cover image Classic Interior Design: Using Period Features in Today's Home

Classic Interior Design: Using Period Features in Today's Home

Henrietta Spencer-Churchill. Rizzoli International Publications, $45 (176pp) ISBN 978-0-8478-2558-5

In her newest volume, fine-living doyenne Spencer-Churchill presents a regally illustrated guide to applying, and adapting, period detail to contemporary homes. The author, who is the eldest daughter of the 11th Duke of Marlborough, offers examples of both American and English homes and breaks down her chapters according to period (e.g., Baroque & Queen Anne, American Empire, Victorian, Regency). Each section begins with a brief history of the style at hand before focusing on particular design elements, such as walls, stairs and beds. For example, in one chapter, Spencer-Churchill explains that""Federal style can provide the basis for a scheme that is cozy and intimate or relatively grand, depending upon the room's architectural features,"" then she presents a full-page photo that wonderfully captures the period's""sweeping circular or elliptical wooden staircases."" In a chapter on Victorian style, Spencer-Churchill explains,""Just as an empty bit of floor space would be anathema to the Victorian householder, so every bit of wall space was also there to be put to good use."" Accessibly written and nicely designed (with two photos per two-page spread), this coffee-table book offers many suggestions for either introducing period style into new houses, or redoing period homes.