Thursday, May 13, 2010

The best kind of Book Report... blogging on "The Well-Dressed Home" by Annette Tatum



Lately perched upon a growing stack of books on the top of my bedside table has been the recently published book, "The Well-Dressed Home" by Annette Tatum. The concept of this book is terrific as well as being very life-applicable however, it is the cleverly creative visual collages within this tome that keeps me returning to it again and again. This author could come arrange an idea bulletin board in my house any day!


Besides the various design categories being well thought out, adequately explained and accompanied by great photography, I really enjoy how Tatum then combines assorted design types to realistically address the many-layered, more complex style which people usually incorporate within their lives both as to their personal fashion and fashioning a lifestyle.


I found myself definitely camped within the "Classic" style category but also heavily influenced by "Couture" and "Romantic". I've always been what I call a Cottage-Girl however it's the English Countryside kind of cottage with emphasis on historical architecture, many-generational layering, close to nature indoor-outdoor use and a dash of sterling candelabra elegance mixed in with fly rods and wellie boots. Nothing's too precious at all as practical and pretty go hand-in-hand here. One of my aims is to live fully within whatever household environment I'm currently living in so there's plenty of well-lived items around our rooms and no off-limits areas reserved for company or only used for more formal entertaining. In fact, I think that we have out here probably one of the most-used (as in daily) dining rooms that I personally know of... it is a place to gather for meals, to spread out one's studies and research books within, sit with a mug of tea to watch the marsh tides from the oversized picture window and also hosts my makeshift antique tea cart watercoloring "art-studio" in a corner. If anyone has a similar dining room scenario, please post a comment about it: I'd love to hear it.


Currently we are living in the vacation/retirement island home that was very much my parent's visioning however, if (and when) I can fashion my own environment once again specifically to my and James' personal tastes, this book's sections on "Classic Couture" and "Classic Casual" are probably the closest rendering of the decor' style we'd enact for our lifestyle.


Over the years, I've noticed an obvious corollary between my fashion style, color tones and accessories and how I decorate my house. It has been really neat to see someone put together such a lovely book about just this...

6 comments:

  1. Sounds fascinating! I loved the Alexandra Stoddard book you recommended, so I may just pop over to Amazon and pick this up.

    Glad to talk again. Hope things are going well.

    Jen

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  2. Love the way you describe thisbook, I am adding it to my list!

    Hope your weekend is splendid!
    tp

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  3. I have been wanting and looking at this book. I will probably break down and get it at some point.

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  4. I think you'll love this book Jen :) SO glad to hear that the Stoddard book was a hit. Let me know whatcha' think... fun!

    Thanks so much and I hope things are going well for you too! I've been so super-busy with work that my writing and blogging time has been limited but I've worked-out having Fridays off as well as the weekends now so that'll give me more time to run our dual-household plus hopefully more time to write as well as study-up for my next round of grad school.

    Best to you from here, Lachlan

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  5. Hi tp! Hope your weekend is a great one too and have fun reading through this book... I have become re-inspired to decorate a bit more around here from it that'll reflect more of my personal style. We'll see what all happens eh? I've already been wanting more orchids in cache pots since coming back from Paris then running across this book ;)

    Best, Lachlan

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  6. HI suburban prep! I know the feeling... ;) I looked n' looked at this and finally relented on my usual-discipline of not buying any more non grad school studies books for now. (Plus I recently purchased two haiku books as well, oh well, haha) Somehow I knew that this book would be referenced again and again and really enjoyed...

    ...and after purchasing it, I feel that I've already gotten a lot of good-inspiration money's-worth so I'm glad that I did.

    Best to you, Lachlan

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