Finishing Touches

Published by Conran Octopus

This shows how you can transform your home without major upheaval, by rehanging pictures, using cushions and curtains, plants, lighting and other clever ideas. Finishing Touches is my best selling book. It was in print for nearly a decade but sadly is no longer, in Britain at least. I believe there is still current in the USA. In Britain, Marks & Spencer did their own version of it which was a welcome coup for me. There have also been editions in the USA, Canada, France, and successive paperback editions.

One way to track down copies of books that are out of print is to ask a second-hand book dealer to do a booksearch for you. This doesn’t cost anything but the dealer assumes you will buy the book if they find it for you – unless you’ve found it elsewhere first! I can recommend just such a book dealer – look on my NEWS & VIEWS page for details.

Chapters in Finishing Touches look at:

§         Walls

§         Doors

§         Windows

§         Ceilings

§         Floors

§         Fireplaces and radiators

§         Furnishing fabrics

§         Lighting

§         Occasional furniture

§         Display

§         Flowers and foliage

§         Kitchens

§         Bedrooms

§         Bathrooms

§         Staircases

This spread is in the section on Display. Though few of us are fortunate enough to have leather-bound books as magnificent as these, the idea of massing ranks of books (or any other item of one type in quantity) on shelves designed to accommodate their exact size is one which any of us can use in our homes. Punctuating the regimented rhythm of the book spines with a completely different object is witty and, in this case, elegant. I’ve chosen this image because of its sheer beauty as much as the tips it can give us on organising a display.

The pictures on the right-hand page are also of massed objects, namely baskets and rattan-covered vessels on the left, rustic artefacts and drying herbs on the right.