<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

Check It Out: A novel approach to decorating

By
Published:

Review

“Novel Interiors: Living in Enchanted Rooms Inspired by Literature”

By Lisa Borgnes Giramonti; Potter Style, 287 pages

Is your home an open book to visitors, or is it mysterious, designed and decorated to reveal slivers of carefully selected personal information? Do you favor bold colors and patterns, or are you more comfortable in a space that uses natural elements and a neutral palette to set the tone? Now let me ask you about books. If you enjoy reading literary classics — you know, the ones that unfailingly show up on the “100 best books” or “must read before you die” lists — do you favor Jane Austen or Thomas Hardy? F. Scott Fitzgerald or Isak Dinesen? Henry James or Oscar Wilde? (Regular readers of this column should not be surprised at seeing James’ name again. How could I mention literary classics without including dear Mr. James?).

Henry James aside, what I’m trying to do is to have you consider your reading interests while also thinking about your design style. Why, you ask? Because this week’s book combines literature with interior design, and the results are charming.

On her blog A Bloomsbury Life (abloomsburylife.blogspot.com), author Lisa Borgnes Giramonti describes herself as “a domestic explorer who lives modern life through an Old World lens.” She knows it can be difficult to settle on a style category when thinking about refreshing a space, so she offers a unique approach to making one’s home comfortable and stylish by connecting personal reading interests with interior design.

Dividing her bibliographic-oriented style advice into six categories, Lisa provides decorating guidance along with beautiful photographs and home/design-related quotations from well-known literary novels. In the chapter “Shall I Put the Kettle On?” which focuses on creating simple, cozy interiors such as one might find in a book by Jane Austen or Elizabeth Gaskell, the first literary quote comes from “David Copperfield,” the Charles Dickens novel: “The Cottage of content [is] better than the Palace of cold splendor, and that was where love was, all was.”

Review

"Novel Interiors: Living in Enchanted Rooms Inspired by Literature"

By Lisa Borgnes Giramonti; Potter Style, 287 pages

If you “embrace color, chaos, and the unconventional,” flip to the “Anything Goes” chapter where you’ll find that the writings of Dinesen, Virginia Woolf, and Lawrence Durrell share the same eclectic spirit. My favorite quote from that chapter comes from “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” by Winifred Watson: “Noting matched anything else. Everything was of an exotic brilliance that took away the breath. ‘Not the room of a lady,’ thought Miss Pettigrew.” Exotic and unladylike — how intriguing!

Filled with all manner of style direction — practical to whimsical — this unique interior decorating guide just may open up a new chapter in your home design adventures. While I’m pretty sure I’m not an “Anything Goes” kind of girl — in style, or anything else — I can’t help but find it a little thrilling to think of appointing a room with leather poufs, beaded curtains, and hanging lanterns (all listed on Page 221 as possible “finishing touches” to an “Anything Goes” type of room). Oh well, I’ll probably just hang out in the “Living Au Naturel” chapter and stay simple and tranquil with patchwork quilts, glass mason jars, and straw whisks and brooms (and throw in a few silk sari curtains for a zip of bohemian flair. Just don’t tell my husband).

Jan Johnston is the collection development coordinator for the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District. Email her at readingforfun@fvrl.org.

Jan Johnston is the Collection Development Coordinator for the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District.
Jan Johnston is the Collection Development Coordinator for the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District. Email her at readingforfun@fvrl.org. Photo
Loading...