Candice Olson on Design: Inspiration and Ideas for Your Home

by Candice Olson

Book Overview

Candice's fresh, honest approach to design shows readers how to create rooms that are beautiful and functional, perfectly geared to what they love and how they live. With her trademark humor and sense of fun, Candice shares design secrets, smart tips, and practical advice to help readers plan and execute successful room makeovers. 24 dramatic before-and-after room transformations reinvent living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, bedrooms, basements,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0696225840
• ISBN13: 9780696225840
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 9.1" x 9.8"

Customer Reviews

Candice never makes a wrong move!

I really miss seeing her on TV, so her books are the next best thing. She has the amazing ability to transform any room into a blinged-out castle. I have no idea where she creates all her designs, but without doubt, she is the best. As are her fabrics and wallpapers.

My wife loves it!

My wife is a BIG Candice Olson fan and she love decorating. So, this was the perfect gift for her.

Great Follow Up to the Show

My husband and I love the show and believe that Candice is the ONLY designer we would ever hire to decorate our home (if I didn't do it myself). This book is great because it contains the designs that appear on the show and allows us to view them in detail (since it's hard to grasp everything in 30 minutes). The ideal reader for this book is someone who loves Candice, loves the show, and is not looking for hand-holding, step-by-step information. It's for those of us who see something we like and then want to incorporate portions of one (or more) of her designs in our own environment.

It's just... Divine!

As I expected, the book was rather entretaining. Candice Olson takes design to a new, unexpected level. The design ideas have inspired me as a young designer to come up with alternatives to traditional designs. The suggestions and tips included in this book make decorating fun and smart. The way the author addresses each room reminds me of the show "Divine Design". I can't wait to start in my next project after reading this book! My only word of advice is that if you want to create one of these rooms, you'd better prepare your pocket.

How Divine

I am a big Candice Olson fan and she is my Mom's favorite TV designer/decorator. This book DOES feature projects from her TV show, but this was a plus for me. I have TIVO'd and recorded on DVD my favorite shows, but this is a great companion to the show. The advantage of the book it that you can focus in on a detail you might not have noticed on the show. There were actually two redesign projects in the book I have not seen on TV, so that was nice bonus. What I really like about this book is that the before and after pictures were of the same perspective AND the photography/lighting of the rooms was top notch. Even the smaller photos of the before rooms are clear. Even if you've never seen Candice Olson's TV show (Divine Design) you will find this book chock full of great photos, descriptions and her complete layout of each room. If you have never seen her work, when you see the before pictures, then the after pictures your mouth will drop open. It's amazing what she can do. What I like about Candice as a designer is that her designs are totally focused on creating a beautiful design but also incorporating a family's lifestyle into the design. She does not just create "show rooms" she makes the rooms functional for the family. My only quibble, which is the same quibble I have about the TV show is that there are no costs listed. You have NO idea how much these rooms costs! Saying that, I would gladly save my money to have her come and decorate a few rooms in my house! It's too bad for me she lives in Canada and not the U. S. What are my thoughts on this book..."How Divine."

Great Photos! Candice Rocks!

I love this book! It is so great to be able to really study the gorgeous photos for design details you can't always grasp from the show. I can see myself referring to this book to time and time again for inspiration. If I had one wish, it would only be that even the small pictures were full page to really get a good look at everything in the room. Having said this though, there are still a quite a few full page shots to really get a good look at the design. How about some 2 page spreads for the next book? That would be really helpful! (AND beautiful!)