Hip Houseplants [Hardcover]

Orlando Hamilton (Author), Gillian Emerson-Roberts (Editor), Jeremy Hopley (Photographer)

Book Description

Series: American Horticultural Society Practical Guides | Publication Date: September 1, 2001

Discover natural ways to create a stylish home with the ultimate living accessory for interiors. In Hip Houseplants, Orlando Hamilton transforms the Cinderella reputation of indoor plants, demonstrating how their chic shapes and living color can complement every stylish interior. The Ultimate Design Accessory: Discover serenely scented plants for bedrooms, scene-stealers for grand entrance halls, and even "desktop ionizers" for home offices. Orlando shows how there is an auspicious plant for every part of the home, including steamy bathrooms and tiny kitchens. He also explains how to match plants to every type of decor. In vivid and inspiring photographs, he presents, for example, elegant palms as an integral part of a sumptuous Moroccan room, and porcelain-delicate orchids as a sublime touch in an Asian Fusion-style setting. Stylish Containers Lit to Perfection: The right container provides the perfect link between a plant and its surroundings. Wooden containers, lacquered bowls, and even kitchen colanders are pressed into service with stunning results. Orlando shows how to use pebbles, stones, and moss as trims and how to highlight plants with dramatic halogen and fiber-optic lighting. With advice on plant care and a useful resource section, Hip Houseplants has everything you need to enhance your interiors with the ultimate in stylish greenery.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

You've spent thousands of dollars and countless hours transforming your house into a minimalist haven. You won't want to junk it up with tacky houseplants. Still, you think it could use some living greenery, if only for its ionizing properties. Turn to Hip Houseplants, and in the first chapter you'll find ideas for plants that contribute to a minimalist décor: orchids of course, a tuft of isolepis grass in a simple tin container, partridge-breasted aloe. Or maybe your apartment is decorated in retro '70s style--bright plastic dining chairs, starburst wall clock, and the like--but something's missing: the spider plants and the kalanchoe. Florist-to-the-stars Orlando Hamilton's book emphasizes matching plants and containers with their surroundings: What plants look good and thrive in steamy bathrooms? Where should you place a spreading plant, or one with a bold architectural structure? How can you use artificial illumination to spotlight your prized calla lily? In short sections, Hamilton discusses texture, color, leaf shape, pattern, and scent. The listing of 86 hip houseplants and their characteristics, ideal environment (unfortunately, none of these is a shade plant), and maintenance requirements could be used as a shopping list on your next trip to the garden center. --Liana Fredley

From Library Journal

Instead of having houseplants that just take up space, why not have houseplants that make the space? A plant stylist whose celebrity clients include Madonna and Sylvester Stallone and whose work has appeared in Elle Decoration, Vogue Italia, and other publications, Hamilton believes that houseplants are "ready for a deserved comeback." He offers a way to look at houseplants as d cor and presents ideas for integrating them into various interiors. Using numerous bold color photographs and a clean layout, Hamilton shows how to incorporate houseplants into contemporary styles such as Mediterranean, fusion, and minimalist. Other sections include color and scent; shape, pattern, and texture; pots and containers; and lighting. Also included are a section on plant maintenance and contact information for many of the items featured in the book. While many other houseplant books discuss how to make houseplants look good, this book focuses on how to make your living space look good with houseplants. Recommended for all public libraries. Pauline Baughman, Multnomah Cty. Lib., Portland, OR
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: DK ADULT; 1st edition (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789480301
• ISBN-13: 978-0789480309
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #186,738 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Plants as design elements: Excellent beginner book., October 28, 2001

By 

"vera_lynn" (Southeastern VA, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hip Houseplants (Hardcover)

Some people are into 'hip.' Some people are not. Don't let this title throw you: This book is not your pass-card to the ranks of the coolest of the Cool. It's about plants. It's also about pots and light and color and space.

Orlando Hamilton has put together a masterful beginner's guide to thinking about plants as design elements. Starting with the basics, he quickly reviews a variety of atmospheres, from Modern Chic to Retro to African Revival to Beach Comber, adroitly leading you into basic design concepts, then moving on to an element by element examination of how tone is set. Each style gets one page of commentary, one full page picture, and 3 inset sample shots to give a more in depth sense of the style. The result is a brisk introduction to the art that adroitly leads the reader into thinking about their own environment and the elements that define it.

Moving into specific components, Orlando manages to zoom in on particulars, coherently covering a range of possibilities, without letting you lose sight of the larger picture. He talks about individual spaces (bathrooms, stairs, diningrooms, hallways), how they relate to the whole, & reels off possibilities, complete with lavish pictures to illustrate his ideas, and captions to explain how the particulars come together. He talks about forms, textures, sizes, and colors, each one addressed separately, and how they contribute to a room's overall presentation. He talks about pots, he talks about stands, he talks about lighting, he talks about materials... He talks about _details_, and all those little things that you might not think of as important until you see for yourself the stunning impact something as simple as a pot can contribute to the whole.

I think the genius of this book is the brevity with which it is able to communicate ideas. The interplay between text, photograph, caption and title is such that the author is able to convey these ideas without bogging you down with text (unlike certain reviewers). The pictures are appropriately gorgeous, the text is brisk but friendly, the captions are tremendously useful in elaborating his points, and the section titles cut right to the heart of the matter. And yet he leaves plenty of room for you to disagree or improvise...he even has a small section on how to paint pots!

In other words, this isn't a step-by-step primer, it's an introduction to concepts. Concepts that, having been grasped, will help you shape your own creative atmosphere.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love it!, June 22, 2004

By 

Jenn (NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hip Houseplants (Hardcover)

This will be the 8th time I have started to write this review today! I can't quite sum up into words how much I am enjoying this book! I love plants-- unfortunately; I know nothing about caring for them and keeping them healthy. I bought this book because I recently moved into a new town home and thought I would really love to incorporate some plants into all the new space our new home has to offer, but in a tasteful way. The ideas in this book are spectacular!! The book opens with several gorgeous photographs. The way the chapters are organized is wonderful! There is a chapter for different theme rooms (i.e.: Bold and Contemporary, Asian Fusion Style, Modern Mediterranean), a chapter for color and scent (what plants give off a full fragrant scent and what gives off light fresh scents, full page layouts of different plants of the same color), a chapter for shape and texture, a chapter for different rooms in the house (plants best suited for bathrooms, bedrooms, etc.),a chapter for choosing pots and containers, a chapter for lighting, a chapter for plant care, a plant maintenance guide to use for quick reference, an address and directory listing to some of the products listed in the book and lastly, an index for all the plants listed in the book. I plan on giving several of these to friends as gifts this year! The best thing about this book is that it isn't one of those books that you can admire the products used and never replicate them due to hard to find materials. The pots are all fairly easy to find (lots of them look like they are from Ikea, which you can do a telephone order for, some are terracotta pots that were spray painted silver and they look like metal! and some are big ceramic pots that you can often pick up at flea markets, yard sales or even stores like garden ridge or home depot). This is a great book for anyone looking to incorporate plants into their home!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really Cool Book!, November 20, 2008

By 

Tina (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hip Houseplants (Hardcover)

This books is great. What a different take on indoor gardening! I highly recommend this book for anyone wishing to make a statement with plants, both foliage and flowering, or the occasional gardener wanting a new perspective on houseplants and design. Very interesting book (and great pics too)!