Home Care

This stunning series showcases innovative design ideas for every room in the home. All beautifully illustrated with full-color photographs, each book offers attractive ideas and solutions for every decorating challenge.

More photos and more ideas than any other book of window solutions.

Creative window treatments and wall colors combined for stylish, elegant home decor.

Custom solutions using curtains, valances, cornices, swags and jabots, shades, shutters, blinds, and draperies.

Tips help homeowners choose the perfect covering for any window.

Advice on working with pros for custom treatments.

Ellen DeGeneres has bought and renovated nearly a dozen homes over the last twenty-five years, and describes her real-estate and decorating adventures as "an education." She has long cared deeply about design: "I think I wanted to be an interior designer when I was thirteen."
This deluxe edition of Home is printed on extremely high quality paper, printed on a sheet-fed press, and bound in a real cloth covered case with a tipped in photo of Ellen DeGeneres' living room featuring her Picasso. In Home, DeGeneres will, for the first time, share her passion for home design and style. She believes, "You don't have to have money to have good taste," and she is eager to share what she has learned over the years. DeGeneres offers a personal look at every room in each of her homes. Included are seven of her homes past and present, from the famous "Brody House" up to her current homes, and she offers tips and advice on what each house taught her. An added bonus is a look at the homes of her friends and collaborators-some of the finest designers in the country. They share their advice on home design, furnishings, as well as a glimpse at their awe-inspiring rooms.
Full of beautiful photographs, this book is a treasure trove of amazing California architecture, unique home furnishings, breathtaking art, and hundreds of ideas on putting together the home you've always dreamed of.

"Home Comforts" is something new. For the first time in nearly a century, a sole author has written a comprehensive book about housekeeping. This is not a dry how-to manual, nor a collection of odd tips and hints, a cleaning book, a history book, or an arid encyclopedia compiled by a committee or an institute. "Home Comforts" is a readable explanation for both beginners and experts of all the domestic arts -- choosing fabrics, keeping the piano in tune, caring for books, making a good fire in the fireplace and avoiding chimney fires, ironing and folding, setting up a good reading light, keeping surfaces free of food pathogens, and everything else that modern people might want to do for themselves in their homes. But this reliable and thorough book on the practicalities of housekeeping is also an argument for the importance of private life and the comforts offered by housekeeping.

Cheryl Mendelson is a philosopher, lawyer, sometime professor, and a homemaker, wife, and mother. "Home Comforts" is based on her domestic education, which she acquired while growing up on a farm in the hills of Greene County, in southwestern Pennsylvania, from her grandmothers, aunts, and mother. Learning from the distinct domestic styles of her native Appalachian relatives and her Italian immigrant relatives, she appreciated early on how important domestic customs are to a sense of comfort and identity in life. She writes out of love and respect for her subject, and hopes to inspire others to develop the affection and respect for home life and housework she was fortunate to have learned.

Mendelson addresses the meanings as well as the methods of housekeeping with a keen sense of the history and valuesinvolved. The result is a warm, good-humored, engagingly written book with a message and a point of view, one that is overflowing with useful reflections and information. The clarity, breadth, and depth of the information collected here are unparalleled. You can read "Home Comforts" for thoughtful entertainment or use its ample index to help you find the answers to practical domestic questions. There is nothing quite like it.

Among this book's unique features:

- A skeptical discussion of the excessive use of disinfectants in the home. - How to iron a dress shirt and how to fold sheets. - How to make up a bed with hospital corners. - How to do all basic sewing stitches. - How to choose proper sizes for sheets, tablecloths, and other household linens. - How to set the table for informal and formal meals. - Expert recommendations for safe food storage. - The most exhaustive and reliable information on fabrics, textile fibers, and their laundering, drying, and other care that exists for nonprofessionals. - A thorough explanation of care labels and why and how you should often (carefully) disregard them. - Housekeeping guidelines for people with pets or with allergies. - What to do about dust mites. - How to clean and care for wood, china and crystal, jewelry, ceramic tile, metals, and more. - Guides to stain and spot removal. - Extensive recommendations for improving home safety. - A summary of laws applicable to the home, including privacy, accident liability, contracts, and domestic employees.-

- 200 Elegant, Clear Drawings -

12 Simple Steps to Creating a Space That's Truly Yours

Tracy Kidder takes readers to the heart of the American Dream: the building of a family's first house with all its day-to-day frustrations, crises, tensions, challenges, and triumphs.

In one imaginative and beautifully presented volume, the genius of House Beautiful unfolds - in a class that teaches the eye to see and understand decor in an inspiring new way. Take a class with House Beautiful's teachers! All the design know-how anyone needs to decorate a new home or redo an old house is right in this one-stop, all encompassing, lushly photographed, and brilliantly conceived volume. Everything from wonderful home basics and working with space to the art of colour and perfect patterns to the absolute essentials for floors, windows, walls, and lighting is here. In addition to presenting fundamental decorating principles, this unequalled reference looks at different styles, such as Country, Modern, and Seaside; suggests ways of adding drama to a space or period grandeur; and leads you on an inspirational idea-filled walk through the house, analysing options for every room.

Bring a personal and stylish look to every room in your home with slipcovers. More than 120 photographs present a variety of styles - tailored or loose-fitting, country, romantic or urban, classic or modern.

How can a person expand their living space to include a natural outdoor setting? This new edition in the Ideas for Great series answers that question -- patios and decks! With over 165 full-color photos and illustrations, this exciting new title offers homeowners the very latest in patio and deck design and construction. From a planning section to help readers evaluate their building sites to a time-saving Shopper's Guide of new building materials available today, this book guides readers through the entire process. The clearly illustrated ideas point the way to a beautiful and functional outdoor living area that anyone can create.

We have never demanded so much from our homes. Not only must they satisfy the myriad practical needs of modern life, we also want them to express our tastes and personal style. Paint and fabrics do not simply cover and protect, they must evoke the right atmosphere, creating a feeling of relaxation, vibrancy or comfort.

Turning these aspirations into reality can involve a multitude of alterations, large and small, from rethinking a space to re-covering a chair. In this book Ann Grafton provides the design skills, decorating ideas and confidence needed to make these changes. Drawing on her expertise she has developed as Creative Director of the Colefax Group, she shows how to transform our interiors so they live up to all our expectations.

She begins by discussing the vital decisions that need to be made about space, light, colour, surfaces, fabrics and furniture; looking not just at different materials and techniques but at the effects they create. She then applies these lessons to every area of the home, from hallways to bathrooms, and explains how to create a range of fresh and achievable interior styles. In the final part of the book she offers clever ideas for revitalising rooms without the need for a complete redesign.

Throughout Interior Transformations Ann Grafton imparts her realism and common sense for choosing and using decorative materials, and offers valuable advice on planning and budgeting.

Complementing the text are specially commissioned photographs that illustrate a wide range of decorative effects and alternative interior schemes. Themed palettes help in the selection of colours and fabrics.

All these features, plus an extensive list of suppliers, make this a superb resource for anyone who wants to ring the changes in their home.

Designers featured on HGTV provide advice and ideas using 20 kitchens featured on various shows. Demonstrates how to plan or remodel any kitchen by featuring different styles and budgets. Inspiring photos of new kitchens plus before-and-after shots of makeover projects. DIYers can learn to add cabinet storage, hang no-sew window treatments, create family message centres and more. The latest ideas for kitchen floors, counter tops, backsplashes and walls.

Packed with practical techniques and technical know-how to help do-it-yourselfers succeed.

Covers fences and gates, retaining walls, outdoor sheds, trellises and arbors, outdoor electricity, plumbing and drainage, and working with concrete.

"Wisdom of the Aisles" on every page guarantees a beautifully landscaped yard.

Guarantees great results with step-by-step instructions, timeframe for completion, plus skills and materials lists.

Plenty of helpful tips and shortcuts that the pros use.

Readers have seen their relaxed, comfortable furniture at Crate & Barrel and admired their accessories while watching Sex & the City. Now they can learn from Gold and Williams themselves how to create gorgeous yet completely comfortable styles in their own homes. Full-color photos.

Author Linda Applewhite shows how to create a comprehensive building plan to turn your house into a home through the magic of finding and using the right bones. Applewhite introduces readers to the creative opportunities that open up when you can actually change a home's structural elements, enhancing the beauty and uniqueness in each room. Architectural Interiors offers creative solutions such as adding a column or pillar to define a space, installing unusual cabinetry to give structure, adding a set of elaborate moldings for extra elegance, or installing French doors to connect a room to the garden.
Linda Applewhite and Associates designs residential construction, remodeling and design projects for a nationwide client base.
Her designs are seen in the rooms and public spaces of the Mill Valley Inn in Mill Valley, California, and in the remodel and redecoration of the Hotel Sausalito and the Cottages of Napa Valley.
Teaches design seminars with attendees from across the United States and Canada.
Featured in House Beautiful, Elle, Bon Appetit, Travel & Leisure, Traditional Home, Women's Day, Sunset Magazine, Sunset Books, California Home & Design, Marin At Home, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Los Angeles Times, and the Marin Independent Journal.
Featured in the Italian design magazines Gioia Casa, La Mia Casa, BRAVACASA, Bagno e Accessori, and House & Garden Thailand.
Linda's design projects are frequently seen on Home and Garden Television's (HGTV) Sensible Chic and Curb Appeal, and on Food TV's Ultimate Kitchens.

With ideas and decorating advice for using mirrors from classic and traditional styles to more contemporary looks, this guide offers instruction on style with minimum fuss, from flea-market treasures to off-the-shelf finds.

Interior designer David Naylor embraces the broad range of possibilities presented by a world of materials old and new, of objects both found and manufactured. He calls his approach "infusion design," by which he means capturing the ideas of the Old World without forgetting about the present, stirring melting pots of cultures and allowing opposites to coexist, and pulling together objects from around the world. The timelessness, natural warmth, and adaptability of the popular Southwestern style aesthetic provide an appealing backdrop for his interpretations, which eschew the cliches while retaining the essence. The architectural elements of the region-round beams, adobe walls, natural wood finishes-create a versatile aesthetic that can embrace an infinite variety of designs, while the nomadic nature of Americans generally, who move freely about the country bringing their favorite decor items with them, makes for limitless opportunities to infuse designs with intriguing juxtapositions and unexpected placements.