"Elle Decor A-List decorator Ashley Whittaker believes houses are meant to be beautiful, but also lived in and enjoyed. She fearlessly marries adventurous colors and patterns while retaining a sense of elegance and restraint. In her first book, Whittaker shares her secrets for creating inviting and sophisticated homes, always balancing the importance of practicality with the necessity of beauty to the last detail. The book includes nine dwellings, including a stately 1920s Georgian-style house in Connecticut, a midcentury modern house in upstate New York, an elegant Manhattan brownstone, and an escape on the Florida coast. She also features the story of her own house that she designed and built from the ground up in Millbrook, New York. Within each house, Whittaker shares her knowledge and strategies for achieving elegance and ease, from the importance of providing consistent decorative threads throughout a home, to playing up contrast and juxtaposition. She offers guidance on furniture plans, how to complement the architecture of a space, and using color. The results are stunning: bohemian patterns mix with classic palettes, rich saturated color mingles with highly polished finishes. Lacquered blue walls show off a collection of blue-and-white porecelain. An inviting L-shaped sofa and games table reinvent a rarely used library into a favorite space for socializing. Ashley Whittaker's houses are share both a sense of drama and a sense of comfort -- they are homes that welcome you at the end a long day, homes for living, homes to love." --