Pottery Barn Living Rooms (Pottery Barn Design Library) (Hardcover)

by Bonnie Schwartz (Author), Clay Ide (Author), Alan Williams (Photographer)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
The traditional living room has increasingly given way to the idea of a "great room"--a space adaptable enough to entertain guests, encourage playful children, provide a comfortable place to view videos, and, yes, even accommodate the solitary reader. Pottery Barn Living Rooms leads such a reader through the basic issues and specific choices available to anyone wanting to re-do an existing space or design a new living room. Each of its ten chapters is devoted a specific subject (color, texture, lighting); all chapters begin with an overview of the topic, followed by virtual tours of rooms--both large and smaller, formal and casual—complete with gorgeous photos. The accompanying text goes on to explain how the real-life owners of these rooms created a sense of intimacy, a dramatic effect with lighting, or a convivial place in which people are likely to congregate. Whether you have high ceilings or low, a large budget or a limited one, this book is valuable for anyone looking for sensible ideas in creating a room perfect for all kinds of living. --David Bombeck

Product Description
Whether decorating, refining or updating the most lived-in room in the house, Pottery Barn Living Rooms is the essential guide. Drawing on the expertise of the country's leading home funinshings retailer, Pottery Barn Living Rooms offers tips and techniques on style, space, color, lighting and more. Over xxx phtos and detailed diagrams translate personal style to effortless dcor.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Oxmoor House (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0848727592
• ISBN-13: 978-0848727598
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 9.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #89,083 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Old Stuff mixed with new stuff..., November 10, 2003

By A Customer

I think if you read other reviews of this book, you will find that people either love or hate the pottery barn style. Didn't Friends make fun of this style in one of their episodes? Well, I happen to be one of those people who really likes the pottery barn style. To me, it mixes a lot of old and unique with new, fresh pieces. It also reminds me a lot of IKEA and other ideas found in their catalogues. I did read some of the other comments in the previous reviews and was surprised that some people commented that you could not learn anything from this and just buy the PB catalogues. Hmmm... was I missing something here or did we just not pick up the same book? I felt the PB book was extremely helpful by explaining color palettes (completementary color schemes), lighting schemes, achieving winter, summer, and spring looks all within the same room, and bringing old stuff that you have in your attic or garage into your living areas.
The minute I opened the book, I dogeared at least seven different ideas to use for later - you see, we just bought a brand new house and I have this big, open white box that I have no idea where to start decorating. This book, which IS my style, helped me to focus my ideas and gave me a huge jump-off point for my projects. For instance, just look at the cover of this book and the arrangment of several pictures in black frames on a uniform shelf. I copied that idea for the mantle over my fireplace with five different sized framed pictures I already had, but I had always hung on the walls in a very boring way. It seemed "fresh" to me...

Now, if you like modern, art-deco, and extremely unique living spaces - well, perhaps this book and other PB installments aren't for you. To me, PB reminds me of cozy, chic cottage style that is popular among Young Urbans. I'm in my late twenties, a mom of two young children with a large suburban house to decorate - it's my style.

So good luck and I hope I offered you a direction to go in..

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Middle of the road, August 26, 2004

By	Carvet "carvet" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

I have read/used three of the Pottery Barn books listed in order of my opinion of them: Baths, Living Rooms, and Bedrooms. Baths was very good, with beautiful photographs, interesting and innovative ideas, and some useful design advice. Most of the book provided a several page showcase for an individual bath with discussion of what made it special.

Living rooms was OK. It's content was more canned, but it still had some inspiration and enough ideas that were useful that although I would not put it amongst the best such books, it was worth an hour or two to browse.

Bedrooms hit the bottom of the list for me. The content seemed especially canned. The ideas were not fully developed and most of them appeared to me more appropriate to someone's first apartment than an established home (so it just needs the right audience?). Lot's of the pictures involved just using eclectic pieces and did not involve actually developing a decorative theme.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great decorating ideas!, January 15, 2004

By	jay dow (Beverly, MA) - See all my reviews

I received a copy of the Living Rooms book for Christmas and found it not just great to look at, but full of really useful ideas. I love to change around the furniture in my home, and give the rooms a new look, and this book is full of terrific decorating tips. Unlike lots of other interior design books, which can be a lot of fluff, the text is worth reading and the photos really show you how to make beautiful rooms (without assuming you've got endless time and money.)
I hadn't really considered myself a Pottery Barn fan before, but I certainly am now. I ended up buying the Bathrooms book, too, and it's just as good. I definitely recommend this book!