Nina Campbell's Decorating Notebook

Book excerpt: Nina Campbell, one of Britain's foremost interior designers, has garnered international acclaim for her signature designs--classic and comfortable interiors executed with elegant understatement. In "Nina Campbell's Decorating Notebook," she reveals the trademark touches, the secret sources and techniques, and the methods she uses to create her timeless, sophisticated interiors. Starting from the belief that homes should always reflect the preferences and idiosyncrasies of the families who live in them, Nina Campbell leads home decorators from bare walls to finished room, offering insights into each step of her design process and showing how to apply her design principles in any home. Nina Campbell includes beautiful photographs of homes she has decorated in the United States and Europe, including a luxurious New York City penthouse as well as her own new apartment in London, and provides explanations of the key decorating decisions behind each design. As she guides the home decorator on a tour of these locales, she recounts the challenges inherent within each project and the little tricks that produced sweeping effects, and she demonstrates how to enliven decorative schemes with the smallest of details. To further aid the reader in selecting the perfect elements, Nina Campbell offers options for wonderful windows and wall treatments along with directions for properly selecting each piece, tips for designing the most effective lighting scheme based on a room's structure and style, secrets for choosing the right fabrics and appropriate color schemes, and ideas for positioning furniture in exciting new ways. Nina Campbell also explains how the reader can re-create her signature touch: a stunning focal point in every room. Using her top ten decorating principles, Nina Campbell shows how to make the most out of a home's architectural detailing, and she reveals her favorite style touches, including witty ornaments, sensual cushions and throws, and scented flowers for the bedroom. With the aid of invaluable questionnaires, swatches, and floorplans, she offers countless ideas for personalizing and revitalizing the home with creative solutions for every room. Lavishly illustrated and filled with inspired suggestions, "Nina Campbell's Decorating Notebook" is an indispensable guide for anyone seeking tailor-made home design.