Product Description

Women have long identified with the expressive personalities and mythical powers of the Greek goddesses. Now they can extend the goddess metaphor beyond their spiritual and romantic lives to their favorite living spaces. Goddess at Home draws from the fascinating stories of 7 Greek goddesses to provide decorating ideas and themes, from the sensual and alluring to the strong and serene. Through quotations, stories, and gorgeous photos and images, this book conveys the unique personality of each goddess and pairs her with the room or rooms in which she commonly dwells. Packed with fun and fashionable ideas, Goddess at Home shows the reader how to use symbols, forms, and rituals to create sensuous bedroom sanctuaries inspired by Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, Sensuality, and Beauty; cozy living rooms infused with the warmth of Hestia, Goddess of Hearth and Home; serene offices inspired by Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, Discernment, and Leadership; and more. Applying the legend and lore of the 7 sisters to home decorating, this unique book shows how women can express the spirit of their "goddess within" in any home space.

Anita Llewellyn is a veteran writer, scholar, and developer whose prestigious clients include the Tech Museum of Innovation, in San Jose, California; the Smithsonian; and the Harry S. Truman Library. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #700050 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

From Publishers Weekly
If a man's home is his castle, a woman's home, insists Llewellyn, is her temple-and in it, she should feel like a goddess. Through interior design schemes inspired by a pantheon of Greek deities, women can create rooms that "nourish ambitions and fulfill dreams." Going room by room and goddess by goddess, Llewellyn shows how the mythical qualities associated with the goddesses enrich a mortal's domestic sphere. Aphrodite can be evoked in the bathroom via sea-foam green, aquamarine and intimations of the ocean at sunrise. "Paint the walls the colors of goldfish, sea grass, or coral," Llewellyn says. "Sew tiny seashells onto muslin as a curtain for window or shower" to let the goddess "lead you back to your serene and sensual self." "Adventurous, self-knowing" Artemis is summoned into the den when "a mounted moose head has a place of honor on the wall." With its blend of epicureanism and misty spirituality, quasi astrology and New Age color theory, the book propounds a style of interior design that in some hands could be called "postmodern," a pastiche of historical references and intellectual sources; in this case, however, the tone is overwrought and slightly pretentious. Written in a voice of royal imperative (almost every sentence is a command), this volume provides plenty of directions but skips the authentic how-tos; its rich illustrations are designed to offer inspiration rather than instructions.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Divine Inspiration
I ordered this book not knowing what to expect. As an interior designer in training and a priestess of The Goddess I was intrigued at Ms. Llewellyn's book concept. I read through it in about an hour. I was both shocked and pleased to find that Ms. Llewellyn's design inspirations were things I had already done in my own home without, perhaps, knowing why I did them. The images she chose to showcase goddess inspired rooms were breathtaking. I believe a great deal of research went into this project. The information she presented in reference to the Hellenic Goddesses she chose was concise and accurate. I recommend this book highly to anyone who loves interior design and Greek Goddesses.

Original and Inspiring
I missed the opportunity to meet the author this weekend in San Francisco. She is a respected scholar who writes like a romance novelist. I enjoyed looking at the pictures and reading the text because it reminded me of the first time I was transported by mythology...way back in eighth grade English class in San Diego.

What woman doesn't want to come out of the bath dropping clean and erotic like Aphrodite? Or to be respected for her mind reading in the library like Athena? Don't we all want our homes to exude all the sides of who we are - sensual, intelligent, outdoorsy and domestic all at the same time? The author inspires you to do that within the 'goddess' context.

Amazon (I myself am too short to be an Amazon (sigh...) should package this book as a triple threat with Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess, Kim Cattrall's Satisfaction: The Art of the Female Orgasm and they'll really have something for every woman.

Buy the book, place it on your coffee table, and watch how everyone is drawn to it by the glowing, irresistible cover.

A Delightful Read That Encourages Women To Recreate Their Homes Passion
I was pleasently suprised with this book. Books in the past claiming to appeal to the Goddess within your home failed. This book however delivered just as stated. Reading it helped me develope a whole new outlook of my home. After reading it I began seeing rooms in a whole new light. This book not only helps a persons inner self grow but their home. My home has been transformed and is now a personal oasis instead of just a place to exsist. I recommend this book to the woman who yearns to make her home a positive, engergetic, loving personal oasis where every room explodes in song when you enter.