English Eccentric: A celebration of imaginative, intriguing and truly stylish interiors

by Ros Byam Shaw, Jan Baldwin (Photographs)

The most interesting, intriguing, and truly stylish interiors are those that best reflect their owners’ lifestyle, enthusiasms, memories, talents, and skills.English Eccentric celebrates that interplay, visiting the homes of artists and designers, a director of wildlife documentaries, a hairdresser, a politician, and a ringmaster—people with a strong sense of the visual and the courage and flair to be original. Ros Byam Shaw looks at 14 different homes in a wide variety of styles, from a tiny cottage packed with circus memorabilia, to an elegant country house full of stuffed animals. None of the interiors featured are at the extreme end of eccentricity but all of them provide a multiplicity of inspiring ideas, whether through their vibrant mix of color and pattern, their imaginative use of space, their witty juxtapositions of old, new, upcycled and homemade, or their novel and eye-catching ideas for display. English Eccentric is a book about interiors that will amuse and inspire in equal measure, and about people whose creativity, rather than wealth, informs their take on interior design.

Genres: Interior Design, Nonfiction, Art, Photography, Architecture, Design

192 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2014

Reviews

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book definitely is different! English Eccentric: A celebration of imaginative, intriguing, and truly stylish interiors by Ros Byam Shaw contains a wide range of interior design, but quite a few of the interiors included may not be what one defines as interior design, but most importantly the interiors are exactly what the owners wish their interiors to be! With chapters entitled, for example, Urban Jungle, A Passion for Politics, Beetle Mania ( circus for performing insects ), The Art Barn, and East End Hoard, let your imagination go wild or pick up this very entertaining and different book. Please note: This book's photography by Jan Baldwin is beautifully done!

[Summer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well. It’s safe to say this is NOT my style of decorating. It was like the City Museum in St. Louis, MO. And all of the pictures were in the daylight and it was WAY too much for the eyes to settle on and feel at peace, I cannot imagine the nightmares of children who had to live there. Then, there was a truly ironic picture in the first pages that had walls of stuffed birds in it with an empty bird cage. That was just the beginning of the horrors. Then a whole house decorated with various political Clinton and Obama paraphernalia which would have been nightmarish no matter the leaning but *bleck*, then on their bookshelves they had political bump stickers framed and hung in front of book cases, and then the stuffed animals and bones in various homes, or maybe all in the same home were like a natural history museum gone horribly wrong. Charlotte Mason homeschoolers look like minimalists in comparison. I was happy to turn the last page and will quickly return it to the library.

The one star is for the picture of one interesting book I’ll look up later.

It’s a shame really because I enjoyed one of her other books; that one was relaxing and wonderful.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked it. Great photos.

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to sneeze just looking at the dust-catching 'more is more' interiors. An ultra-minimalist interior was thrown in, but this is a book that celebrates excess in all things. A good book for living vicariously, but I have no desire to recreate any of the interiors.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific interiors, colors, wild arrays and patterns, there are fanciful objects and settings on every page.

[Mary Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great photos. Unique and interesting interiors.

[Tracy K · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first three books in this series were well done, but this last one had some really garish and disturbingly ugly homes in it. Wish I hadn't spent the money on it.

[White House Public Library · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't really a fan of this book. I like the use of color but every room was extremely cluttered and felt unclean.