[.ca] Shades of Country: Designing a Life of Comfort (ISBN 1561588164)

inspiration for your dream home:
I can seldom resist a good décor book, especially one on Country Style. My current excuse is that I'm looking for ideas I can use in my own country house which I've been renovating for the past 5 years. Shades of Country is perfect for the amateur decorator and reasonably priced too. It is profusely illustrated with a wealth of examples of actual American homes -- including the author's own country retreat -- which are not only beautiful but emphasize comfort & practicality. Some of them are derived from European country styles, but most are what we think of as typically American - east coast farmhouses, Shaker simplicity, Montana ranch and rustic Adirondack cabin. There is something for every taste here; cosy bedrooms with iron beds & antique bureaus & old quilts in muted pastels; walls painted, wallpapered, wainscotted or of varnished logs; walls hung with blue and white platters, old portraits or prints or ornate mirrors; a stair rail made from a birch tree; support posts disguised as palm trees; kitchens with open shelves of china bowls or glassware, and red-painted iron pots hanging from overhead beams; staircases plain or classic; toile's and stripes and rose-bouquet chintzes; floral cushions on a jade green slip-covered sofa; cobalt blue cushions on spruce-green wicker chairs on a white-painted verandah; a window box on a country out-house, and bookshelves - which I seldom see in American decor magazines - including one converted from a fireplace hole-in-the-wall (I guess I'm not the first to think of doing that) and fluted pilasters high-lighting an otherwise plain bookshelf . Whether you are renovating your home; or still dreaming of that someday home in the country; updating a tired décor or looking for ideas for colour schemes or a knick-knack shelf, this book will inspire you.