Home Run: Books That Cover All the Bases

– By Whitney Clark –

Decorating our homes has changed subtly but surely over the last decade to involve more simplicity, clean lines and color. As lives become more complex with modern technology, hyperactive business days and demanding social and educational functions, our need for the simple life becomes important. Tassels, fringes and acres of chintz have slowly disappeared from many homes, in favor of pure colors, streamlined comfort and natural light.

A book exemplifying this movement is “The Simple Home - The Luxury of Enough” by Sarah Nettleton (Tauton Press, $40). The author points the way to reduce clutter in design and maintains that “simple is ... flexible, thrifty, timeless and sustainable.”

Wonderful photographs depict “the pared-back life” in decorating and architecture. A farmhouse in the Hudson Valley, a townhouse in San Francisco, a “meadow house” near Lake Superior, a New England barn and many other prime situations demonstrate that “Simple is always in style.” There's a lot of wood used, many windows, and a mostly modern style. Crisp minimalism can be possible if storage space is near. The look is very refreshing.

 

 

For an alternative flight from a hectic world, try reading “Hideaways: Cabins, Huts and Tree House Escapes” by Sonya Faure (Flammarion, $30). The photos of hideaway barns, willow huts, tree houses, teepees and even a giant tree trunk (available for many pounds at Harrods in London) are truly inspiring and amusing.

Yurts and follies also provide special retreats into solitude, especially when surrounded by gardens or woods. Many of these whimsical structures are to be found in France, providing a look at the playful side of those superior Frenchmen. Escapes are designed around trailers, caravans, a huge red cube and any number of adaptations of tree and play houses. The book lists available plans in different countries. This would be a lovely gift to any lighthearted family or yourself.

If you don't need an escape hut, but want to take on your own house, look into Lyn Peterson's “Real Life Renovating” (Clarkson Potter, $37.50). Peterson is a well-known and respected decorator, having run Motif Designs in Larchmont for many years. She has designed and renovated all over the country and is a true professional.

Her book addresses practical issues clearly with expert advice and checklists. There is many a “trade tip” to help the novice, such as using closet companies to design home offices and storage built-ins more reasonably than custom carpentry. There are timelines for the checklists and reality checks for the “decision overload.” The book is clearly laid out, well written and well photographed. There are sections on utility rooms, home theaters, home gyms, wine cellars and home offices, besides all the usual rooms. “Real Life Renovating” is informative, helpful and creative.

If your mental color wheel is repressed, let Tricia Guild set you free in her book, called “Pattern” (Rizzoli, $40). This is a beautiful, inspirational book that blasts you with gorgeous color, while it intoxicates you with flowers, stripes, dots, etc. Although it is a big commercial for Guild's fabrics and wallpapers, the benefit here is the release of color ways that will brighten your life.

You might just imitate her turquoises, corals and pinks in a room without buying an inch of her very expensive merchandise. But she is also teaching the joys of pattern with pattern in a way that can change your life, or just your living room. Checks and plaids and flowers are coordinated in lovely bright rooms that will never allow a dark day.

You have to be brave and a little wild — Puritans would never do this — but color can make you very happy. Her chapters consider sources of color: the Silk Route, Indian, Incan, botanical, pictorial. Her rooms are like being inside jewels.

The Boss of us all is back. Martha has written a large, helpful tome called “Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook” (Clarkson Potter, $45). It's nice just to relax and let Martha organize our lives again. On page 23 she lists “Six things to do every day: make the bed, manage clutter — (Oh, please!) — sort the mail, clean as you cook, wipe up spills while they are still fresh (No, leave them for the dog!) and sweep the kitchen floor.

Martha is all too easy to argue with. But this is really a very wise book, a great present for the new homeowner and a reward for the unenlightened housewife. You can learn about Japanese ceramic knives, how to wash badly burned pots, countertops and their care, washing floors and dishes, dehumidifiers and even how to patch a leaky pipe!

She deals with home security and emergency preparedness, electricity and water systems. She's smart, she's in control, and we will never have to worry again. It's a giant advice column that takes care of every situation — 740 pages in a plastic-covered, home-care bible. Gnash your teeth, but soon you'll know everything, too.