Nell Hill's Decorating Secrets: Easy and Inspiring Ways to Bring Style Into Your Home

Garrity's Atchinson, Kansas, home furnishings and accessories store gives this book its title, and its aesthetic--which also draws on G. Diebolt's (Garrity's fabrics store) and Garrity's (furniture and antiques). The three stores sell $4 million worth of goods every year, and it's easy to see why: Garrity has found a gentle and pleasing way of infusing 18th-century Americana into Martha Stewart-like simple-fussiness, producing more conservative and more blocky rooms that nevertheless feel grounded and harmonized, like Restoration Hardware a la Ben Franklin. (There's some irony to this, since Kansas was not even a twinkle in the 13th-colony Franklin's eye.) The book is divided into space-and-arrangement-based chapters (""The Garden Room""; ""A Gracious Setting"") where Garrity gives forthright opinions on how to actualize one's design ideas without relying on rules (""I have a soft spot for pretty table lamps and chandeliers""). Two-page spreads focus on individual elements: centerpieces, napkins, pillows, bedside tables, ""a lady's desk"" and much more. The book's more than 100 gracious color photos are of friends' interiors, decorated with Garrity's goods but arranged to suit their own needs.