Bathrooms: Design Is In The Details
By Brad Mee
(Sterling/Chapelle, 2003, $27.95)
The third book in Brad Mee’s Design Is In The Details series, this practical guide offers ideas for all lifestyles. From exuberant and lavish to comfortably subtle, Mee’s advice can elevate even the most humble bathroom to a personal retreat designed to soothe and heal. His approach begins with general style and moves through architecture and fixtures to the finishing touches, all designed to maximize the owner’s functional preferences. Whether a full-scale spa or an intimate powder room tucked under a staircase, the details of Mee’s examples may inspire a remodel or, at least, a shopping trip.
The Natural Habitat Garden
By Ken Druse
(Timber Press, 2004, $29.95)
Author Ken Druse has inspired American gardeners for over two decades with his call to “do right.” Esoteric advice for gardeners at first glance, but considering the continuing drought conditions in the West, the call to “do right” in the garden takes on real meaning. Abundant enticing photography, solid information, engaging text, and a well-researched resource guide make this an invaluable reference to any gardener wishing to create a garden that honors its place on the planet. Druse encourages, “. . . growing a natural habitat garden is [also] one of the most important things each of us can do to help restore a little order to a disordered world.”
A Garden Gallery: The Plants, Art, and Hardscape of Little and Lewis
By George Little and David Lewis
(Timber Press, 2005, $29.95)
Most gardeners begin their dreams with a wish list of favorite plants and perhaps a few architectural features like fountains or pretty gates. In their new book, George Little and David Lewis have officially raised the gold standard for dreaming. Celebrated internationally as artists and gardeners, Little and Lewis open their renowned Bainbridge Island garden retreat to share the mixed fantasia of color-washed concrete sculptures, art and plant life that creates their magical, deeply personal space. Stunning photographs, practical advice, inspiration, and encouragement lead even beginning gardeners in the establishment of their own bit of paradise.
Color Your Home
By Carol Bass
(Gibbs Smith, Publisher, 2005, $21.95)
Design guru and author, Carol Bass, offers an easy-to-use guide for expressing our passions (and our selves) in the colors we choose to adorn our homes. Going beyond the “rules” of color theory, Color Your Home is an intuitive exploration of the vibrant, sensual colors in nature. Cofounder of the popular Maine Cottage Furniture, Bass gently guides a journey of discovery, showing how small changes with color can create a more captivating room. She believes that color is meaningful and vital to our lives, and encourages a fresh relationship with nature’s palette: rich orange-reds of farmers’ market tomatoes, lavender-black hues of mussel shells, or deep yellow-golds of sunflowers.
The House That Jill Built
By Judy Ostrow
(Gibbs Smith, Publisher, 2005, $24.95)
Few life experiences are as overwhelming, or so ultimately fulfilling, as designing and building one’s own home. In The House That Jill Built, author and homebuilder Judy Ostrow offers an inside look at the process, exclusively from a woman’s perspective—a whole new take on “home making.” This inspiring new book is a collection of women’s real-life home-building tales, complete with before and after photos, drawings, advice from experts, safety precautions, and a comprehensive section of how-to tips, including a tool guide. A portion of Ostrow’s royalties are pledged to the Women Build program of Habitat for Humanity International.