Product Description

Filled with hundreds of ideas drawn from tradition, this is both a confident style statement for the enthusiast of English design, and an invaluable reference work for the home decorator.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #546283 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

About the Author
Henrietta Spencer-Churchill is the elder daughter of the 11th Duke of Marlborough. She became interested in interior design at the age of 16, when she studied fine art and languages in Florence and Paris. In 1981 she set up her own design company, Woodstock Designs, making her name with fabric and wallpaper designs, many of which draw inspiration from the heritage of Blenheim Palace. She has written extensively for Collins & Brown, with titles including Classic Georgian Style, Classic Entertaining, Classic Fabrics and Classic Decorative Details.

Customer Reviews

a book to enjoy
If a Duke' s daughter is writing about Classic English Interiors one can be nearly sure that it will be a wonderful book. If it is the daughter of the Duke of Marlborough it is bound to be good.

This book is partly a description of the interior of Blenheim Palace, properly the grandest stately home in Britain. But rest assured it is not a tourist guide. With the knowledge and love of one's family home Henrietta Spencer-Churchill shows the reader how having a grand house and nevertheless a comfortable place and family home are not necessary contradictions.

She presents the reader other houses which are usually rather posh and explains how the traditional British style comes about. By that you gain knowledge how you can achieve that in your own environment (if you like that style). But even for those who do not want to live in an traditional environment it is interesting book,which is very well done. One gets a lot of ideas.

It is a lovely coffee table book, to browse through with a cup of tea, relax on the sofa.

I enjoyed it immensely.

A pleasing book
This book is easy to read and has many sumptuous photographs. Spencer-Churchill shows examples from her own family homes, including the magnificent Blenheim, along with smaller, cottage and apartment dwellings owned by friends and clients (of her interior design company).

The book was first published in 1990 and consequently some decorative features from her projects of that time do look a little dated now, but this detracts little from the overall. The latter third of the book gives guidance on how to match and contrast various fabrics and colours.

Certainly a lovely book to enjoy leafing through, though not detailed enough for an in-depth look at period styles and perhaps would not satisfy those who are looking for specific guidance on which to base their own decorating schemes.