House of Belief: Creating Your Personal Style (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Kelee Katillac was once an ordinary interior designer. She'd meet with the wealthy husband and overeager wife, help them furnish their luxurious homes in the style of English manors, copied carefully from magazines. But she knew there had to be more to her work and life. Slowly, she began to rethink her life's project, and to understand interior design as a process of "spiritual renewal." This book lushly illustrates the ways people seek to make their homes into places of rejuvenation and worship, surrounding themselves with "images that uplift our hearts and minds." We discover candles, flowers, altars and art, and the way the most ordinary space can be transformed into the site of a spiritual journey. The photographs and essays are punctuated with "rituals of belief," suggestions and tips for creating one's own cozy haven (such as taking a field trip to a museum to get ideas for arranging potted plants and buying new sculptures). As long as one's spiritual musings aren't limited to consumption and buying new chaise lounges, "House of Belief" offers inspiration for creating a beautiful and sacred spacewithin the home. (Beliefnet, June 2000) -- From Beliefnet

Product Description

House of Belief incorporate beliefs, values, goals, and dreams into a more meaningful style. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 137 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith Publishers; illustrated edition edition (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879059516
• ISBN-13: 978-0879059514
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #698,776 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars soulful textbook of introspective creativity..., July 19, 2000

By	Steve Heiffus (Kansas City, Missouri USA) - See all my reviews

House of Belief is the key to the most wonderful self-exploratory adventure you will ever embark on. To unlock the door, and look into our hearts and acknowledge that we are all creative. We in our own personal media are, in fact, artists. Art can be baking a cake, planting a garden, working on a car, or yes, painting a landscape. That is, art is where you find it and it is within.

House of Belief is a provocative look and a profound essay on one woman's realization that creativity can truly make you free. A heartfelt, step by step, guide into the soul of individual creativity written by someone who has, as they say, been there. From the "trailer house" to the New York desigh firm, she seems to have traveled that liberating road. Kelee's realization of what is truly real is as enlightening as is the honesty and straight forward approach she takes toward Spirit and the human desire to make our surroundings a reflection of our individual spirit and comfort consiousness.

Chapter by chapter and life by life the true meaning of conscious creativity is explored as each project is studied and how these actions of physical creativity affect the individual lives of the participants. Each story is a ritual of belief and a testimony to the truth that we are all creative and we should feel free and good to express our personal style.

What a wonderful feeling to be told that we are creative and that we can express what is in our heart and in our soul. We can take control of our surroundings and project what has been hidden within us. Perhaps reach back in time to a dream we had long ago and make it come true through the ideas and principles of our own House of Belief.

The projects are real and the people are real. Get ready for a glance into a wonderful world where everyone is a creative being, creativity and self-belief reborn, a true original look into a world of self-expression and self-created beauty that renews the spirit and warms the heart.

140 pages of beautiful color photographs and inspiring text that will change the way you think and awaken your consciousness to the simple things that you overlook in your current daily life.

"A must read for anyone in the Trade". If you are an Interior Designer, Architect or Decorator get ready to do some serious soul searching. Are you true to what you feel in your heart and soul? Or are you just spoon feeding your clients the clich'e of the day?

Buy it , borrow it, but read it...House of Belief...creating your personal style. The creative being you discover may be yourself.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Is your house a reflection of what you believe?, August 31, 2000

By	Gail Yngve (Ogden, UT United States) - See all my reviews

Our homes should be reflections of our beliefs and who we really are rather than collections of mass-marketed, trendy items. Having our beliefs around us incorporated in to our interiors: personal mottoes on walls, embroidered into pillows, or painted onto chairs; portraits of those who inspire us; handmade quilts, pottery, or oil paintings--these are all the things that affirm who we are and who we want to be. If we see our beliefs and dreams in front of us on a daily basis, it is easier to manifest them.

This book demonstrates how we all have the tools to build our own houses of belief. It does not require special talent for interior design, just a strong desire to express our individuality and to make our homes havens that uplift our hearts and minds.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Belief-based Design, July 10, 2000

By	Joan Ryan (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

Kelee Katillac's "House of Belief" is an inspiring journey that challenges our preconceived notions of interior design. In lilting prose, and with gorgeous photographs to illustrate her views, Ms. Katillac tells us we should look within ourselves before we decorate our external environments. What we believe, value and dream about, she says, should be reflected in our homes; and not manufactured, assembly-line furnishings and decorations that say nothing about who we are. What an uplifting, affirming point of view in a world that robs us of the human and the personal in so many ways! I love this book, and think it will resonate with many people.