Book Review: AT HOME Isabel Lopez-Quesada

We all know that I love interior design books, right? Even though I parted with dozens that I had loved for long enough this past spring, I still have a large bookcase filled with the best of the best, my absolute favorites - constant inspiration. I am so pleased to add At Home, the beautiful and sophisticated monograph on the homes of Isabel Lopez-Quesada. 

If you don't happen to know her, Isabel Lopez-Quesada is a very popular Spanish interior designer, with a gloriously unique and beautiful aesthetic, which has sort of defined the new "Contemporary European" look. Passion and obsession fuel her interiors, a mix of antiques and contemporary furniture all with beautiful collections and a mix of antique and ethnic textiles. 

What's even better is that the book is a journey through her own homes in France and Spain, a look into the laboratory of a genius. From the Madrid city house with a gorgeous courtyard to the farmhouse she owns in Biarritz, inspiration abounds. Let's take a look shall we? 

I mean, gorgeous, right!? Page after page of the 200+ page book is filled with gorgeous photography by Miguel Flores-Vianna, a photographer who has been regularly published by Architectural Digest, Milieu, Vogue, and Elle Decor. Not to mention, his own book, Haute Bohemians, has been a runaway best seller and one of my other all-time favorite books!

With the winter creeping up on some of us (not so much me, as I look out the window as I type and watch the snow collect on an already impressive 12 inches covering the ground) there is no better time to invest in some beautiful interior design books! So take a further look, and buy one for yourself via the Amazon link below.

And if you are a fan of the photography, check out my review of Haute Bohemians here. And if you love it, here's a link to buy that one, too!

Book Review: Out East: Houses and Gardens of the Hamptons

If you only buy one book to add to your collection of interior design and coffee table books this summer, it better be Out East: Houses and Gardens of the Hamptons by Jennifer Ash Rudick with photos by Tria Giovan. Every single page is more stunning than the last, and it is inspiring on every single level. 

Whether you have an interest in gardening, interior design, vignettes and tablescapes, architecture, or all of the above, I promise you will be thoroughly satiated by this book. I have so much to say about Out East, but before I go on and on, I want to start with some photos. Let's take a look inside shall we?

Incredible, right? And that's only a tiny sampling of the more than 30 homes and gardens featured in the 328-page volume. The book is incredibly beautiful, wonderfully laid out, and an informative and educational read. Author Jennifer Ash Rudick is a native Floridian, but has lived in Southampton for years with her husband and their two children. An already celebrated author with three books under her belt, Jennifer presents a fresh perspective on the Hamptons, an insiders scoop if you will, as she walks us through some of Long Island's most glamorous spaces under roof and sky. 

Houses designed by interior designers like Jeffrey Bilhuber, Tom Scheerer, Muriel Brandolini, Robert Couturier and Daniel Romualdez range from delightful cottages to sprawling shingled mansions, and gardens span from formal and manicured to wispy and organic. Still, with all of the different styles featured in architecture, decor, and gardenscape - there's a common thread holding all of these properties together, and that's the feeling of relaxation. Without a doubt, Tria Giovan has captured the Hamptons as the most peaceful and contented place on earth.

You may remember the recent architectural digest feature on "Woody House" with photos taken by Tria Giovan. Woody House is smartly featured in Out East, with additional photos and far more information on the decoration of the house, the process and the inspiration. So if you were a Woody Fan, and so many of us were, you'll be overjoyed by the multi-page layout of Woody House in Out East.

Brilliant and beautiful, I highly recommend you pick up a copy for yourself. Check out more of the book and purchase via the amazon link below:

Book Review: David Monn: The Art of Celebrating

David Monn: The Art of Celebrating

Published by Vendome Press

David Monn is, without a doubt, the premier event designer and party visionary in the world. His projects include state dinner at the White House, the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala, celebrity birthday parties and weddings, there is no event like a David Monn event. 

In his new book, David Monn: The Art of Celebrating, brilliant photography of his most beautiful events will dazzle and inspire in a luxurious large format printing from Vendome Press. Let's take a look: 

This is certainly a book that needs few words. Every single photo has a beautiful monologue of it's own, telling a sotry of sight, scent, sound, touch, and taste. David's three favorite words: authenticity, detail, and scale are seen in each outstanding event photographed for this stunning volume of masterwork by Monn. I highly encourage you to take a closer look and purchase your copy via the Amazon link below, you won't be sorry:

Book Review: Sunnylands: America's Midcentury Masterpiece

For those of you who aren't familiar, Sunnylands is the home turned architectural museum in Rancho Mirage, California built by philanthropist and publisher Walter Annenburg. The house, finished in 1966 at a cost of $5 million, is the brilliant midcentury modern masterpiece of Los Angeles-based architect, A. Quincy Jones. Mr. Annenberg and his wife, Leonore, spent the winter months there entertaining Presidents, Royalty, and other noted celebrities and much of California's high-society. 

The house is a remarkable 32,000-square feet, surrounded by a mock-English country landscape in the center of the California desert. Trees, hills, ponds, waterfalls, even an artificial swamp for the birds that Mr. Annenberg watched avidly. 

Known for his "statement roofs" and designs that integrated houses into the landscape, Jones made sure that the rooms of Sunnylands had the flow and vast expansiveness of the surrounding landscape, with full glass walls, and low overhangs to shield the interiors from the outside elements while keeping them open to the beautiful gardens that surrounded them. The iconic pink pyramid roof, and walls of Mexican lava stone that became a backdrop to the more than $1 Billion in art donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art after Annenberg's Death were just two of the instantly notable features of the lavish home, arguably one of the greatest examples of modern architecture in the United States. 

The interiors were designed by William Haines and Ted Graber, who were known for decorating the Regan White House and for popularizing the Hollywood Regency style. I could take about Sunnylands for days, and how well the history of the estate is captured in the pages of Sunnylands: America's Midcentury Masterpiece, honestly, but it's best to let the photos of this magnificent modern estate do the talking from here: 

Sunnylands: America's MidCentury Masterpiece, written by Janice Lyle with foreword by Michael S. Smith captures beautiful photos of Sunnylands, and acts as a sort of historical scrapbook of the life that was lived there by the Annenberg's. Lyle, who works as the Director of Sunnylands has shared not only her knowledge of Sunnylands in this excellent book, but also her clear love and passion for the estate and the charismatic couple who built it. 

Truly philanthropic, the Annenbergs gave away more than $2 Billion in cash to programs and Universities across the United States, and in their final gracious gesture gave Sunnylands to the public to be forever enjoyed by all. If you can't get to California to tour Sunnylands, you can take a tour through the brilliant and beautiful pages of Sunnylands: America's MidCentury Masterpiece published by Vendome Press. 

Take a closer look, and pick up your copy via the Amazon link below:

In addition to this book on Sunnylands, there are others that have been published about the magnificent estate. If you'd like a closer look at those, here they are: 

Book Review: Palm Beach Chic

Palm Beach Chic by Jennifer Ash Rudick, Photography by Jessica Klewicki Glynn, Published by Vendome Press 2015.

 

Palm Beach, Florida - the lush, stylish, and expensive barrier island on the Atlantic coast is an enclave to some of the most beautiful, and luxurious homes in the country. Palm Beach Chic, by Jennifer Ash Rudick with outstanding photography by Jessica Klewicki Glynn, prominently features 25 of these glorious homes, many of them attached to famous architects and owners both past and present. From sprawling ocean front estates to quaint, architecturally significant cottages and dashing apartments, the book published by Vendome Press, is filled with over 400 pages of unique inspiration.

 

Reading through the book is like peeling back through the palm leaves, and gaining access to some of the most private homes at the easternmost tip of Florida. A sort of panoramic vicarious vacation taken through sight as you turn page by page, unaware that you're dialing the number of your realtor, thinking "It's time to sell, and move to Palm Beach!" Note: buy a few winning lottery tickets while you're at it!

 

While I can't take you page by page, I can certainly give you a little visual of the homes inside of Palm Beach Chic, starting with one my favorites: the West Palm Beach home of Lars Bolander, Bamboo Hill:

 



Famed Broadway producer, Terry Allen Kramer, who has original shows like Kinky Boots and Movin' Out on her mile long IBDB page, calls this 46,000 square foot compound, La Follia, home in Palm Beach:

Designer Pauline Pitt helped with interiors of the home, finished in 1995, and designed by architect Jeffrey Smith.

 

 

Harry and Laura Slatkin, American Royalty when it comes to home fragrance, are the founders of Slatkin & Co., the revitalized British sportswear brand Belstaff, and the luxury fragrance line of Nest brand candles. Harry is brother to designer and author Howard Slatkin, and I'm sure that their home in Palm Beach, known as Gumdrop, was thoughtfully touched by Howard's refined Midas hand:

 

 

Of course, Palm Beach is home to the start of a particular fashion house that is well known for its color and pattern: Lily Pulitzer. Daughter to the famed preppy fashion house designer, Liza Pulitzer Calhoun has clearly kept a love for bright color in her own Palm Beach cottage:

 



And lastly, (for this post anyway) the beautiful entryway of Jay and Diahann Cochran. The Cochran's worked with designer Jeff Lincoln to turn their 1935 home, just one block from the ocean, into a light, bright, Floridian show stopper complete with items found during their many sojourns to Africa.

 

No matter your taste, no matter your style, no matter your budget, no matter your space - I guarantee that you will find inspiration a-plenty within the pages of this stunning collection of photographs and stories about some of the finest homes in the world.

 

Available at Amazon.com here, I'm sure that Palm Beach Chic will be more than another to your library, neh, it will serve as the perfect coffee table book to keep you occupied, intrigued, voyeuristically satisfied through the winter, and inspired all year long!