Chris Madden The Soul Of A House

From best-selling author and design icon Chris Madden comes the first book on her design philosophy, and how to achieve her comfortable, chic style. Design expert Chris Madden has spent years chronicling other people’s beautiful rooms. Now, for the first time, she presents her own design sensibility as illustrated by examples such as her elegant one hundred-year-old carriage house in upstate New York and a mid-century modern family getaway in the mountains of Vermont. Organized by type of room, each house is explored—from entryways to bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms, mudrooms, greenhouses, and terraces, as well as specialty rooms like yoga studios and a man’s study—through rich photography and dozens of practical styling tips. Readers learn how to layer fabrics and colors for seasonal decorating; how to repurpose materials; and how to recognize a room’s quality of light. Also featured are sidebars on caring for guests, collecting, and living in an old house versus a modern house. An avid gardener, Madden explores the way outdoor space frames and supports a house. This lush and elegant volume is an eminently practical resource of ideas for creating rooms in which to celebrate family, entertain friends, and provide personal sanctuary.

Reveals a variety of second home options, from a forest cabin to a cottage by the sea.

It's not only humans who can build incredible structures: around the world, mammals, birds, and insects can be found building incredible things. From biggest beaver dams to tinniest caddisfly cases, this beautifully illustrated picture book explores each animal's incredible home and uncover the reasons why they build. Featuring bower birds and weaver birds, gophers and beavers, termites, honey bees, and many more, each amazing animal architect from around the world tells its own 'micro story' about its incredible architectural skills in this delightfully unique wildlife book.

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

'I FELT RECOGNISED ON EVERY PAGE, LEARNT SO MANY NEW THINGS, AND LAUGHED SO HARD I CHOKED ON MY WATER. READ THIS!!!' NAOISE DOLAN, AUTHOR OF EXCITING TIMES 'CANDID, WITTY ... A BRAVE BOOK THAT PUTS VULNERABILITY FULLY ON SHOW' INDEPENDENT Obsessive was, still is, my natural state, and I never wondered why. I didn't mind, didn't know that other people could feel at peace. I always felt like a raw nerve, but then, I thought that everyone did. Writer and journalist Marianne Eloise was born obsessive. What that means changes day to day, depending on what her brain latches onto: fixations with certain topics, intrusive violent thoughts, looping phrases. Some obsessions have lasted a lifetime, while others will be intense but only last a week or two. Obsessive, Intrusive, Magical Thinking is a culmination of a life spend obsessing, offering a glimpse into Marianne's brain, but also an insight into the lives of others like her. From death to Medusa, to Disneyland to fire, to LA to her dog, the essays explore the intersection of neurodivergence, fixation and disorder, telling the story of one life underpinned and ultimately made whole by obsession.

The first book to survey the work of this iconic designer, known for her serene "new American classic" look. One of today’s most influential designers, Victoria Hagan exploded onto the scene in 1988 when New York magazine devoted the cover of its design issue to one of her rooms. Since then she has become renowned for her intelligent integration of architectural and interior design, her refined use of materials, her sophisticated color palette, and her strong silhouettes. Always looking to the view, Hagan effortlessly makes a close connection of interior spaces to the surrounding landscape. The houses profiled—ranging from elegant urban residences to casual weekend retreats—reveal Hagan’s unerring attention to what Proust called "the unexpected detail," which makes her interiors beautiful as well as timeless. Throughout, Hagan discourses on the spirit of cherished objects—a print of birds in flight, a vintage star-shaped mirror, or a chair with an unusual silhouette—that add soul and modernity. With stunning photography and personal insights into Hagan’s design philosophy, Victoria Hagan: Interior Portraits is an artful and inspiring collection of this design superstar’s oeuvre.

"All the sizzle, chaos, noise and scariness of war is clay in the hands of ace storyteller Lynch." -- Kirkus Reviews for the World War II series Discover the secret missions behind America's greatest conflicts.Danny Manion has been fighting his entire life. Sometimes with his fists. Sometimes with his words. But when his actions finally land him in real trouble, he can't fight the judge who offers him a choice: jail... or the army.Turns out there's a perfect place for him in the US military: the Studies and Observation Group (SOG), an elite volunteer-only task force comprised of US Air Force Commandos, Army Green Berets, Navy SEALS, and even a CIA agent or two. With the SOG's focus on covert action and psychological warfare, Danny is guaranteed an unusual tour of duty, and a hugely dangerous one. Fortunately, the very same qualities that got him in trouble at home make him a natural-born commando in a secret war. Even if almost nobody knows he's there.National Book Award finalist Chris Lynch begins a new, explosive fiction series based on the real-life, top-secret history of US black ops.