Amazon.com
Books about pared-down minimalist décor--most of them featuring the much-ridiculed all-white-box room with one lonely straight-backed chair in the center--are plentiful. Few people can actually live in those rooms, though, and for those who prefer a little color in their lives, there's Jane Cumberbatch's Pure Style Living.
The first third of the book is dedicated to the "sources" of the author's style: the vibrant yellow-orange of a cut melon, the texture and deep rust of freshly dug red potatoes, the orderly rows of a plowed field, the satisfying sturdiness of a heavy, purely functional piece of furniture. Next is a somewhat ephemerally organized section called "Live," in which Cumberbatch's ideas of the simple life are fleshed out with huge photographs of simple and practical kitchen gardens, bedrooms, autumn picnic spreads, slipcovered sofas, and distraction-free home office spaces. There are a few easy projects, like making a table runner or a bulletin board, planting bulbs, canning marmalade, or whipping up a raspberry fool (the author is British and so are the recipes). A breezy bit about al fresco dining is particularly inspiring. The final third of the book, "Directory," is, essentially, a well-designed version of that literary masterpiece known as the IKEA summer catalog, lacking only the prices. It's a guilty pleasure, perhaps, to leaf through the pages and pages of essential items--good sherry in the pantry, vintage watering can in the garden, cork flooring in the workroom--but a pleasure nonetheless. --Liana Fredley
Book Description
Jane Cumberbatch's vision is for a more balanced and simple, natural, and focused way of life. Jane Cumberbatch's Pure Style Living is a book about how to make the home a more sensual and practical environment in which to life, from choosing colors for walls to cooking a simple supper with fresh ingredients. The book is packed with affordable, inspiring, and achievable ideas that will help you to make the most of your home, even on the tightest budget. There is also a substantial visual directory and a list of suppliers to help you put together all the elements needed to create the Pure Style look.
Customer Reviews:
OK for a Browse.......2005-04-07
Liberal use of white space and highlighted key words try to lend weight to the flimsy text of this lifestyle book. Unfortunately there is barely enough content for a series of newspaper columns.
The photos are first rate, but don't rescue the book.
Example: Under SEASONAL PRODUCE, the author says "Buy fresh produce locally and in season for better taste and texture." The illustrations filling most of that page are a series of colorful photos of tomatoes, cabbage, mushrooms, etc.
The interior shots and garden scenes would fit very well in a book on English country homes. These are lovely.
Tacked on at the end is a page with 13 recipes. Another appendix includes 13 pages of address for buying linens, accessories, lighting, etc. Only in a few places in the book are project instructions included (table runner, felt and ribbon bulletin board, comforter cover).
Mostly the text is banal and Martha Stewart has nothing to fear from this author.
Down-to-Earth Living Style.......2002-08-09
"What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?"
~W.H. Davies
Jane Cumberbatch has a vision for a simpler existence that is more balanced and natural. She enjoys making her home more sensual, while also encouraging a practical environment in which you can really live. She is the mother of three children who thinks of her home as the heart of her daily life. To her, it is a place where she can connect with her real self.
The ideas in this book are affordable and there are a few moments of pure inspiration.
The contents include:
Recipes
Sources
Living
Nature
Scents
Texture
Eating
Architecture
Function
Order
Fabrics
Color
Work
Gardening
Playing
Washing
Sleeping
Flooring
Painting
This book is more about living simply than creating complicated projects. This is a book about how to make a home more stylish, sensual and peaceful.
There are useful ideas like how you can grow your own produce, recycle items you would normally throw away or how to use fewer chemicals and maybe even make your own compost heap.
I found the text inspirational and thought provoking in many ways. It is creative and evokes a feeling of crisp ideas, nostalgic memories from childhood and an awakening to the senses. Pictures of hanging clothes on a clothesline or sweeping a porch barefoot almost make you long for simpler times.
The pictures pour themselves over the pages with sheer beauty. This is a book you will want to sit and read while comfortably snuggling on your couch (which you wish looked like the pink one on page 190 where a child is peacefully sleeping) with a down comforter and a cup of tea. The pictures are interspersed with text in the first section. This is a combination of visual and intellectual appeal which I found to be almost unique in its form.
There are cute ideas like a bowl of soup decorated with a heart crouton and herbs which I really thought was delightfully fun. The pictures of making a raspberry fool look absolutely sinfully delicious. You just want to put a spoonful of raspberries in your mouth or enjoy the process of folding berries into cream.
Then there are ideas for scenting your bedlinen with fragrances or protecting your clothes with natural cedarwood blocks. There is a visual directory of ideas. The last section compliments the first as it gives you ideas on the materials needed to achieve the natural atmosphere described in the first section.
There are ideas for building a fire on a damp blustery day or how to bring nature into your home to increase tactile sensations.
While the ideas in "play" are not necessarily that original, you may have forgotten how as a child you carved out potato art to make potato prints. There is a cute way to decorate a tree with heart shaped pastry.
To find the recipes you have to turn to page 393 where you can find "mini" recipes for Chestnut soup, roast chicken with lemon and herb butter, chicken stock, sautéed carrots, mince pies, chocolate truffles, orange and almond cake and heart-shaped biscuits.
After reading this book I had this almost ecstatic feeling of just peaceful oneness with the earth and home. My thought it is due to the combination of visual and intellectual appeal.
A treat for the senses! Highly recommended for new home makers or for anyone who wants to immerse themselves in dreams, thoughts and creative ideas for a few hours. Another idea would be to read this book out in the sun with the breeze blowing through your hair.
A free-flowing book of inspirational ideas. It is brilliant in its simplicity!
~TheRebeccaReview.com
Great photos, silly text.......2002-02-12
This looked very tasty and the photos are indeed quite lovely. Unfortunately, there is not an original idea in this entire book. The author sets herself up as the next Martha Stewart but she just hasn't got it. Take this excerpt on serving raspberry fool "Spoon it into small wine glasses or secondhand 1930s ice cream glasses." Yuck! They HAVE to be secondhand, and 1930s, not '40s. The whole tone of the book is ignorant and twee.
Pure Style revival in a bigger format.......2002-01-18
Jane's "Pure Style" and "Pure Style Outdoors" are some of my favorites books.
They are part of my special selection of books because they are wonderful books. Beyond the beautiful pictures we find great ideas and a really innovative approuch for home decoration.
For years I've considered Pure Style my best acquisition, because of the way it mixes home design with life style and also by the way Jane invites us to pay more attention to how we live and to the beauty of simple things.
Pure Style Living is just like it's older brothers, but bigger and heavier, and gives a sense of deja vu.
I adore Jane's work, and I'm sure she can make a better job. But PS Living is just a big clone of her first book! It's worth, but there's nothing new!
A Definite Must Have!.......2001-08-30
I've been a fan of Jane's since Pure Style and was eagerly awaiting by Amazon delivery of her new Pure Style Living. I was not disappointed. While this may be marketed as a home design text, it is really a philosophy of contemporary living combining gracious style with a remembrance of all those things that make you feel warm, cozy and comfortable. Her approach to living is fresh and her ideas can easily be incorporated into your everyday life - they are simple and affordable and a welcome change to a contemporary world full of just "too much stuff." I'd definitely love to have lunch with Jane!
Amazon.com
"Focusing on all things simple and pure, echoing the current trend toward uncluttered interiors with clean outlines, crisp fabrics, and natural materials," designer Jane Cumberbatch's unique approach to interior design captured the imaginations of millions in 1996 with the release of her book Pure Style. Now, the essence of Cumberbatch's design ideas is brought to life in photographs and words in this classic wall calendar. From a simple dining room scene to a cozy blue-and-white bedroom, a gathering of lavender sprigs on antique lace to a kitchen in classic white, noted photographer Harry Bourne's pictures speak to the "aesthetic and the sensual of everyday life." Brief explanatory text noting the design elements accompanies the photos and completes this beautiful calendar.
Book Description
Jane Cumberbatch's unique approach to interior decoration is based on the timeless appeal of all things simple and natural. With clean outlines, crisp fabrics, and natural materials, "Pure Style" reaches beyond the bounds of interior decoration and offers a new way of living that is both resourceful and economical. The book provides a visual catalogue of appropriate colours, fabrics, textures, furniture, lighting, and decorative objects, and then shows how to bring them together to create your own interpretation of the look. Filled with a wealth of ideas and trade secrets, "Pure Style" offers ethos for living that teaches selectivity and promotes a general pairing down of things.
Customer Reviews:
Information on themes other books don't cover.......2007-06-26
This book can make you think those plain white walls in your rental are your best friend! Another reviewer complained about the white-on-white color schemes found throughout "Pure Style", but this misrepresents the book. "Pure Style" uses bright and light color schemes, with sunny yellows, sage greens, cool blues and soft lavenders on the soft furnishings, and various shades of white on the tables and cupboards featured, usually in a shade that matches the walls. This technique keeps the space feeling as bright and spacious as possible. Light colored woods are also used in many examples. In addition, this book offers some detailed advice on choosing things like dishes, rugs and linens to create a clean and fresh look, which most other DIY interior decorating books don't cover.
"Pure Style" includes DIY instructions for a variety of simple projects which makes it a great reference for renters on a budget.
NO STARS ** THOROUGHLY DISAPPOINTING.......2007-05-02
I EXPECTED A FULL SIZED HARD BACK BOOK ABOUT INTERIOR DESIGN. INSTEAD I RECEIVED A VERY SMALL PAPER BACK ABOUT THE SIZE OF A BIRTHDAY CARD. THE PICTURES ARE PRETTY, BUT MOST FALL INTO THE FOLD WHERE THE PAGES ARE JOINED. USELESS AS AN ADDITION TO A COLLECTION OF DESIGN BOOKS. ABSURD WASTE OF TIME AND PAPER.
refreshing and realistic.......2000-06-20
This book is like a breath of fresh air for anyone interested in decorating in an inexpensive, personal, and eclectic fashion. The photos are beautiful and the text very informative and inspirational. Following the guidelines provided will result in a beautiful, satisfying, and unique living environment. Recommended!
Beautiful pictures, low on content.......2000-05-12
If you want to decorate a lot with white on white, there are some great pictures to give you great ideas in this book. Although she mentions color and pretends to emphasize its importance in your home decor, nearly all her pictures are so devoid of color you might mistake it for an old-time hospital.
I was disappointed in the text content because it merely tells us things any homeowner already knows. I learned nothing new from this book. If you're looking for suggestions on style, I'd recommend the Shabby Chic series by Rachel Ashwell. If you're looking for suggestions on color, I'd recommend Donald Kaufman's books on interior color. This one is a waste of money.
Essential decorating book.......1998-10-07
If I were only allowed one decorating book, this would be it. Practical ideas for every decorating style. From bathrooms to colour schemes, vignettes to window treatments there are useful and affordable ideas everyone can use. A must have!
Book Description
The book details how to put an entire room together, from the basic architectural structure and use of space, through the furniture and fittings, down to the small but essential decorative finishes. The main body of the book, Decorating Secrets, has complete schemes for every room in the house from the entrance to the garden. Essential information is given on preparation work and other practical aspects of DIY that need to be considered, including working up designs and sketches, putting together color and pattern, working to a budget and the core decorators? tools needed to get the job done. There are features on the key areas that transform a room, from adequate storage in the kitchen to calming color in the bedroom. A section with Twenty Things to Make and Do contains full instructions for a range of projects for stylish finishing touches, including decorative painting ideas, soft furnishings and home accessories to give a home its heart.
Customer Reviews:
Focus on easy, budget decorating ideas which cover everything .......2007-07-27
There are plenty of decorating books on the market, but what makes DECORATING EASY: CREATE A SIMPLE, COMFORTABLE HOME WITH PURE STYLE so attractive is its focus on easy, budget decorating ideas which cover everything from using space more efficiently to adding furniture and fittings which work aesthetically. Chapters use step-by-step color blocks to outline tips - such as in 'Sleep: 10 Ways to Make a Calming Bedroom', making for easy at-a-glance instruction perfect for any collection catering to busy home decorators.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Book Description
Over one hundred recipes show you how to bring a symphony of flavors to everyday meals. If you're looking for satisfying deep-down tastes, look no further. Here you'll find:
Sticky Chicken
Lotsa Crab Crab Cakes
Southern Smothered Spuds
Sweet Potato Omelet
Bronzed Fish
Fresh Garlic Pasta
Corn Chowder
Black Bean Soup
Really Rich Beef
and Mushrooms
Also included are all your Louisiana favorites, such as gumbos, jambalayas, and etouffées.
Customer Reviews:
A Louisiana Legend.......2005-10-22
Paul Prudhomme makes good food and with this book, you can make good food too. I love regional cookbooks that provide the history or the story behind the recipe and this book delivers. The recipes are simple and easy to follow. I wish there were more photgraphs.
I've had this book for a while and I will never part with it.
Good Cookin, Good Eating.......1999-07-11
There are alot of easy recipes in this book, I have tried many of them. Down home food no matter where your home is. It is not only easy to follow but there are candid stories about how some of the recipes came about. This one stays on the counter.
Average customer rating:
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Pure Austrian Design + Audio Furniture
Manufacturer: Index Book
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Instructional & How-To
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Commercial
| Graphic Design
| Design & Decorative Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Design & Decorative Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 8496309118 |
Book Description
The creator of the award-winning Beecher’s Handmade Cheese in Seattle, Kurt Beecher Dammeier knows that great food begins with the highestquality ingredients prepared simply,so their natural, intense flavors shine through. In this, his first cookbook, you’ll discover that meals based on great raw materials require fewer ingredients,take less time to prepare, are healthier for you and your family, and taste phenomenal.
In Pure Flavor,Kurt shares more than 125 favorite recipes from his popular gourmet food shops and restaurant. This is fresh food that celebrates the quintessentially American flavors of the Pacific Northwest region that Kurt calls home. He shows you how pan-searing locally grown broccoli brings out its unique flavor, how an outstanding aged American Cheddar turns a bowl of tomato soup into ameal to remember, how a simple marmalade sauce can effortlessly enliven pork chops, and how asplash of light vinaigrette punctuated with lemon and basil makes any fresh fish shine.
Here are recipes for everything from a winning weekend breakfast dish of Apple-Hazelnut Waffles with Northwest Berry Syrup to hearty dinners like Dungeness Crab Mac & Cheese.Kurt knows where to find plump Washington cherries, crunchy Oregon hazelnuts,and fresh Puget Sound salmon and encourages home cooks to explore the culinary bounties of their area. He even includes helpful sidebars that demystify food terms, explaining the difference between Dungeness and peekytoe crabs,farmed and wild salmon, and “natural”and “organic.”
Whether it’s the sweet-tart bite of a juicy blackberryor the pungent tang of awonderful blue cheese, natural and fresh flavors can be discovered anywhere. With stunning photography and irresistible recipes, Pure Flavor will inspire you to seek out America’s pure flavors, wherever you live.
Customer Reviews:
Blessings of Purity.......2007-08-15
Our land, this inlet on the western coast of the North American continent, is a fortunate one, endowed with natural riches and settled by people who do not confuse prosperity with moral superiority. Modesty becomes us; we do not flaunt our advantages.
With pleasure, then, we open Kurt Dammeier's new book, which celebrates our region's bounty and offers some suggestions for simple preparations that enhance the pleasure this fare brings to our senses. He highlights the usual suspects (salmon, crab, mushrooms, cheese, berries, the Pike Place Market, even coffee) and turns the spotlight on a handful of local food pioneers (Gwen Bassetti of Grand Central Bakery, Marcella Rosene of Pasta & Co., sausage man Frank Isernio, cheese woman Sally Jackson, fisherman Bruce Gore, Paul Shipman of Red Hook, wine grower Veronique Drouhin, chef Tom Douglas). Had someone else written the book, Dammeier himself would be on that list; he's the creator of the extraordinarily popular Beecher's Handmade Cheese in the Market and Bennett's Pure Food Bistro on Mercer Island. His "Flagship Program" teaches Middle Schoolers about good food. He is inordinately generous to his competitors in the world of artisanal cheese. In turn, he reaps a string of honors, most recently for Beecher's Flagship Cheese, named the best cheddar in the country by the American Cheese Society. Dammeier is quick to credit cheesemaker Brad Sinko; Tom Douglas, for his part, calls Dammeier a modern-day Renaissance man.
The book itself is extraordinarily handsome, a hefty 256 pages with 125 recipes developed in collaboration with chef Lura Smith and freelance editor Laura Holmes Haddad (aka Gourmet Grrl), photography by Maren Caruso and Scott Mansfield. Bravo to publishers Clarkson Potter, who will be happy to sell you a copy for $32.50, roughly the price of a couple of Bennett's mouthwatering cheeseburgers and a side of Beecher's "World's Best" Mac & Cheese.
Average customer rating:
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Natural Style: Decorating Approaches for a Pure, Simple Home
Lindsay Porter
Manufacturer: Lorenz Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Crafts & Hobbies
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
Decorating
| Interior Design
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
Decoration & Ornament
| Interior Design
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Interior Design
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1859675921 |
Average customer rating:
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Pure Style Outside (Compacts)
Jane Cumberbatch
Manufacturer: Ryland, Peters & Small Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Garden Design
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1841729094 |
Book Description
The basis of Jane Cumberbatch's approach to interior design and decoration is a pared-down uncluttered look, a relaxed mood, and the timeless appeal of natural materials. In "Pure Style Outdoors", she takes her accessible style outside the home to help you make the most of your garden space, whether it is a modest city balcony, roof terrace, or rambling country garden. The book features inspirational suggestions for all the elements that make up the garden - including colour and lighting, boundaries, surfaces, and containers - complemented by the author's favourite selection of flowers, herbs, fruit, vegetables, and other plants.
Amazon.com
Using principles outlined in her previous book on interior home design, Pure Style, Jane Cumberbatch now moves the party outside to the patio and garden, a space that is often underutilized in today's over-air-conditioned, remote-controlled world. Her concepts are simple: lots of supersaturated color, interesting textures, plenty of plants, comfortable sturdy furniture, and tough fabrics make the porch and yard a fun place to be. Heck, why not eat out there too? Cumberbatch suggests morning espresso, lunch alfresco, afternoon tea, and casual birthday parties. It's not earth-shatteringly original, but Cumberbatch has a true flair for the simple and attractive, and the pictures are lovely. It would be nice to see someone sitting in those pretty, sunny chairs eating the summery food, but perhaps their very emptiness makes them seem that much more available. --Barrie Trinkle
Book Description
Jane Cumberbatch's unique approach to interior decoration is based on the timeless appeal of natural materials, uncluttered objects, and a relaxed mood. In "Pure Style Outdoors" she takes her accessible style outside the home to help you make the most of your garden space, whether it is a modest city balcony or roof terrace, a shady courtyard, or a rambling country garden. Jane presents stylish and practical ideas for furnishing, and living in, your outdoor spaces. Inspired suggestions for all the elements that make up a garden--colour and lighting, texture, surfaces, boundaries, furniture and fabrics, containers, and even the contents of the potting shed--are here, together with her favourite selection of flowers, herbs, fruit and vegetables, and other plants. She then explains how to pull all the elements together to create a stunning and welcoming envioronment in which to releax in comfort with a book or entertain family and friends. As in Jane's bestselling "Pure Style," simplicity is the key, and these clever but accessible ideas for treating all kinds of spaces will inspire you to create a stylish and unique garden.
Customer Reviews:
Food.......2004-04-12
I loved this book. Mostly the simple food ideas Jane has. Her writing style makes me want to go outside and eat a simple meal and enjoy the world around me. I wish she would write a Pure Style cookbook with the way she prepares every day food she and her family enjoys. I'd love to go to Jane's some summer afternoon and have a great meal or a winter evening by the roaring fire.
lots of beautiful, simple pictures.......2000-03-25
I really liked the simplicity of Jane Cumberbatch's book, Pure Style, and I was equally impressed with Pure Style Outdoors. She presents numerous images of serene and unassuming design concepts that can recreated or imitated easily. The book demonstrates that beauty can be found and created by displaying simple, everyday objects. Pure Style Outdoors offers inspiration for those of us who have up till now avoided decorating or updating their outdoor spaces.
Books:
- Jerry Baker's Green Grass Magic: Tips, Tricks, and Tonics for Growing the Toe-Ticklinest Turf in Town! (Jerry Baker's Good Gardening series)
- Mountain Islands and Desert Seas (The Louise Merrick Natural Environment, No 15)
- Mountains Beyond Mountains: Healing the World: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer
- Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World
- New Moon (Twilight, Book 2)
- Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics and the Production of Entropy: Life, Earth, and Beyond (Understanding Complex Systems)
- Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Create Your Life, Your Relationships, and Your World in Harmony with Your Values (Nonviolent Communication Guides)
- Peasants and Lords in Modern Germany: Recent Studies in Agricultural History
- Photovoltaic Systems Engineering, Second Edition
- Planet Earth: As You've Never Seen It Before
Books Index
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- Eating for Life: Your Guide to Great Health, Fat Loss and Increased Energy!
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Pure Style Outdoors: Accessible Ideas For Making The Most Of Your Outdoor Space
Pure Style Outdoors
Bend-the-Rules Sewing: The Essential Guide to a Whole New Way to Sew
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