Customer Reviews

Houses: Inside and Out

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

 

 

While the tailored, architecture-friendly interiors by Ms Himes Gomez are not objectionable, they are not particularly inspirational either. It is the houses themselves that are the attraction of this book; all are wonderful works by architects in practice today. Rather than a decorating book to showcase the author's work, it would have been more successful if it had emphasized the architecture and shown the decorator's approach to completing the vision. But recommended for all who appreciate fine residential architecture.

Beautiful photography of gorgeous interiors & useful, informative text on decorating, illustrating how interiors can be gorgeous, functional and practical at the same time. Also looks at starting out buying and decorating your first home. Not terribly oversized like some recent decorating books - compact & neat looking. All color & good quality glossy paper used. The cover is seductive because it makes you feel as if you're being invited into that house! And the cover is just the beginning - the rest of the book is just as tempting!

'Houses Inside and Out' is an excellent companion book to 'Rooms' also by Mariette Himes Gomez. I was a Gomez fan prior to her first book, 'Rooms', which I think is one of the most useful interior design books available.

'Houses inside and Out' features Gomez's understanding of a house being more than its interior. The book chronicles the harmony found in thoughtful design from the ground up. I like the photographs for their visual detail and because they showcase good design in collaboration with good architecture in environments suiting the homes. They also showcase Gomez's artful arrangement of shapes and forms in the volumes of the homes she designs within.

I reviewed 'Rooms' when it first came out and was followed by a review alluding to my being in the publisher's camp. Not the case, but as a fan of Gomez, I still sticky-note my issues of 'Architectural Digest' whenever a Gomez interior is featured.

Gomez's second book is a good read like her first. I'll refer to 'Houses Inside and Out' (as I do with 'Rooms') for useful inspiration and when the company of a good interior design books beckons me. Gomez's writing style is refreshingly open and steeped in designer wisdom. I enjoy absorbing her thoughtful approaches to color choices, furniture groupings, scale and texture and placement of art and accessories. 'Houses Inside and Out' is a delightful complement to my collection of interior design, architecture and landscape design books.

Ms. Gomez's style is timeless, classic. I enjoyed reading this book (in addition to the beautiful photos.) In my mind, she captures in words a great sense of how a house should "feel" in addition to how it "looks". I also appreciated her articulation of the necessary relationship between all of the parts that make up a home (the rooms, porch, landscaping, pool, etc.)

A true inspiration. An absolute must for anybody who wants to decorate their house.Clear layout, beautiful photos and a very interesting text.
After I finished reading the book, I opened it again and browsed through all the wonderful photos.
I am going to buy another book by the same author, "Rooms".

I love this book, it has many simple but elegant houses with a wonderful use of old, rustic and fairly modern pieces. It is one of my absolute favourites.

A thoroughly insipid, bland, insulting book. A few of the photos are pretty, but all are completely sterile, as if humans never actually use these rooms, or run, shouting and farting, across these vast lawns. The text is horrendous, larded with meaningless cliches. Gomez explains how to decorate a house only in the vaguest ways, while people who are actually decorating houses need specific information. The text is really superfluous anyway in most books like these, since people are looking at the pictures - so why go to the trouble of writing such crappy, repetitive poo? Nothing in the photos is ever identified as to place or architect, except occasionally in very vague terms - Long Island, Ireland. Photo captions are ludicrously banal and swim in excess nouns and verbs: "An artist uses local elements lifted from the land and made into art to enhance and decorate the landscape of the property" is typical. Gomez seems to indicate at the beginning that she'll limit each chapter to a specific property, yet there are sudden, confusing shifts from one property to another when she wants to move from writing about some general idea - "more than the sum of rooms" to some specific architectural element like a staircase. Most insulting is her statement that we demand home ownership, and "we choose houses over apartments for their particular enticements - land, windows and natural light, privacy, several floors, outdoor living space" - as if everyone can afford these things, and as if without them our lives are less gracious, hospitable, wonderful, meaningful.

I had seen this book in a bookstore and so I knew what I was getting. It's a good read and the pictures are lovely and interesting. If you like these kind of books, I think you'll like this one.

As beautiful as this book is, the homes inside all felt very American. Had I had the opportunity to browse the pages, I would not have bought it, because I prefer more European/English interiors and exteriors.