Zona Home: Essential Designs for Living

For those who find Martha Stewart a bit too flinty and dogmatic, Sagar, owner of what he modestly refers to as the ""ideal Soho store"" in Manhattan (there are also Zona outposts in Aspen, Colo., East Hampton, N.Y., Florence and Tokyo) offers an alternative with a New Age spin. Such sections as ""Learning to See"" and ""Creating the Space"" contain brief chapters, illustrated with 240 rich, moodily atmospheric photographs, in which Sagar instructs the reader how to ""activate"" the ideal home, defined as one that is ""in balance."" He advises homeowners to develop a ""mission statement"" that includes budgetary constraints as well as functional and aesthetic goals, to ""look at an object and feel its energy"" all the while keeping in mind the importance of connecting to the ""textural and elemental"" in nature. He discusses collectibles, placement of objects and is not above pronouncements of his own: ""Never leave newspapers and magazines around, and always find a special hiding place for personal mail."" Some readers may note that many of the practical tips seem aimed at the truly dense or naive (""double check that your [dining room] table will fit not just in the space but through the front doors and up any stairs""), and that the final section on traveling and antiquing seems tacked on, as though included to add some heft to the volume. Yet, the total package remains highly seductive, its assured text and lush photographs subtly retailing dreams of perfectly designed domestic bliss. 30,000 first printing; $50,000 ad/promo; author tour. (Oct.)