Sarah Style

October 20, 2014
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.

January 1, 2015

Over the course of multiple television series, including Sarah's House, Design Inc., and Sarah 101, Canadian interior designer and HGTV host Richardson has transformed over 300 rooms. Here she shares more than 80 of those spaces to explain her design aesthetic with the aim of encouraging amateurs to discover their own personal style. More than 400 photographs show light-filled rooms where Richardson has combined a mix of vintage and modern items in every corner of the home, including children's nooks and home offices. VERDICT Richardson's descriptions of how she approached the design for each area and the abundance of color photographs will inspire readers to tackle their own interiors.

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