Straight Talk on Decorating from Lynette Jennings [Hardcover]

Lynette Jennings (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2002

Takes a down-to-earth approach to decorating: Design isn’t mysterious; it’s about tools, not rules.

Tour fabulous homes from coast to coast, including exclusive, never-before-seen tours of Jennings’ homes in Toronto and Atlanta.

Teaches the basics on color, accessories, fabrics, proportion, and furniture.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Lights! Camera ! Decorate!

TV's most popular interior designer is about to make a house call -- to your place! And all you have to do is open this book to let her in. In her fresh, fun, and conversational style, Lynette Jennings, host of Discovery Channel's top-rated television show, "Lynette Jennings Design," advises, cajoles, commiserates, pokes holes in common decorating myths -- and then guides you in creating the comfortable, stylish, and personal home you've always wanted. Along the way, Lynette:
* Takes you on never-before-seen tours of her own homes in Toronto and Atlanta, showing how she has meshed good design and personal style with the varying needs of five children and one husband
* Explains design basics in conversational, often witty copy
* Shows you how to cut through what she calls the miseries of choice and map out your own personal color scheme using her exclusive Color Charting System
* Challenges you to take some color and style risks in her motivational No Excuses Now! chapter
* Tells you how to make the most of any space using her No-Nails 7-Step Approach to Getting a Roomy Feeling

From the Back Cover

There's a good reason why design guru Lynette Jennings has drawn hundreds of consumers at a time to decorating seminars around the country. Not only does she have a popular daytime Discovery Channel television show, Lynette Jennings Design, but she tells it like it is. In her relaxed and often humorous style, Lynette admits that decorating may be the hardest thing you ever do -- and then she digs in to help you through the process.

In this beautiful and engaging decorating book, Lynette -- finally! -- puts her practical design philosophy and experience in print. The basics:
* Design isn't mysterious. She makes it easy for you to understand the basics of design, always showing in gorgeous photography and in her own illustrations how simple precepts apply to real rooms. * Design is about tools, not rules. Grasp the tools and you gain the freedom to have your home your way. * There are no excuses! Lynette pokes holes in all the common reasons you may give for putting off a decorating project, building your decorating confidence and motivation along the way.

In this, her first book, Lynette focuses on understanding and using color and on making the most of space.

This book includes tips on:
* Choosing from among the thousands of paint color choices onthe market today
* Working with any region's unique, natural palette of colors
* How the timid can build color confidence by starting with just a touch of color
* Creating a roomy feeling, no matter how small a room may be
* Arranging furnishings and accessories to create the kind of harmonious balance that makes rooms look good and feel great
* Getting rid of clutter, which Lynette calls Space Enemy #1

Throughout the book, Lynette shows you fabulous homes from coast to coast and takes you inside her own homes in Toronto and Atlanta. Whether you want to simply paint a wall, rearrange the living room furniture, or create a whole-house redecorating plan, you will find help here. Open any page and find ideas coupled with Lynette's engaging, to-the-point text.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Meredith Press (February 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0696211084
• ISBN-13: 978-0696211089
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 9.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #628,537 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is great, February 6, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Straight Talk on Decorating from Lynette Jennings (Hardcover)

I've always loved Lynette Jennings. I've been addicted to her TV decorating shows for years. When I saw this book, I knew I had to have it, and I wasn't disappointed. This is a big, heavy book stuffed with lots of photos. In the book, Lynette writes as if she's just talking to me about how to decorate my home. Reading this is more like having a conversation than just reading, because Lynette asks questions, makes me stop and think, and even admits that she has trouble decorating sometimes. A wonderful gift book to give yourself or anyone who loves Lynette and appreciates her down-to-earth approach to decorating.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why can't other designers teach the way she can?, May 4, 2003

By 

Stan Vernooy (Henderson, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Straight Talk on Decorating from Lynette Jennings (Hardcover)

I am an almost pathologically non-visual person who simply can't think outside the box when it comes to shapes, colors, or design or decorating of any kind. It didn't take me long to find that among all the home decorating and craft shows on TV, Lynette Jennings produced by far the most helpful and instructive show for brain-dead people like me.

What DID take me awhile to realize, however, is WHY she is so much better than the others. She approaches each topic just as if she were an instructor in a real-life classroom, albeit with the benefit of being physically placed in beautiful homes and rooms that she can display to the viewer. As a teacher myself, I looked at her with a sort of professional eye, and realized that she was in fact a superbly talented teacher and communicator.

Her book is more of the same outstanding material you get on her show, but this time organized according to various themes, such as how to use color, how to decorate in small spaces, etc. The book is gorgeously illustrated, and includes concrete ideas that can be understood by those of us who lack her instinctive talent for the subjects of decorating and design. Highly recommended!

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I highly recommend this book!, March 11, 2002

By 

Y. Leventhal (Oak Hill, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Straight Talk on Decorating from Lynette Jennings (Hardcover)

This is a GREAT book! No nonsense, straight talking, smart and useful as a conceptual and practical guidance book. It dymystifies interior decoration, makes it possible for ordinary people who, like me, do not live in million dollar mansions, to relate to her decorating ideas. This is a great book for those new to interior decorating and those who want to pick up a few usable rules of interior decoration without feeling restrained by those very same rules.

The texts are incredibly easy and fun to read; very few waster words. Plenty of photos to illustrate the point and the photos and the text go hand in hand--this is not a show and tell of the rich and famous.

The text is printed in an unusual way: the types are big (which is great) and black, regular sized print are mixed in with colored, bigger sized print. I like it that way but it drove my husband nuts. There is only one paragraph in the book (one on the pros and cons of painting open floor plan houses in different colors) which I found confusing and not well written. Everything else is right on the money. I highly recommend the book.