The House & Garden Book of Vacation Homes (House & Garden)

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The newest title in Vendome's best-selling House & Garden series features the homes of those fortunate enough to have realized the universal dream of creating unique hideaways in some of the most beautiful parts of the world. This lovely, all-color book takes readers on an international tour of these retreats - from Bali and Mexico to upstate New York, Provence, the Alps, and beyond. The arrangement is thematic, with chapters on Houses by the Sea, Mountain Retreats, Country Simplicity, and Exotic Escapes, so that the white clapboard simplicity of Nantucket contrasts interestingly with a seaside house in Brittany, while a luscious Tuscan villa stands next to a quaint English country cottage. One shared theme in these houses is that they tend to be more relaxed in decoration than primary dwellings - there is less need for working spaces or formal entertaining, thus the houses tend to be more open and casual, and enforces the mingling of family life and leisure. The informative text pinpoints the key elements of design and decoration, most of which could be applied to any home, and the superb photographs both illustrate these ideas and inspire readers' dreams.

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Leonie Highton is Deputy Editor of House & Garden magazine, and is the author of numerous books on interior decoration.