luxxury livving » Books

{Book} High Style by Woodson & Rummerfield

luxxury livving — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 02:41:19 +0000

I recently purchased a book that caught my attention right away on the bookshelf initially by it’s black velvet-like cover imprinted with gold writing… it’s screams luxury! The book is called High Style he book did not disappoint, it’s has a fabulous collection of interiors designed by Woodson & Rummerfield, A design duo made up of Jaime Rummerfield and Ron Woodson.

A wonderful book for inspiring glamorous living and high style. Here is a sneak peak into the book, so very chic!

Book Description
At the intersection of Old Hollywood glamour and sleek modernity you’ll find sought-after Los Angeles design duo Ron Woodson and Jaime Rummerfield. Their first book is an over-the-top design object that’s equal parts creative inspiration design acumen and exclusive insight into the lives of L.A.’s celebrity royalty. In over 300 stunning photographs Ron and Jaime share their unique approach to creating striking domestic spaces and memorable parties. Throughout features on reclaiming vintage furnishings and flea market finds complement the stories behind the fabulous rooms. All of this design wisdom is wrapped in a sexy black-on-black raw silk cover and has gilded edges making High Style a book as stylish to display as it is tantalizing to read.

New Jonathan Adler Books

luxxury livving — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 04:14:47 +0000

Jonathan Adler, one of the most creative designers of our time has two new books out! How exciting perfect for Christmas, I’m going to treat myself to these book this holiday. Perfect for the decor and design enthusiast.

Jonathan Adler on Happy Chic Colors

Jonathan Adler on Happy Chic Accessorizing

Holly Becker from Decor8 – New Book Sneak Peak

luxxury livving — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 20:43:57 +0000

I’m so excited, I opened my Blogging Your Way friends group email and received a note from Holly Becker that she has released a sneak peak photo of her new book… of course I instantly checked it out… and here it is. It’s so pretty!

The book is called Decorate: 1,000 Design Ideas for Every Room in Your Home! I personally cannot wait to get my hands on this book, it will be a hot seller for sure! The book is both by Holly Beckerand Joanna Copestick with photography done by Debi Treloar.

So head over to Surprise! My Book Coverto check it out. It will be available in March 2011 in the UK and May 4, 2011 in the US (according to the Amazon) website… I see a trip to the border in the near future or I just might pre-order myself!

I decided to see if it was listed at Amazon.com and it was! I suggest pre-ordering the book here: Decorate: 1,000 Design Ideas for Every Room in Your Home.

Congratulation Holly, you deserve all the success!

{Image Credit: Amazon}

The Nate Berkus Show Debut

luxxury livving — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 04:41:32 +0000

Sorry friends it’s been a few weeks since I last wrote. Getting used to a new job and juggling life again. I was excited today when I got home after work today to find my PVR had kindly recorded the first episode of The Nate Berkus Show. I eagerly sat down and waited till Nate’s beautiful smile appeared. I must say, he does exude positive energy. I was pleasantly happy the show was a hit. The first story was of a single mother who had been going through a rough time and it was her dream to have her kitchen renovated. The team did not disappoint and of course did a beautiful job. Another segment which I thought was a clever one, was to help you find color combinations that couples could agree on. With a number of questions such as what was your first date outfit color, what color was you childhood bedroom, what color suits the other person etc… a color board of choices was eventually defined. I really liked the photos from Elle Decor that were shown using the colors from the exercise to help viewers picture what you can do using the colors as accents in your own home. Here is the clip:

Overall it was a great show and I look forward to coming home every evening and watching this show. I think we are lucky to have a positive, kind and superbly creative talent like Nate Berkus gracing our television. We need more of this kind of programming, so thank you Nate!

If you already haven’t done so, have a look at Nate’s book Home Rules: Transform the Place You Live Into a Place You’ll Love. A wonderful book to take advice from the master himself.

Book Description: Nate Berkus, regular contributor on The Oprah Winfrey Show, contributing editor of O, The Oprah Magazine, and nationally renowned decorator, has created a book inspired by his belief that everyone should love the way they live. This step-by-step guide to achieving your own beautiful rooms is based on Nate’s signature style and innovative approach to design. As a small boy, Nate could often be found rearranging his room (as well as helping his mother and the other neighborhood mothers rearrange theirs). Throughout the years his passion continued to grow, and soon Nate was heading his own award-winning firm with an elite roster of clients. But it was Oprah Winfrey who gave Nate the chance of a lifetime-the opportunity to go into millions of homes around the world and join her mission to help people live their best lives. It has been a dream come true that has absolutely changed my life, explains Berkus. Not only has working with Oprah helped me redefine my own vision and purpose-but she continues to challenge me to use my own life to help others live better. And there is nothing that makes me happier or more grateful than to be a part of that. As Oprah always says, -your home should be a reflection of who you truly are. Nate says, no matter how much money you have, he believes that is so very true. I am honored to share my love of design to help everyone make that dream real for themselves with this book.

He also has a home collection available, here are tons of great finds on eBay.

I would luv to hear what you think….

Talk to you soon,
Chantal

{Book} Print & Pattern

luxxury livving — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:48:56 +0000

I’ve been inspired by the lovely blog by Marie Perkins called Print Pattern. It’s an amazing collection of everything that is in print and that is patterned. A wonderful place for inspiration too! And best of all, you can have her book to read over and over again.

Book: Print and Pattern

Book Description: Pattern is everywhere. Years of minimalism have been superseded by a riot of color and shape, whether on walls, fabrics, clothes, or signage. Print & Pattern is a visual celebration of contemporary surface design.

Compiled by the creator of the cult blog of the same name (http://printpattern.blogspot.com/), this book documents the work of the best surface designers from around the world and features products that have been embellished with a surface print or pattern, including graphics, cards, gift wrap, stationery, textiles, ceramics, badges, stickers, and wallpaper.

As well as successful commercial designs, the book also showcases previously unseen pattern designs from designers’ portfolios. Accessible but with a cool edge, the book will appeal to surface designers, graphic designers, designer-makers and craftspeople, illustrators, and fashion and textile designers.

A sneak peak inside…

{Image credits: Print & Pattern book}

Karl Lagerfeld Paris Studio from The Selby Book

luxxury livving — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:33:30 +0000

I stumbled upon this unique website call The Selby a few months back and I remembered they were putting together a new book {The Selby Is in Your Place (Hardcover)} and wanted to check it out. I found a page full of sneak peak pictures and of course I was intrigued with the photos of Karl Lagerfeld’s studio photos in Paris. What a treat!

Book Description: The Selby Is in Your Place was conceived when fashion and interiors photographer Todd Selby began taking portraits of dynamic and creative people—authors, musicians, artists, and designers—in their home environments and posting them on his web site. Nosy by nature, he wanted to see how personal style was reflected in private spaces. Lucky for us, he found his answer in the color-rich and eclectic quarters of a diverse group of subjects, including Simon Doonan and Jonathan Adler, Faris Rotter, Andre Walker, and Olivier Zahm, in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Tokyo, Sydney, and London. Each profile is accompanied by Selby’s watercolor portraits of the subjects and objects from their homes, and illustrated questionnaires, which Selby asks each sitter to fill out. This book consists of over thirty profiles, many of which have never-before-seen, selected exclusively for the book. The result is a collection of unique spaces bursting with energy and personality that together create a colorful hodgepodge of inspirational interiors.

About the Author: Todd Selby is an interiors, fashion, and portrait photographer and painter. His photographs can be regularly seen in British Vogue, Vogue Hommes International, Dazed and Confused, Another Magazine, Nylon, New York Magazine, and the London Sunday Times.
Lesley Arfin is the New York-based author of Dear Diary and the former editor of Missbehave magazine.

I Heart Rex Ray

luxxury livving — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 01:20:46 +0000

I can’t remember how I found this artist online, but I saved a link to Rex Ray’s book and looked further and found a talented artist. This is really my style of art, I have a hard time finding exactly what type of art I do like and I’m so tickled pink to have found this artist.

Check out his biography I found on his website, it’s pretty impressive!

Rex Ray is a San Francisco based fine artist, whose collages, paintings and design work have been exhibited at galleries and museums, including the The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, University Art Museum in Berkeley, San Jose Museum of Modern Art, The Crocker Museum in Sacramento, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, Cheryl Haines Gallery, Gallery 16, and Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions.

He is also a celebrated graphic designer. He has created work for Apple, Dreamworks, Sony Music, Warner Brothers, City Lights Publishers, Matador Records, Serpent’s Tail, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, Rizzoli, Powerhouse, Mute Records and Crown Books. His package designs for David Bowie, as well as for Joe Satriani, Diamanda Galás, Matmos, and Deee-Lite, have earned him an international reputation for his innovation in type and with original photographs, drawings, and collage. He has designed over 100 historic Bill Graham Presents rock and roll tour posters, including ones for The Rolling Stones, Patti Smith, REM, Bjork, U2, and Radiohead.

Video

I found this video where Rex Ray explains how he started and glimpses into his process.

Book

I can’t wait to get my hands on his book Rex Ray: Art + Design and peruse slowly page by page the beautiful artwork.

Book Description: Rex Ray’s highly collectible artwork is coveted in design as well as art circles. His color-bursting, curvaceous art graces the walls of high-design hotels, world-class museums, and hip restaurants, yet remains, as acclaimed author Douglas Coupland puts it in his foreword, ‘unslick, but superslick at the same time.’ Abstract and handcrafted, with a retro-futuristic mid-century feel, Rex Ray’s meditations on fluid forms are a rare combination of sophistication and decorative appeal. The first monograph to survey his multi-faceted work in various media including paper cutouts, mixed-media collages, paintings, digital prints, and the highly admired graphic design and music packaging that launched his visual career Rex Ray is a veritable trove of his sleek yet playful aesthetic.

And this is just the beginning… there is so much more to explore…

Paper Goods

I found these Rex Ray Notecards and Rex Ray Postcard Book.

As well as this lovely Rex Ray Mini Journal Set and Rex Ray Notebook.

Place Mats

Reveal the natural grain of a tabletop with this simple, clean design. Made from hand silk-screened FDA grade silicone, the Modern-twist place mat is available in botanical and nature-inspired patterns. With a minimalist aesthetic, the place mat is designed for optimal functionality with an easy-to-clean surface. The non-intrusive graphics are intended to enhance the beauty of the table while providing subtle visual interest that doesn’t interfere with dishes or other tabletop items.

Shop: Modern-twist Placemat: Rex Ray: Matrix – Black

Artwork

There is a nice selection of art posters you can purchase to decorate your home. {Click the image for more information and pricing}.

Apartment Therapy’s Big Book of Small Cool Spaces

luxxury livving — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 17:02:43 +0000

Exciting news! For fans of Apartment Therapy, Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan is bring another wonderful book called Apartment Therapy’s Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces. It will be available May 11, 2010 but you can pre-order now. Sweet, another book to add to my collection, I simply can’t get enough!

Apartment Therapy’s Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces

Book Description

Whether you inhabit a studio or a sprawling house with one challenging space, Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, co-founder of the most popular interior design website, Apartment Therapy, will help you transform tiny into totally fabulous.

According to Maxwell, size constraints can actually unlock your design creativity and allow you to focus on what’s essential. In this vibrant book, he shares forty small, cool spaces that will change your thinking forever.

These apartments and houses demonstrate hundreds of inventive solutions for creating more space in your home, and for making it more comfortable. Leading us through entrances, living rooms, kitchens and dining rooms, bedrooms, home offices, and kids’ rooms, Apartment Therapy’s Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces is brimming with ingenious tips and ideas, such as:

•   Shifting the sense of scale through contrasting colors
•   Adding airiness by using transparent collections
•   Utilizing the area under a loft bed for a kitchen and mini-bar
•   Tucking an office with chic vintage doors into an unused bedroom corner

In each dwelling Maxwell points out what makes the layout work and what adds style. Most of the “therapy” involves minor tweaks that can be accomplished on a limited budget, such as dividing a room with sheer curtains, turning a door into a desk, or disguising electrical boxes with art displays. An extensive resource guide, including Maxwell’s favorite websites for buying desks, open storage solutions, and much more, will help you turn even the tiniest residence into a place you are always happy to come home to.

About the Author

Part interior designer, part life coach, MAXWELL GILLINGHAM-RYAN is the co-founder of the Apartment Therapy blog network—which gets 3 million unique visitors per month. Frequently quoted in the shelter and mainstream press, Maxwell has been called a “Makeover Guru” by the New York Times. He is the author of Apartment Therapy and Apartment Therapy Presents.

{Book} Marcel Wanders: Behind The Ceiling

luxxury livving — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:07:39 +0000

I found this great book perusing a website Design Related (interesting site, you should check it out) called Marcel Wanders: Behind The Ceiling. It’s amazing. Here is the book’s description, it gives it a very clear vision of what this book has to offer:

Dutch designer Marcel Wanders is undeniably one of the most prolific and celebrated international designers today. Marcel Wanders: Behind the Ceiling is the highly anticipated first monograph on the star designer. It charts his provocative body of work and stellar career.

Wanders has garnered fame through his ingenious talent, turning conceptual visions into stunning products and dazzling environments by fusing cutting edge technology, artistry and a love of the bizarre. Wanders designs are characteristically buoyant and imbued with his signature irony and quirky dry wit that evoke imagination; nevertheless, his furniture, lighting, interior designs, tableware, decorative porcelain and ceramic vases are unpretentiously urbane.

Lavishly printed, this book showcases Marcel Wanders work over the past decade. It features tableware for the renowned Dutch porcelain manufacturers Tichelaar Makkum and Royal Delft, as well as his personal art editions such as his acclaimed oversized ceramic bells, crochet seating and sculptures launched by his own studio. In addition, it presents textiles and furniture he has designed for an extensive client list including brands such as B&B Italia, Poliform, Moroso, Cappellini, Droog as well as Moooi, of which he is also Art Director and co-owner.

An entertainer at heart, his theatrical performances and installations are also included, which prove his exceptional skill at amplifying experience with mesmerising environments.
The book also introduces designs for interiors and architecture such as the extraordinary all over city hospitality-concept Lute Suites he established in Amsterdam as well as unpublished projects, including the new Mondrian South Beach hotel in Miami and the Villa Moda Flagship store in Bahrain, scheduled to open its doors in 2009.

Marcel Wanders: Behind the Ceiling includes beautiful photographs and sketches, and an accompanying text offers a first-hand account of Wanders irresistible universe.

Website: http://www.marcelwanders.com
{Images via: http://www.dailyicon.net/, credit Marcel Wanders}

Book: A Girl’s Guide to Decorating

luxxury livving — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 02:18:48 +0000

I recently purchased the book A Girl’s Guide to Decorating and instantly fell in love with it. I really enjoyed the different decorating style, tips and the book is full of colorful images to inspire.

Book Description

A Girl’s Guide to Decorating is a hip, practical decorating guide full of insider advice, cool and original ideas, fabulously glossy photography and clever tips for turning your space into a fabulous stylish pad – without spending a lot of money. Internationally renowned designer and stylist Abigail Ahern imparts her expertise on all aspects of home decoration – from the initial planning of a space to make it work for you, right through to the small details that will add a touch of glamour and make it unique. Abigail includes simple suggestions for how to approach every room in your house and all major decorating techniques are fully explained – from hanging wallpaper and painting walls, windows and doors, to creating shelving and achieving different lighting effects. Easy to follow step-by-step instructions and accompanying photography will inspire you to try your hand at every suggestion. Chapters are based around the fundamental elements of home design: space, colour, light, texture and the individual touches that make it your own. Abigail encourages you to be brave with colour and pattern and to make a bold statement with your home. With Abigail’s insider knowledge, you can effortlessly turn something cheap from the high street into a unique and luxurious focus piece. With her low cost tips and idea adding instant glamour that are super easy to put into practice, Abigail proves that style has nothing to do with money.

About the Author

Designer, stylist and owner of one of London’s leading interiors stores, Abigail Ahern is passionate about design. Internationally renowned for her uncompromising taste she is one of the foremost buyers in the world of interiors. Heralded as ‘style spotter-extraordinaire’ by The Times newspaper she has established her position at the front of the design trail with her original interpretation of trends, her unique sense of style and a wholly practical approach to interiors. ATELIER Abigail Ahern was recently voted one of the coolest places to shop in the UK by Elle Decoration magazine. Her successful tailor-made interior design service focuses on developing individuality through the way we design. Her commissions are varied including accessorising a 28,000 square foot Grand Spa for the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Palm Beach, debuting in Spring 2008; re-styling and branding a chain of hotels in the Middle East; and numerous residential and commercial projects.

Shop: A Girl’s Guide to Decorating