Sarah Style

HGTV star Richardson shows a broad range in this idea book for the armchair designer. The portfolio of style options includes a New York co-op, a millennial’s take on metrosexual, and an Arts and Crafts redux. For each major category of room in a house—entry, living room, dining room, family room, bedroom, kitchen, kids’ bedroom, bathroom, and office—Richardson picks a handful of varied dwellings to feature. Several pages and a dozen or so photographs are devoted to each example, and each photo is accompanied by an extended caption. The crowded but organized photographic spreads eschew any scrapbook frou-frou, getting right to the point while also being chock-full of ideas. Richardson recommends “Get Over the Glider” and adeptly places a stylish high-backed orange upholstered office rocker in a gray, black, white, and blue nursery. Room layout is another one of Richardson’s strengths. She writes: “the long, narrow proportions of a Victorian town house are often best addressed with two distinct seating groupings.” Fortunately, the selected photographs capture just the right views to prove her thesis. While the caption’s headlines can border on ingratiating (for example, “Get Leggy” and “Give It the Slip”) the concepts are all there, on beautiful full-color display. (Nov.)