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1st out of 54 books
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11 voters
Domino: The Book of Decorating: A Room-by-Room Guide to Creating a Home That Makes You Happy
Domino: The Book of Decorating cracks the code to creating a beautiful home, bringing together inspiring rooms, how-to advice and insiders' secrets from today's premier tastemakers in an indispensable style manual. The editors take readers room by room, tapping the best ideas from domino magazine and culling insights from their own experiences. With an eye to making design...more
Hardcover, 272 pages
Published
October 14th 2008
by Simon & Schuster
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The authors wrote this book to help teach you how to "read" a room. As such, this is a book that has significantly more pictures than text (not a bad thing, in this case).
The authors go through each of the major rooms in the home. Each chapter contains several examples and breaks down what makes that room work. They talk about the important considerations for choosing the major pieces for that room and give a number of tips, all illustrated. I can almost guarantee that you won't like everything...more
The authors go through each of the major rooms in the home. Each chapter contains several examples and breaks down what makes that room work. They talk about the important considerations for choosing the major pieces for that room and give a number of tips, all illustrated. I can almost guarantee that you won't like everything...more
really great for absolute beginners or people with a lot of cash. so many of the tips (photographing/measuring EVERYTHING in your house) are valuable but completely unrealistic and incredibly time-consuming. as someone part-way through intensive renovations/slight redecorating, i thought it would be a nice guideline but just too unrealistic for my broke ass lifestyle.
and i know domino is not the only design magazine out there with this problem, but fuck it is SO. WHITE. which leaves an even wors...more
and i know domino is not the only design magazine out there with this problem, but fuck it is SO. WHITE. which leaves an even wors...more
I'm not a designer, nor do I have a designer's eye. I'm not a gardener, nor do I have a green thumb.
So I found this guide, just like Domino Magazine in it's heyday, super helpful and written in an accessible language that didn't make me feel like a moron. I love the contemporary styling, and the way the book explains why certain looks/time periods/colors work well together to create a tone and feeling and mood.
I would have loved to have been born with a designer's fearlessness and wit, but alas...more
So I found this guide, just like Domino Magazine in it's heyday, super helpful and written in an accessible language that didn't make me feel like a moron. I love the contemporary styling, and the way the book explains why certain looks/time periods/colors work well together to create a tone and feeling and mood.
I would have loved to have been born with a designer's fearlessness and wit, but alas...more
I am completely obsessed with this book. I've had it out from the library about two weeks and have spent at least an hour a day just browsing through the pictures, reading a few paragraphs here and there and getting a TON of great solutions and ideas for decorating my own house. I love that it comes with a built in ribbon bookmark. I have that placed in the page with what is now my dream bookshelves. This is the best decorating idea book I've seen from my library finds. Everything is organized s...more
I LOVE this book, I wish I had a copy. I just checked it out from the library and renewed it three times without reading it because I didn't feel like I had time to sit and enjoy it. When I went to return it after the girls were in bed one night, I stayed at the library in a quiet chair and read, front to back and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.
I know that I probably could've enjoyed any book in that situation, but I loved loved this one. It has beautiful pictures and great useful tips...more
I know that I probably could've enjoyed any book in that situation, but I loved loved this one. It has beautiful pictures and great useful tips...more
I'm in the process of buying a house and this was the first decorating book I picked up at the library, somewhat at random. After reading it, I'm quite sad that the magazine is no more. I would have subscribed. The photos are lovely, of course. The furniture is not totally out of reach for the average person. The case studies and the mix-and-match ideas were particularly helpful. There's one section where a room has the same furniture arranged three different ways, depending on the focus; I woul...more
This is a decorating book and to be honest I have never read a decorating book cover to cover. I consider these reference books. And this one has an awesome reference section in the back of internet and brick and morter locations for decorating goods. There were loads of pictures and I enjoyed the concept of the "domino decorating" (get an inspiration and work from there). The beginning had a nice layout for the steps to do your decorating. It was the most comprehensive and most left-brained way...more
Part I of my self-education on home design/interior decorating. Not that I have a home yet, but someday I hope to be that lucky. And I'm sure the ideas could translate to apartment living/decor too.
I liked this book and all the glossy photos of each room (it's divided into sections based on each room in a house) but couldn't relate to quite a few of the decorating "mix-and-match" ideas. However, a lot of the tips were very helpful, so it was kindof a 50-50 result. Half of it was great, the other...more
I liked this book and all the glossy photos of each room (it's divided into sections based on each room in a house) but couldn't relate to quite a few of the decorating "mix-and-match" ideas. However, a lot of the tips were very helpful, so it was kindof a 50-50 result. Half of it was great, the other...more
There are some good explanations of basic design ideas and principles, and some nice examples of rooms from the Domino staffers. The rooms illustrate principles, and consequently, don't have all the sources for all their items listed. This can be frustrating if you see something that you know your house "needs" but there's not a source to track it down. It can inspire some treasure hunts, though. This book is going to be sadly very dated inside of 10 years, but most decorating books are. For the...more
Helpful and straightforward with good, practical advice and full of eye candy and inspiration. A great, basic book for figuring out where to start when decorating and designing a room. It also encourages you to find your own style and expression, and shows many different rooms with different "feels" to demonstrate how spaces large and small can be personalized to fit your desires. (Of course, most of them are aspirational and you may wonder how much that amazing lamp base or sofa cost, but what...more
I had only picked up the magazine a few times when it was out (they are no longer publishing it or publish it now on a very limited basis), but always enjoyed it.
The book is beautifully put together. The format is interesting going room by room, examining what is important in each individual space. It is packed with great photos along with some basic design ideas, tips and suggestions that are helpful no matter what your taste. They illustrate many of the ideas using Domino staffer's homes so n...more
The book is beautifully put together. The format is interesting going room by room, examining what is important in each individual space. It is packed with great photos along with some basic design ideas, tips and suggestions that are helpful no matter what your taste. They illustrate many of the ideas using Domino staffer's homes so n...more
Dec 03, 2008
Alexandra
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who want to update their home and make it cosy
Shelves:
home-and-design
wooondeeeerrrful.
This book is absolutely amazing. To all the readers who find that regular decorating books and magazines make everything looking sterile and impossible for their own space: this is your book.
It helps you approach each room by pointing out all important information that you should consider before buying new stuff.
Also it has great ideas and tricks that are affordable and for everyone (also special sections for renters).
I keep looking back in to find new ideas and recommend it hig...more
This book is absolutely amazing. To all the readers who find that regular decorating books and magazines make everything looking sterile and impossible for their own space: this is your book.
It helps you approach each room by pointing out all important information that you should consider before buying new stuff.
Also it has great ideas and tricks that are affordable and for everyone (also special sections for renters).
I keep looking back in to find new ideas and recommend it hig...more
I bought this for myself with Birthday Gift Cards I had gotten, and love the pictures. It's so much fun to look at lushly created rooms with such personality and flair. I love the modern sensibility of Domino magazine and their book, but I would wish for more step by step practical advise for us newbies in decorating- more exact tips on how to view a room and size up what is wrong with it, what it needs, how to edit a collection, etc.
An excellent piece of eye candy. It's not a literal how-to guide, but rather, a source of inspiration. I used to subscribe to the magazine before it went under, and a lot of the photos are from there; that is a good thing, because the magazine was great fun. I'll never emulate exactly anything in the book--that's not the point anyway--but when I'm bored with some decoration in my place, it's a sure-fire start to get the creative juices flowing.
I have not read this book cover-to-cover with highlighter in hand, but I have flipped through it several times for inspiration, reading much of the text along the way. A great book to keep handy if you are thinking about making changes to your home...certainly gets the creative juices flowing. And if you don't already subscribe, Domino Magazine is a delightful monthly treat to yourself if you enjoy perusing these types of books!
In this instance, you honestly can judge the book by its cover, as this one is as informative as it is beautiful. "Domino" by Deborah Needleman, Sara Ruffin Costello, and Dara Caponigro is 'the' decorating book to own.
It starts by exlaining the eight steps to getting started, including floor plans, finding inspiration, and budgeting. All types of rooms imaginable are covered by seperate chapters, each ending with a beautiful example of a room from one of the actual authors' homes. The Decorator...more
It starts by exlaining the eight steps to getting started, including floor plans, finding inspiration, and budgeting. All types of rooms imaginable are covered by seperate chapters, each ending with a beautiful example of a room from one of the actual authors' homes. The Decorator...more
This book is a powerhouse. Just stuffed with good information! Thank you, Domino, for packing 20+ decorating magazines into one beauty of a book. (Also, no ads. Yes!) I am inspired and actually thinking I CAN DO THIS.
It covers it all -- and just when I thought it couldn't get any better, there is a reference tool in the back, outlining each type of window treatment, couch, cushion, table, etc. with a sketch so you can see them side-by-side, a one sentence summary, and quick, relevant pros and c...more
It covers it all -- and just when I thought it couldn't get any better, there is a reference tool in the back, outlining each type of window treatment, couch, cushion, table, etc. with a sketch so you can see them side-by-side, a one sentence summary, and quick, relevant pros and c...more
I especially found the children's room section and the "black book" directory at the end of the book listing companies (and how (in)expensive they were) helpful. I jotted down furniture, flooring, lighting, etc. companies to check out in the future from the list. On the whole, it would have been more helpful to me if the author had annotated throughout the entire book where certain items came from so I could look them up.
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A fun coffee-table type book, but it didn't speak to me as a design guide so much as a picture book. The rooms seemed impossibly large and full of expensive furniture, and most seemed extremely cluttered (a half-dozen vases! an entire wall of 3x5 inch photographs!). Not to mention some suggestions that seemed peculiar, such as a purple lacquered dresser in a bathroom, or a valance above a kitchen sink. I suppose my "style," such as it is, trends away from design for design's sake, and that's how...more
Brilliant! Decorating for dummies with gorgeous photographs. You know when you decorate and it still doesn't look right? THis book tels you where you went wrong and how to make things better. like if you have two different bedside tables make sure you use the same lamp on each of them to tie the space together. Okay, that was like one of the least insightful things in the book but it's good. I swear. RIP Domino.
I don't know why I love looking at decorating books so much, but I do! This is one of my favorites so far; if I really was decorating a house, this provides great step-by-step instructions for the average person, and explains the different types and shapes of just about everything -- so it's practical as well as eye candy. Makes me wish I'd read domino magazine before it went under! Tidbits:
p. 127 - I didn't know there was such a thing as an all-in-one unit (stovetop, fridge, sink, and storage)...more
p. 127 - I didn't know there was such a thing as an all-in-one unit (stovetop, fridge, sink, and storage)...more
I really did cry when they stopped publishing this magazine. Thank Durga there is a book. Many decorating books are full of dated photos of impractical over decorated rooms with fake plants. This book shows real homes with classic, fun livable designs...not to mention TONS of practical advice and SOURCES!! for many of the things shown. Love is not a strong enough word.
"[T]his provides great step-by-step instructions for the average person, and explains the different types and shapes of just about everything -- so it's practical as well as eye candy. Makes me wish I'd read domino magazine before it went under!" - Becky, Teen Librarian
Reserve a library copy!
Reserve a library copy!
Cash back bonus rewards got me my first decorating book that's pretty enough for the coffee table--and I've wanted this for a long time. Miss the magazine a lot. I know what I want my space to look like; this book brings it to glossy, colorful life. If your tastes run towards the eclectic and you love decorating books, check out this one.
This is one of my favorite decorating books of all time. It's so beautifully put together, and it has loads of suggestions that are helpful no matter what your taste. Really though, it's all about the pictures. Good stuff.
P.S. It does make me slightly sad to read this with the knowledge that Domino Magazine doesn't exist anymore.
P.S. It does make me slightly sad to read this with the knowledge that Domino Magazine doesn't exist anymore.
i bought the book for its cover one winter day and was rewarded with a subscription to the magazine of the same name, only to learn after receiving the FIRST *wonderful* issue that the mag was folding. a tragedy.
but the book offers an irreverent, casual design attainable to those first living on their own and tweakable for those with more means moving into, say, their second home.
at times the cheerful messiness was a bit too messy for me, but the book is chock full of helpful tips and explicabl...more
but the book offers an irreverent, casual design attainable to those first living on their own and tweakable for those with more means moving into, say, their second home.
at times the cheerful messiness was a bit too messy for me, but the book is chock full of helpful tips and explicabl...more
The format is brilliant...showing example rooms in a variety of two-word descriptive styles (modern eclectic, urban romantic, etc), and giving some very helpful tips.
I gave it 3 stars simply because none of the interiors, while interesting, were "my style" at all. They all just struck me as too cold and impersonal.
I gave it 3 stars simply because none of the interiors, while interesting, were "my style" at all. They all just struck me as too cold and impersonal.
"Young House Love: 243 Ways" is a great hands on book for DIYing, but this is a great companion book. I'm fairly clueless about how to create a "room" though I'm good at picking individual pieces. All the advice and photos and pointers are SO useful for beginners like me - Domino's powers combined with YHL might actually mean I have a cohesive living space one day!
All of the apartments shown are those of Domino editors and staff members. I'm not terribly familiar with the magazine (which is unfortunate, since it's ending it's four-year run in the near future), but it seems to me that websites & books like apartmenttherapy.com do a much better job of representing a popular design aesthetic.
I really liked this book, love that they put all the tips from the magazines into one book. I love that it is organized by room, and there are so many helpful and cool tips. A must-have for aspiring interior designers, and also for those who are looking for a little change.
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Jan 18, 2009 02:25pm