The enduring appeal of English-style interiors from the current master of the genre. Nicholas "Nicky" Haslam is one of the world’s most distinguished interior designers, and this career-crowning monograph explores his signature style. Haslam began designing in 1972 and has become known for opulent, original, and timeless interiors. With a prime motivation of creating interiors that are "flattering to their owners," his firm’s work is seductively glamorous, layered with a historical knowledge and an originality that belies the careful focus on practicality and livability. The mix of the deeply serious, grand, and impressive with charm and above all wit is Haslam’s trademark. With its fresh, lively, and spontaneous approach that reflects Haslam’s charisma, wit, and charm, this gorgeously illustrated volume reveals the influences, inspirations, and achievements that have been pivotal to his success. Haslam shares material from both his personal scrapbook and professional archive to highlight key moments in his colorful career, his most acclaimed designs, and the sources of his creative inspiration. Clients have included Ringo Starr, Mick Jagger, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Hong Kong, Maurice and Charles Saatchi, Rupert Everett, Alec Wildenstein, Peter Soros, and Janet de Botton, among many others. He has also designed parties for the Prince of Wales, Lord Rothschild, Sir Evelyn and Lady de Rothschild, and Tina Brown.This beautiful and inspiring volume will appeal to anyone interested in interior design and the art of living well.

From its humble origins as a Tudor hunting lodge to its present-day status as a protected historic building, Nicky Haslam’s delightful ‘Folly de Grandeur’ is a unique English country house that is one of the renowned decorator’s favourite places. In this beautifully illustrated book, Part 1: A History of the House provides a timeline of the house together with an overview of the design aesthetics that characterize Haslam’s look. Part 2: The Essence of Style covers wall finishes, soft furnishings, the transition from room to room, furniture form, style and arrangement, classical elements, and creating tableaux with objets and photographs. In Part 3: A House for All Seasons, you will find a year-round appreciation of this remarkable home, which was once owned by John Fowler, co-founder of Colefax & Fowler. By recounting events – from society gatherings to quiet country weekends – stories about the rooms, and details about the decoration and furnishings, Haslam reveals the personal touches that give the folly its unique sense of life, both indoors and out. Inviting us into his carefully preserved and lovingly decorated country home, he explains the intricacies and delights of carefully mismatched furniture collected over the years, a colour palette of subtle, warming tones that are quietly welcoming and effortlessly romantic, and a wonderful collection of art that is nothing short of inspirational. Finally, in Part 4: The Perfect Setting, Haslam shares unique garden design secrets and outdoor ‘rooms’ that complement his celebrated home.

From its humble origins as a Tudor hunting lodge to its present-day status as a protected historic building, Nicky Haslam’s delightful ‘Folly de Grandeur’ is a unique English country house that is one of the renowned decorator’s favourite places. In this beautifully illustrated book, Part 1: A History of the House provides a timeline of the house together with an overview of the design aesthetics that characterize Haslam’s look. Part 2: The Essence of Style covers wall finishes, soft furnishings, the transition from room to room, furniture form, style and arrangement, classical elements, and creating tableaux with objets and photographs. In Part 3: A House for All Seasons, you will find a year-round appreciation of this remarkable home, which was once owned by John Fowler, co-founder of Colefax & Fowler. By recounting events – from society gatherings to quiet country weekends – stories about the rooms, and details about the decoration and furnishings, Haslam reveals the personal touches that give the folly its unique sense of life, both indoors and out. Inviting us into his carefully preserved and lovingly decorated country home, he explains the intricacies and delights of carefully mismatched furniture collected over the years, a colour palette of subtle, warming tones that are quietly welcoming and effortlessly romantic, and a wonderful collection of art that is nothing short of inspirational. Finally, in Part 4: The Perfect Setting, Haslam shares unique garden design secrets and outdoor ‘rooms’ that complement his celebrated home.

Nicholas Haslam is one of the world's finest interior designers, sought by rock stars, royalty, and the aristocracy alike. His interiors have chutzpah and a touch of opulence that seduce you the momentyou catch a glimpse. Rooms look glamorous and sexy, yet liveable in, practical, and, above all, flattering to their owner and their surroundings. He makes great use of the completely unexpected and is known for effects such as linen carpets, silver-papered ceilings, slashed leather curtains, and Picasso-inspired fabric footstools. Sheer Opulence, with specially commissioned photography by David Montgomery, reveals Haslam's decorating secrets and instinctive approach to both classic and contemporary interiors in a visual diary with Haslam's own watercolor plans accompanying the stunning photographs of rooms around the world. * The first book from the rock stars' and royalty's favorite interior designer. * Previously published in hardcover by Watson-Guptill (ISBN:082347970). * His autobiography, Redeeming Features, is published by Random House.

From British interior designer Nicholas Haslam, a dazzling and witty account of a frenetic and full life—from the 1940s to the present—in Europe and America, in a crowd of friends and acquaintances that includes virtually all of the cultural icons of our time. Haslam has found himself at the center of some of the most interesting circles wherever he is—at parties, opening nights, royal weddings. In London in the late 1950s he crossed paths—and more—with Cecil Beaton, Francis Bacon, Diana Cooper, Greta Garbo, Lucian Freud, David Hockney, David Bailey, and Noël Coward. A time living in the still unspoiled south of France was an education in everything from the work of Buñuel to the style of toreros like Dominguín and Ordóñez. In Paris he met Jean Cocteau and Janet Flanner, and, in Saint-Tropez, danced with Brigitte Bardot. In the 1960s, in New York, he encountered Dorothy Parker, Cole Porter, Andy Warhol, Jack Kennedy, Joan Didion, and Marilyn Monroe while working in the art department at Vogue and later as art director, following Henry Wolf, at Huntington Hartford’s Show magazine. After Show, Haslam moved to a ranch in Arizona to raise Arabian horses—Truman Capote and John Richardson, among others, came to stay—and he began designing and commuting to Los Angeles to decorate for the stars. Back in England in the 1980s, he worked on David Bailey’s Ritz magazine, attended the wedding of his cousin Diana Spencer, and designed for everyone from the financier James Goldsmith to rock star Bryan Ferry. Redeeming Features is about much more than documenting a life among the celebrated and the eccentric: it is a vivid, at times humorous and moving portrait of a way of life that has all but disappeared. Haslam has an exacting eye for the telling detail and his story is a compelling and wholly fascinating document of our times.

"A proudly partisan history of the British aristocracy - which scores some shrewd hits against the upper class themselves, and the nostalgia of the rest of us for their less endearing eccentricities. A great antidote to Downton Abbey." (Mary Beard) Exploring the extraordinary social and political dominance enjoyed by the British aristocracy over the centuries, Entitled seeks to explain how a tiny number of noble families rose to such a position in the first place. It reveals the often nefarious means they have employed to maintain their wealth, power and prestige and examines the greed, ambition, jealousy and rivalry which drove aristocratic families to guard their interests with such determination. In telling their history, Entitled introduces a cast of extraordinary characters: fierce warriors, rakish dandies, political dilettantes, charming eccentrics, arrogant snobs and criminals who quite literally got away with murder.

The owners of the acclaimed stores and decorating firm Circa Interiors present eight stylish, beautiful homes blending comfort, beauty, and function with classic Southern hospitality. A house with an open door is like a friend with an open heart: inviting, generous of spirit, and constant at the core. In their first book, Jane Schwab and Cindy Smith present beautifully arranged interiors in which the trademarks of their style—subtle color palettes, graceful furniture, an emphasis on comfort and entertaining—harmonize to create fresh yet classic rooms. Walking the reader through each home with their characteristic Southern charm, they share their vision and process, from big-picture topics such as room flow and furniture plans, to the importance of entryways and setting a beautiful table. The lessons also extend from the interior to the garden, as Schwab and Smith discuss how outside spaces can become natural extensions of the home for entertaining. Throughout, they share specific ideas for arranging rooms to welcome one, two, or four people as comfortably as fifty, establishing multifunctional, adaptable gathering places that are both gracious and functional for the family of the house as well as their guests.