Product Description

"The key in learning how to decorate is to understand and identify your distinctive taste, trust it, and then learn how to apply it to the decoration you want...You can create your decorating style."

--Diane Love

Acclaimed designer and artist Diane Love shows you how, in this beautifully photographed volume, to discover and define your personal taste, then demonstrates how to build a decor that is functional, aesthetically pleasing, and truly reflective of your personality.

Within the pages of this beautifully photographed book, acclaimed designer and artist Diane Love presents a truly innovative approach to interior design by equipping you with an understanding of your unique taste and the ability to use it to create your personal decorating style. Through easy, fully illustrated, step-by-step exercises and examples, she helps you to discover and define your taste, then demonstrates how you can use this knowledge to create a functional and aesthetic decor that is a true reflection of your personality.

PART I: WHAT IS YOUR TASTE? Seven exercises, comprised of simple activities and questions, and free of self-conscious personal evaluation, help you to better define and articulate your taste. The exercises begin by asking you to select from magazines rooms that you love (your YESs) and those you don't (your NOs), then they help you to find words to express your impressions about a room's decoration, to distinguish the common denominators always present in the rooms you choose, and to pinpoint your likes and dislikes through your reactions to elements of a room's design, from architectural elements to furnishings to the color palette.

PART II: EXERCISE YOUR TASTE Eleven methods taken in sequence explain the step-by-step process of decorating a room and show you how to incorporate what you have learned about your taste in Part I in order to create a decor that is comfortable and aesthetically pleasing to you. Topics covered include: using space efficiently, evaluating architectural elements, renovating economically, making a furniture plan, achieving visual balance, arranging objects and pictures, choosing lighting, and working with mirrors.

QUESTIONNAIRE AND WORKBOOKS A questionnaire specially conceived to assist you in analyzing your decorating style enables you to track your aesthetic attitudes, reactions, and preferences. The two workbooks-one of which is separate from the book and easily portable.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #180790 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-02
• Released on: 2000-03-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

Amazon.com Review
Facing a new home or upcoming remodel? Ah, a blank canvas that you can paint to reflect your singular personality and unique tastes. But what if you're not exactly sure what your tastes are? Yes/No Design will help you recognize your aesthetic attitudes and sensibilities.

An interior decorator and artist, author Diane Love understands that your home is your castle and that any castle's decor should jive with the personality of the reigning monarch. Using a list of adjectives, you evaluate your emotional reactions to a series of photographs. Be honest and you'll discover your true decorating sense (you do have one, no matter how buried it is), and there's no right or wrong. For example, I find the book-lined library cozy, comfortable, and unpretentious. You may think it's dark, cluttered, and predictable. We're both right! Through a series of exercises, you'll discover your decorating likes and dislikes. Do you prefer sophisticated and ornate? Casual and bohemian? Read about furniture styles, color combinations, and architecture, and then listen to your intuition--you'll be on your way to creating a personal space unique to you. Included are two workbooks (one portable) so you can jot down notes and ideas. --Dana Van Nest

About the Author
Diane Love began her work as a designer by arranging flowers for her home and jewelry for herself, which soon led her to open her own store, Diane Love, Inc., on New York's Madison Avenue. Originally created for the shop, her decorative objects, silk flowers, home fragrance, and jewelry have been sold through her boutiques at major retail stores. The author of Flowers Are Fabulous for Decorating and a former flower arranger for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she has lectured extensively on flower arranging and interior design. Her jewelry was included in Jewels of Fantasy, a retrospective of twentieth-century jewelry designers that was on exhibition at museums worldwide. After twenty years, she closed her business to work as a painter and now shows her work through galleries. She is also a professional actor and photographer. A passionate believer that all artistic pursuits work together to enhance a person's creativity, she lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Very Helpful
Before reading Yes/No Design, I never really thought about my personal taste in decorating, nor did I bother to explore my own creativity. When I found myself with the task of decorating my living room, I felt completely overwhelmed. I had read tons of magazines and asked for the opinions of my friends, as well the opinions of their interior designers. Once I read Diane Love's book, I found myself wondering what was it that I liked when it came to color? Furniture? Fabrics? I had no idea. The exercises in Yes/No design truly helped me, for the first time, locate my own imagination and style. I realized that lemon was going to be the color of my living room, and not yellow. I realized that an airy room was what I wanted, instead of a darker, stuffier one. Yes/ No helped me organize my thoughts, and in the end, helped me to decorate my home in only one way, mine!

an education in good taste
Yes/No design was written for the purpose of understanding various elements of design that appeal to each of us. Often we cannot understand why certain colors or styles are comforting and pleasing to the senses. This book acts as an explanation to why we feel the way we do regarding certain environments. I especially enjoyed the workbook section and visual guides. The reference guides are not unlike those found in several european do it yourself guides. This book often has an upmarket almost Ikea-esque feel to it. It encourages readers to use their own surrondings and ideas rather than changing for the sake of another persons style.

most useful to novices
Unlike some of the other people who reviewed this book, I did not find the quiz to be helpful. However, the benefit of the quiz may depend upon how knowledgeable you are about interior decoration and/or how fixed you are in a particular style. The reviewers who seemed to be helped the most were novices. That is why I gave this book 2 stars instead of 1. On the other hand, I think the basic tips provided by this book have been covered better in other books, and the pictures are only so-so.

At one point the author says "listen to your intuition." That is what I suggest people do instead of buying this book.

However, if you don't yet trust yout intuition the following are some good books:

Color Your Home Beautiful: Ideas and Solutions
- It has beautiful photos, a variety of well-chosen color combinations in a variety of styles, dozens of color swatches, useful tips, and quotes from designers.

Ultimate Home Style Guide by Katherine Sorrell
- Almost all styles are represented here with enough details on colors, fabrics, and other style elements to create the look your self.

Better Homes & Gardens: New Remodeling Book
- Despite the fact that remodeling is in the title, this is a good basic book about interior design. I like it better than BH&G: New Decorating Book.