via Amazon.com
If you’re interested in the concept of “home” – like most of us who practice interior design are – the emotional, practical and historic connotations, Bill Bryson’s book “At Home | A Short History of Private Life” might be right up your alley! Bryson’s writing (in my opinion) is always engaging and accessible, and his latest book is no exception.
An American whose home is in England (somewhere in bucolic Norfolk), Bryson takes an objective, trans-Atlantic and, at times, global look at how and when the various functions of different rooms – and the ensuing comforts – have developed. He takes us on a tour of his Old Rectory, entertaining us in each space with a disarming narrative of historical facts, with an emphasis on the mid-19th century onwards. As he says, “We are so used …. to being clean, warm, and well fed … that we forget how recent most of that is. In fact, achieving these things took forever, and then they mostly came in a rush.” His scope of research is huge (the bibliography is gaspingly long!), yet organized and orchestrated into a fascinating and digestible history of interesting and sometimes astonishing facts. Did you know that William Morris – yes, that one, the English designer we associate with the Arts and Crafts Movement – (as if he hadn’t done enough!) was one of the founders of the “Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings” in 1877? Or that the very idea (and establishment) of Bank Holidays is attributable to one John Lubbock, of whom most people have never heard? You’ll also learn more about entomology than you can imagine (it’s fascinating… really!), and much more besides. I’d love to hear from anyone else who’s read this book … did you enjoy it as much as I did?
Hope the year’s off to a fine start for everyone! Penny
via TourNorfolk.co.uk
For more photos of beautiful Norfolk, head to http://www.tournorfolk.co.uk/
Having just returned from a long weekend in Nova Scotia (to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving, naturally!), my thoughts linger on fond memories of the time there. Apart from the joys of family and thankfulness, one in particular springs to mind: the excitement of seeing a beautiful example of adaptive reuse of a handsome industrial building.
Or, to be more precise, a maritime building. What was once a dock and unloading facility for passengers and cargo from large ships is now the Halifax Farmers Market, a bustling hive of humanity in happy gathering and trading mode. The open structure, all girders and pipes on a big scale, encases huge open spaces flooded with natural light from expansive windows. 
Pantone have published their annual color trend forecast, nicely presented in the apartmenttherapy blog (see below). Some interesting confluence AND juxtaposition in several of these palettes, don’t you think? It’s always fun to see if and how these color ideas play out…
… until there’s an opportunity to change them? To do so in a cost-conscious way isn’t easy, but I think a chair rail can often provide the focal point your eye needs to delineate perspective and add interest. Here’s a rendering of that same hallway with said “power line”:
