The Relaxed Home: Creating Comfortable Rooms with a Romantic Feel

by atlanta-bartlett

We all want true relaxation when we come home--a place to put our feet up, close our eyes, and ignore the world outside. Too often, the "stuff" of day-to-day living interferes with that relaxation, but Atlanta Bartlett is determined to help us all create a personal space where comfort and peace are the focal points. In The Comforts of Home , the gorgeous photos, specific suggestions, and unique styles work together to get you started creating a special haven. Five different decorating styles are highlighted. Whether your taste runs to elegant or eclectic, you're sure to find one that resonates. Bartlett encourages the use of color on walls and ceilings as a focal point--when walls are a delicate blue or pale pink, additional art becomes unnecessary. Unusual uses for items are also a bright sari drapes a bedroom window to beautiful effect, while plain and chunky glass tumblers work nicely as vases. Collections of beloved items are shown off to advantage in settings such as wide staircases, kitchen walls, and fireplace mantles. Neutral colors are enhanced with a variety of textures like velvet, leather, satin, rough concrete, and sheepskin to present a living room that combines luxury and simplicity. For every room in the house, Bartlett shows that "less is more" when the "less" has special qualities and sentimental value. With a cozy blanket, family photos, and your favorite chair arranged in front of a sunny window, you may find it difficult to do anything but relax! --Jill Lightner

Genres: Nonfiction, Interior Design, Adult

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 1 out of 5]

The rooms pictured all share two things in common: they are big, and they are empty. The craziest it gets with knick-knacks is a glass of water on the coffee tables and a couple of thin books artfully discarded somewhere. The rooms have barely any furniture and all of it is along the walls of the rooms and only accentuates how empty the spaces are.

I went back and counted because I didn't remember a single rug, but there are exactly four rugs in the entire book and none are in more than one picture. And worst of all, the rooms all look cold and drafty, either by the coloring, the lack of softness, or from the fact that the house being photographed looks like it had been abandoned for about a decade before someone showed up to slap on some white wash and drag in the furniture.

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh?

So many of this book's photographs also appear in The Comfortable Home: A Inspirational Guide To Creating Feel Good Spaces that for a moment I wondered if I was reading different publications of the same book. But nope, they just have eerily similar titles and mostly similar photos (photographer Polly Wreford took them, and they are quite pretty). I liked the other book better, and the whole time I was reading this one I just wished I was reading Burdon's book instead.

The text of this one bored me and towards the end I just started flipping through for the pictures, especially since I don't have an outdoor space or garden to decorate. One thing this book does have, though, is a brief chapter on home offices, which is missing from The Comfortable Home.

I do really want those floral armchairs though.

[myra juliarti · Rating 5 out of 5]

pengen banget punya rumah isinya kayak gini.
gak ribet, gak trendy, gak futuristik.
inspiring dah pokoknyah

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book and The Comforts of Home are the same book.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book and The Relaxed Home are the same book.

[Lauriepopwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfect Cheddar Cheese Straws recipe. Will try oyster stew recipe this fall.

[Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The photos make you feel a moment of quiet, they are so serene.

[Jane H · Rating 4 out of 5]

gorgeous!