Customer Reviews

Nell Hill's Decorating Secrets: Easy and Inspiring Ways to Bring Style into Your Home

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am fortunate enough to live within driving distance of Mary Garrity's stores in Atchison, KS. Visiting Nell Hill is an amazing experience. Atchison is a little town out in the middle of nowhere, but on the weekends, chartered buses arrive...the store opens at 9 on Saturday and by 10 it's packed. And the chic & cheerful Mary C. Garrity is always on the floor, greeting customers by name, personally carrying garden statuary out to their station wagons...

Her personal skills are amazing, but what is truly inspiring is her flair for display--a flair that is highlighted in this book. For enthusiasts of traditional, Paris Apt, shabby chic, English country, or any pretty decor, "decorating secrets" is a visual feast. I esp. love how it doesn't rely on priceless pieces of furniture and objets, but rather in a skillful mix of accessible elements to create a beautiful home. Bravo Mary!

Mary Carol Garrity has writen a book that deserves a place in every 'home decorator's' library! It's easy reading and pictures a lay person can relate to~inspiring is an understatement!!

I'm a big fan of the Nell Hill romantic style but I was a bit let down by this book. I am not a minimalist - I love this "romantic-eclectic" style, full of used, found, inherited and new objects.

I had hoped to see photos of whole rooms decorated in this style, but the book is only full of photos of sections of stairs and walls (with beautifully arranged mirrors and picture frames), sofas (with tons of different pillows), beds (again with tons of different pillows) and dozens and dozens of "tablescapes" and table settings and vignettes and collections of objects (sometimes more than a dozen, all of which will have to be picked up, dusted and put back each time you clean). The objects are interesting, varied, obviously cherished and the arrangements are artistically done, but there is no way to see the effect of an entire room decorated in this style. There are, however, two photos of baker's racks loaded with silver and blue and white china that are to die for .....

The "decorating secrets" are a few pages at the back of the book with lists of very predictable general instructions like "vary the heights", "mix it up", etc. No surprises or even detailed "how-to" here. Somehow there was very little that I could sink my teeth into. Disappointing.

If nothing else, Mary Carol gives us a few new ideas of decorating outside the box, so to speak. Her style is a mix between traditional and eclectic, so she gives us a bit of everything in this book. I bought my copy of the book for my design library for just a few dollars and worth that price.

We are enthusiastic fans of anything from Nell Hill's and that includes the books. I have several and have given several away as gifts. Happy to know this is a source. Thank you for the quick delivery in time for a birthday.

This modern romantic "style" book is wonderfully photographed. People familiar with Carol Garrity sometimes call this style: the NELL HILL STYLE. By the way, NELL HILL was Carol's grandmother (Carol's inspiration) .

This book is not an HOW TO Book but mostly an idea book and it shows how to decorate in a "romantic ,though modern, way". This romantic-style of decorating may not be for everybody, especially those that prefer a more "MASCULINE TOUCH". But for me....I just love it!

The photos are enchanting. There are some nice written tips on how to decorate, though this is more or less a visual decorating book.

This is a book well worth buying if your decorating style is country, cottage or tradtional. Full of great ideas for making your home welcoming for every day or fanatastic for entertaining. Mary Garrity not only has wonderful photos to give you inspiration but she also has tips on how to get the look you want.

Nell Hill's Decorating Secrets is less recent than some of her other titles, but still full of timely ideas. She's a creative lady!

If there is a typical Nell Hill's book on home decor, NELL HILL'S DECORATING SECRETS is it. But I had a mixed reaction to the book, whose title also includes EASY AND INSPIRING WAYS TO BRING STYLE INTO YOUR HOME. Inspirational, yes -- I can see that, because it urges us to follow our passions and not be shy about displaying the things we love, even to the point of eccentric arrangements if they hang together (one end table supports nothing but sheep sculpture!). And author Mary Carol Garrity's recommendations at the end of the book are quite sound, principles such as softenting a problematic color scheme with neutral-toned paint, and layering, rather than stringing out, impressive collections such as old china or toleware.

As for "easy," well . . . if you have a big house, time and taste and confidence enough to enforce your decorating wishes and not be at the hands of professionals, the wherewithal to follow your dreams, and have been happily collecting and "junk-tiquing" for years . . . you're right on the beam. In such a case the cost of renovation could be leveraged down by such techniques as reassigning old furniture to new uses, using a paint job to set a room's tone, and displaying your handsome heirlooms handsomely. This book is great on that. In my case using old, previous stuff could be disastrous: my toleware is grievous, and in anyone's estimation its shabbiness much overides any potential for chic. Under the gun, it would take a big cash outlay on my part to mimic all the heritage called for by the Nell Hill's decorating style. (In all fairness I should point out that there's a nell hill's online site that offers reasonably priced reproductions of historic styles in accent pieces and dining-oriented goods.)

I for one feel some reviewers have gotten onto Mary Carol's "case" a little more than is necessary. Okay, they've seen some of these tips before, but let's not forget that the Nell Hill's series of books are part of the reason these tips got out there and cirulated around. This volume is going on seven years old and innovations such as using ceramic garden stools in lieu of sofa end tables, or even using a couple of them to replace the cliched coffee table, are no longer rad, merely chic, and everyone from Pottery Barn to Gump's to the hardware meagachain is dying to sell you on the notion. (Clearly, many of Mary Carol's secrets aren't so secret anymore.) But to downrate this book on the good ideas it has promulgated would be to make it a victim of its own success.

There is one semantic instance that bothers me, though: I cannot in good faith use the term "romantic-eclectic" to describe the Nell Hill's type of interior. "Eclectic" generally means the successful blending of previous or traditional style with the modern. The Nell Hill's approach is not about stylistic severity or modernity; you won't seen any Eames or Kandinsky in these rooms. Awkward though it may be, I prefer the term "Georgian - Victorian - American" to fine-tune the fusion a bit.

Is this book for you? If you would like some of your decorating preconceptions gently shuffled and other alternatives offered, you can probably benefit from NELL HILL'S DECORATING SECRETS. If you have lots of "nice old things" and would like to integrate them successfully, be they anything from old books to silverplated ornaments to bedspreads to breakfronts, then this book is definitely for you. If your bent is toward the modern and severe, and you'd just like to soften it with cheerful and harmonious examples of earlier styles, this book might not be of great assistance.

Nell Hill never disappoints. Any book from them is always full of decorating ideas and beautiful pictures to guide your decorating. Excellent!