BELLAS ARTES

Leanne Ford’s imperfectly perfect designs inspire more than half a million social media fans daily. In this very personal design book, she shares her decorating philosophy, wry humor, and advice to live by. The Slow Down offers readers an inside look at how Leanne found her “wow does this need work” dream house and then moved (with her family in tow) across the country to turn it into a welcoming home. Her story has a rebellious soul that is refreshingly different from other interior design books: She encourages readers to slow down in their personal environments and celebrate the beauty of everyday moments. The Slow Down’s photos and narrative present a home tour like no other, stopping to recount crazy ideas (not always crazy!) and to offer thoughts on what makes a design really good and why Elsie De Wolfe is still right (about most things). You will come away with a new perspective and new ideas on how to make your home more joyful, elevated, and funky, fun, and just right.

How do you make your home come alive with personality, charm, and memory? In the introduction to Sean Scherer’s first book, Kabinett & Kammer: Creating Authentic Interiors, Anderson Cooper writes, “Scherer has a unique ability to place otherwise ordinary objects in a completely unexpected context or grouping and in so doing change the way you see them.” In Sean Scherer’s Vignettes, Scherer focuses in on the art of combining common objects into aesthetically pleasing groupings, or vignettes. Contending that a vignette can set the whole mood and tone of a room, he shows you how to use any surface in your home, from a tabletop to a bookshelf to a wall, to create lively displays of your favorite items. Beautifully illustrated with Scherer’s own photographs, the book demonstrates how to balance color, texture, and shape, and provides lessons on how to create both symmetrical and asymmetrical vignettes.

Poolside with Slim Aarons offers images of jet-setters and the wealthy, of beautiful, glittering people living the glamorous life. Yet this collection of stunning photographs of the rich and well-connected “doing attractive things” in their favorite playgrounds has a twist: The main character is pools, and everything that goes with them. Pools bring with them images of magnificent, suntanned bodies; well-oiled skin; bikini-clad women; yachts; summer cocktails; sumptuous buffets; spectacular locations; and most of all: fun. Poolside is not so much a who’s who of society, aristocracy, and celebrity—although C. Z. Guest, Lilly Pulitzer, Cheryl Tiegs, Peter Beard, and many who have appeared in Slim's previous books are here—as it is about leisure time and how the rich make use of it. This is a more intimate peek into very private lives, to which photographer Slim Aarons was given unprecedented access in the fifties, sixties, seventies, and eighties. This coffee table book is perfect for sharing, displaying, and gifting.

Richard Mishaan is renowned for his masterly integration of textiles, palettes rich in complementary shades, natural materials forged by artisans, surfaces bedecked with talismanic curios, a strategic sense of when and where to place a mirror, and a deep knowledge of both the fine and decorative arts. His many influences, including his upbringing in Colombia, coupled with his idiosyncratic perspective, explain why his sophisticated clientele return repeatedly as their lives evolve. In Richard Mishaan Design, his working methods are revealed in projects as varied as the conversion of a 400-year-old barn in the Hamptons into a warm, inviting family home and the transformation of an ultra-modern, glass-walled New York City apartment into a comfortable yet sophisticated aerie. Here too are show houses, which he uses as experimental laboratories, working out such diverse design ideas as updating legendary designer Renzo Mongiardino’s aesthetic and achieving a chic look on a tight budget. He has also designed rooms in bespoke hotels, ranging from the Rat Pack–influenced Shelborne South Beach in Miami to the Tcherassi, a renovated 250-year-old mansion in Cartagena, Colombia.

For 30 years, Italian-born Pietro Cicognani has been designing highly customized and exquisitely crafted country houses, city apartments, outbuildings, pool houses, and even garden plans for an A-list clientele. In the first monograph of his work, some 20 of his notable projects are featured, including a converted barn complex on Long Island, a sprawling estate in upstate New York, a chic minimalist town house in Manhattan, and a romantic seaside house and elaborate garden in the Hamptons. Whether new construction or gut renovation, each project is designed in collaboration with the finest artisans, craftspeople, and exceptional interior designers. Illustrated with photographs by Francesco Lagnese, as well as site and floor plans and drawings, the book includes a foreword by Isabella Rossellini, whose country home Cicognani designed.

From charming bungalows to sleek minimalist houses and apartments to restorations of iconic Mediterranean Revival residences to a garden dotted with oversized insect sculptures, the homes showcased in Palm Beach Living are as distinctive as they are representative of the ever-evolving design trends on the nation’s most exclusive barrier island. Some of the homes incorporate the exuberant colors of the island’s flora; others opt for a soothing, more neutral palette to contrast with the surrounding landscape. All embrace indoor-outdoor living, and each reflects the unique aesthetic of the owner. Guided by native Palm Beacher Jennifer Ash Rudick, with photographs by Nick Mele, “a modern-day Slim Aarons,” readers are granted an intimate look at the best in tropical living. This gorgeous coffee table book highlights the work of renowned architects—from the legendary Maurice Fatio and John Volk to Daniel Kahan, Fairfax & Sammons, Jeffrey W. Smith, and David Fox & Chris Stone—superb landscape designers, including Mario Nievera, Jorge Sánchez, and Fernando Wong, and such world-class interior designers as Tom Scheerer, Amanda Lindroth, Mark D. Sikes, Jonathan Adler, Frank de Biasi, Mimi McMakin, the late Carleton Varney, and Kim Coleman.