Book Lust 2011

Though I love my Kindle (and believe me, I LOVE my Kindle), there will always be a place on my bookshelves for the kind of utterly delicious decorative coffee table books to which this darling electronic device will never be able to do justice.
So this year I had better go get me another mortgage, because the list of books on my 2011 wish-list is huuuuuge and almost all of them are the kind I can’t use Kindley magic to read.
1. First up a scrumptious new Shabby Chic book to look forward to. Due to be published in October, the book is described on Amazon thus…
“Welcome to Rachel Ashwell’s world: as beautiful as it is comfortable, as inspiring and spontaneous as it is practical and personal. In this book, Rachel shares her inspirations and her humour, celebrates the charm of the old and battered, and demonstrates time and again how interiors touched with Rachel’s magic transcend fashionable trends, extending a calming, personal welcome to all. In this new book, Rachel takes us to homes in the US – from a shabby shack on Malibu’s oceanfront to a ranch on the wide, open spaces of Texas and to the wooded hills of the Catskills – and in the UK – from a houseboat and a city townhouse to a centuries-old manor house deep in the country, and Rachel’s own London apartment. All the houses, regardless of their size or location, embody Rachel’s ethos and share the same qualities: a respect for beautiful objects from the past, an extravagant sense of comfort, an eye for the unexpected and that signature touch of bling. All are inviting, artistic, soulful, inspired and inspiring, beautiful, gentle, considered and, in their own way, perfectly imperfect…
Sounds wonderful, and I for one cannot wait to add another Rachel Ashwell book to my Shabby Chic bookshelf.

2. Next up, Cottage Style from Country Living, coming to a virtual bookstore near you in September and rumoured to be resplendant with images of English chintz, patchwork quilts, slipcovers and easy comfortable living. right up our street mais non?

3. Then hot on the heels of Cottage Style comes another scrumptious festive edition from the Country Living stable. This one featuring a raft of fresh ideas for celebrating Christmas, something I’m a  little thrilled about because there has been something of a dire lack in the Christmas department in books recently and I think by October when Merry & Bright is published, we will all be eager for a little inspiration.

5. And finally on my wish list? Vintage Chic by Christina Strutt. Christina is the shabby genius behind Cabbages and Roses and her previous books have been quietly beautiful and stuffed full of homely loveliness, and I don’t doubt that this one will feature more of the same…

Oops. Did I say finally? Well I did intend that to be the last book on my list, but then I was hopping around Amazon and while I was there I happened across Rediscovered Treasures, and as I had swooned over some of the gorgeous images and projects from this book that were featured in last months Homes and Antiques, I found myself compelled to press the buy it now button and now this utterly gorgeous, terribly vin-spirational book is winging it’s way to my letterbox as we speak.
Compelled  I was. Compelled my Darling Housekeepers.