Exterior Details: An Inspirational and Practical Guide to Transforming the Outside of Your Home

The latest offering by Innes ( Paint Magic ) takes us out of the house to consider the details that inspire architectural designers. But for readers who appreciate and have come to expect hard-nosed practical info from Innes, disappointment may be in store. For hers is an idea book, filled to the brim with 350 well-chosen color photographs complementing essays on history and style. Some general advice can be found, but realistic recommendations are in short supply. And for the most part, the text is a travelogue through the range of English taste, still the most important influence on American design. Even international examples (from the U.S., Italy and Africa) demonstrate a particular way of looking and choosing that is very English indeed. This restricted vision serves us well in its sense of restraint and fondness for eccentricity, but does not present the modern style in a sympathetic light. Indulging in such curious insularity, Innes illustrates the ``ultimate front door''--found in profusion in the Netherlands--with the ``not-so-perfect door'' at Number 10 Downing Street! However, we are treated with a goodly number of splendid front doors from Mombasa to Suffolk. This book won't help you transform your home in a weekend, as claimed, but despite that is well worth the looking and reading. (Apr.)