How to create a romantic yet comforable way to live through a style of decorating which assembles objects and ideas, fabrics and furniture, paints and patinas from different periods and in a mixture of tastes.

-This book is the perfect visual guide for anyone ready to explore the beauty and history the hotel has to offer, and a takeaway memento for those who've visited this special place Located in the Straits of Mackinac between Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas, Mackinac Island is a magical place, accessible only by ferry, private boat, or small plane. In 1887, Grand Hotel was built on the island to accommodate a new leisure class. Today, horse-drawn carriages (no motorized vehicles are allowed) still bring guests to the 660-foot-long porch to catch the breezes off the Great Lakes. When the Musser family - the owners of the hotel - brought in designer Carleton Varney, a 40-year relationship began, as did an ongoing mission to renovate, update, and create the guest rooms, public spaces, and outer buildings of Grand Hotel. That project continues today. ("The job of decorating is never done," says the designer.) Varney has developed a vision that brings visitors back year after year to their choice of the 397 rooms - no two of which are alike. In Rooms to Remember, Varney - in his usual colorful and anecdote-filled style - walks the reader through over 200 lavish photographs of the 43 Named Rooms and Suites, providing decorating details, history, and insights. This book is the perfect visual guide for anyone ready to explore the beauty and history the hotel has to offer, and a takeaway memento for those who've visited this special place. Come along and join this glorious tour of an iconic American hotel!

A young software tycoon inherits a coastal Oregon home that is really a physical manifestation of his soul being used by God to heal the man's greatest wounds.

In Home, eighteen of our finest writers evoke different rooms--from their pasts, their present, or simply their imaginations--in order to investigate the ways in which homes contain our lives. The results are touching, provocative, and sometimes hilarious. And since a portion of the editors' proceeds will go to organizations that help the homeless, Home is really where the heart is. Contributors include: Lynda Barry, Richard Bausch, Tony Earley, James Finn Garner, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Allan Gurganus, Colin Harrison, Kathryn Harrison, Gish Jen, Karen Karbo, Alex Kotlowitz, Clint McCown, Susan Power, Esmeralda Santiago, Mona Simpson, Jane Smiley, Sallie Tisdale, and Bailey White. "Unforgettable...These pages are filled with the kind of details that etch a childhood place into the deep recesses of memory, that distinguish the sensual life of one family from another."--Los Angeles Times Book Review

I Remember Me weaves an American tapestry of colorful tales, beginning with the timid musings of a young boy on the verge of becoming a man in the Jewish section of New Yorks Bronx neighborhood, and bringing us up to date with the mature insight of a man whose remarkable trajectory has sent him to the top of Hollywoods elite and sparked the careers of dozens of household-name entertainers. Along the way, Reiner treats his loyal readers to everything from the ordinary to the truly unforgettable: a family trip to a nude beach, French lessons with Mel Brooks, a chapter dedicated to Rinnie the dog who unfortunately mistakes a skunk for a cat, a surprise early-morning visit from the McCarthy era FBI, a heart wrenching story of loss describing the day of his wifes passing, and then in a revealing chapter of Reiners character, he describes the most theatrically triumphant day of his young career. Through his memoir, we meet the man behind the success in roles rarely seen before: son to Romanian immigrant Irving Reiner, husband to fellow Bronx native and renowned singer Estelle Reiner, father to the prolific filmmaker Rob Reiner, Dr. Annie Reiner psychoanalyst & gifted singer, and Lucas Reiner, a globally recognized fine artist. Written with the same combination of playful jest and modest humility that has garnered the love and respect of fans for generations, I Remember Me remembers the creative and inspiring journey of one of the most revered comedic icons of the past hundred years. Carl Reiner is at that wonderful point in life where he knows absolutely everything. Especially, how to tell a wonderful story. I just love being in his world and this book is the Grand Tour. Jerry Seinfeld Great stories from the great Carl Reiner. I liked Chapter 29 the best. Albert Brooks At a time when so much of comedy can be cruel and mean spirited... Carl Reiner is a perfect example of comedy and kindness mixed with just the right amount of biting wit to make for a really satisfying read. Jay Leno Crime and Punishment has always been my favorite book... Until Now! Mel Brooks

A brilliant, ambitious follow–up to The Secret Lives of Buildings, in which Hollis turns his focus from the great architectural constructions of the past to the now–vanished chambers they once contained. The rooms we live in are always more than just four walls. As we decorate these spaces and fill them with objects and friends, they shape our lives and become the backdrop to our sense of self. one day, the structures will be gone, but even then, traces of the stories and the memories they contained will persist. In this dazzling work of imaginative reconstruction, edward Hollis takes us to the sites of great abodes now lost to history and piecing together the fragments that remain, re–creates their vanished chambers. From Rome's palatine to the old palace of Westminster and the petit Trianon at Versailles, from the sets of MGM studios in Hollywood to the pavilions of the Crystal palace and the author's own grandmother's sitting room, The Memory Palace is a glittering treasure trove of luminous forgotten places and the alluring people who lived in them.

Almost everybody who has grown up in Chicago knows about the Thorne Rooms. Housed in the Children’s Galleries of the Chicago Art Institute, they are a collection of 68 exquisitely crafted miniature rooms made in the 1930s by Mrs. James Ward Thorne. Each of the 68 rooms is designed in the style of a different historic period, and every detail is perfect, from the knobs on the doors to the candles in the candlesticks. Some might even say, the rooms are magic. Imagine—what if you discovered a key that allowed you to shrink so that you were small enough to sneak inside and explore the rooms’ secrets? What if you discovered that others had done so before you? And that someone had left something important behind? Fans of Chasing Vermeer, The Doll People, and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler will be swept up in the magic of this exciting art adventure!