Excerpt: "With this book Kevin McCloud has taken the hard work out of home decorating by researching, selecting and combining over 700 colors into more than 60 tried-and-tested palettes that will transform your home...McCloud is a writer and broadcaster and one of the world's foremost authorities on domestic architecture and design."

VP comments: I never considered painting a room in my home orange until I opened Kevin McCloud's Choosing Colors. This book will compell you out of your comfort zone and into the realm of interior decorating. Despite its Table of Contents' literary lilt (the red and green story: part I, racing green; gilt-edged, blue-blooded)--this reference is hard core color.

Decorative Style: The most original and comprehensive sourcebook
of styles, treatment, techniques and materials--by Kevin McCloud

Excerpt: "Since every room is different, each has its own starting point for decorating ideas. The quality of light varies from room to room, for reasons like the ceiling height and the number of windows. Some rooms may contain furnishings that you cannot fit anywhere else. All these limiting factors are in fact departure points for creating a scheme."

VP comments: Chances are, if you are reading this, you are preparing to choose colors for your existing home's interior, not a custom-built home that stands empty and waiting for you. We enthuse about author Kevin McCloud's willingness to recognize and integrate into his interior design teachings, the fact that you face challenges defined by fixed constraints. Athough it might not appear so, those in the know realize that often stunning colors evolve purely of necessity. In this book, while the fundamentals are never ignored, the regional and period styles are glamorously photographed and thoroughly indexed. Chapters on materials include: "Pigments & homemade paints," "Brand name paints," "Varnishes and glazes," "Pastes and powders."

Interior Color by Design: A Tool for Homeowners, Designers and Architects --by Jonathan Poore (Author), Eric Roth (Photographer)

VP comments: A textbook-like guide to color theory. We selected this book for its chapters on "Monotone Schemes" and "Monochromatic Schemes," both unusual inclusions.

Natural Palettes for Painted Rooms--by Donald Kaufman, Taffy Dahl, Laurel Graeber, Tina Freeman

Excerpt: "Donald Kaufman termed 'America's Master Colorist' by Connoisser and his co-author and partner, Tammy Dahl, believe that rooms we live in can be colored to produce the same enriching atmosphere we experience in nature."