MODERN FLORAL

Bringing the outdoors inside.

Australian interior designer Coote offers a lushly illustrated volume depicting ways to incorporate natural themes, objects, and materials into home settings. Like the homes featured in publications such as Architectural Digest and Dwell, the rooms Coote shows reflect not only taste, but substantial financial means. We see, for example, Vogue editor Diana Vreeland’s red floral sitting room, created by famous American designer Billy Baldwin, and the White House guest bedroom designed by Jacqueline Kennedy with the help of Rachel Lambert “Bunny” Mellon. Some of these rooms are enhanced by handcrafted pieces, such as an attractive butcher’s block in a kitchen and floor tiles handmade in Mexico. Coote, who advocates reusing beautiful items, gives advice for sourcing antique textiles, which some designers find on their global travels. She provides tips for homeowners on a budget (cover a pillow, rather than a sofa, with an expensive antique fabric), and she points out the relative inexpensiveness of some natural fibers, such as sisal, wicker, and grass cloth. Chintz, imported from India, became a popular fabric for bespoke curtains and upholstery in the 1600s; by the 1800s, Western consumers were in thrall to the botanically inspired cotton. Favored by many designers, its popularity got a boost from Princess Diana’s English-style chintz dresses. While many botanical fabrics and wallpapers feature large, deeply colored designs, Coote suggests ways to incorporate them so that they are not overpowering. Living on an expansive country property, she finds in the changing seasons ever-new ideas for incorporating the natural environment into her home; she devotes separate chapters to the colors that surround her in nature: blues, greens, pinks and reds, and neutral shades of browns. Featuring 308 color illustrations, this book may be inspirational for some readers, aspirational for others.

Alluring ideas for decor.