Villa Decor: Decidedly French and Italian Style

I am so glad that I ordered this book. I have been reading it from cover to cover since it arrived and everytime, I find something new to consider. This book is perfect for anyone interested in mediterranean interiors, both French and Italian-influenced. I even found some ideas for mediterranean style exteriors that I am considering for incorporation into my own home's exteriors. I highly recommend this book!

I found this book while building a new home in the Italian style, La Villa Sulla Collina. My interior designer and I dubbed it our "Bible" since we referred to it many times. The doors on page 123 became templates for my master bedroom wall of closets. My arches and entryways now have rounded corners instead of square as found in the book. My woodworker made me special baseboards and corners to capture the height shown in older homes and displayed in this book. The barrel vaulted ceiling became my library ceiling. And, of course, the wall treatments became ideas for my painter. We have visited Italy several times and love the "ancient" look of Italy but wanted an Italian style home with a newer look. I find something new in this book each time I read it and I never tire of reading it. It holds a special place on my coffee table today.

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson If you are looking for a rich European style to inspire you in your own decorating, "Villa Décor" is a warm and comforting experience. Betty Lou Phillips demonstrates decorating secrets, like linking rooms with patterns and palettes with out detracting from the furnishings. Her work has appeared in Southern Accents, Traditional Home & Bath, Window and Wall, and Decorating as well as many magazine covers. She is a professional member of the American Society of Interior Designers and also has a penchant for quotes. There are six main areas to explore: Old World Elegance New World Excellence High-Minded French Italian Panache Points of View Magnifique in America The minute I opened this book, I was in love. The lush carpeting and tapestry pillows, the piano in a sunlit room with the sun casually falling on an eighteenth-century buffet a deux corps. It was a music room of dreams. Not only do you enjoy the aesthetic elements, you actually learn the names of a variety of decorating techniques and Italian and French furniture names. You could also recreate a room by finding similar items. The bedroom on page 74 is to die for: Lavish comfort with sensuous linens and goose-down duvets, not to mention bed hangings (looks like a four poster bed). My main thought while reading this book was "All these rooms look like good rooms to read in." One picture does show a rather elegant two-story library with a spiral staircase and many of the rooms have fireplaces and cozy couches. I've been dreaming of redecorating my bedroom and this book gave me quite a few dreams. ~The Rebecca Review

I expected a book filled with photos of French and Italian villas - houses and estates outside cities, perhaps some at the seashore, for passing leisure time. Instead, it is a book filled with text on French and Italian style as applied to USA decorating. ALL the photos seem to be of American homes, most in Texas, some containing some pieces "found in a Paris flea market..." etc., and ALL done in beautiful taste and with very generous-(Texas oilman?)-sized budgets! Having said that, however, I assure you that the book is filled with excellent photos of absolutely beautiful kitchens, bedrooms, gardens, baths, living rooms, porches, filled with great fabrics, elaborate window treatments, chandeliers, sconces, wonderful wrought iron, porcelain, ceramics, woods, rugs, marble and all the things you either love or hate about French and/or Italian style. The text is also very helpful, although occasionally a little gushy, and I could have lived without the recital of so many details of European History. (Okay, I admit it, I'm an uncultured swine. So sue me.)If you want a book of vacation villas on the shores and islands of the Mediterranean, this isn't it; but if you want ideas for beautiful, comfortable homes for "gracious living" -- then this book is a gold mine.

This is one of the most beautiful and inspiring books on Italian and French design I've ever seen. The book is loaded with breath taking color photos that will provide endless hours of enjoyment. I have read through it several time now and each time I find more enjoyment in it than the last. A wonderful book that you will want to add to your collection.