idea is that you have looked elsewhere for inspiration, and now you receive the practical know how to make it happen. If you are a creative person who has ideas of your own and wants to learn how to create a highly personal environment, this is the book for you.

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a do-it-yourself book, December 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Elegant and Easy Rooms: 250 Trade Secrets for Decorating Your Home (Paperback)

Had some very good ideas, but the author assumes that the reader has a lot of money and can hire an interior designer. In many instances she also suggests so. It would have been better if tailored to the DIY homeowner - after all, if you can hire an interior designer, why buy a book?

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loads of great ideas and suggestions of where to find more, July 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Elegant and Easy Rooms: 250 Trade Secrets for Decorating Your Home (Paperback)

This isn't the book for people who need to know the rules of interior design (how much space to leave for pathways, how high lamps should be, etc) but it's great if you're looking for suggestions on creative and cheap things to do with your house (or help deciding what to splurge on). It lets you know the variety of ways you can use a professional. The absence of photos didn't bother me--a lot of the suggestions are supposed to jog your imagination, so imagine! Loved the information on paint and colors--that chapter alone is worth the price of the book.