Charlotte Moss Decorates

Years ago, I read Charlotte Moss' Design Inspirations, Vol. 1, a terrific book which detailed four show house rooms created by the illustrious designer. The only problem was that after reading it, I wanted more. After all, Charlotte Moss' show house rooms are some of my very favorites. Her rooms at past Kips Bay show houses are legendary. Fortunately, Charlotte has a new book out, Charlotte Moss Decorates: The Art of Creating Elegant and Inspired Rooms, which features more of her show house designs as well as a few other projects. As I had hoped, this book is chock full of inspiration.

One of the things that I so enjoy about Charlotte's work is her attention to detail as well as her skill at layering, both of which are very much evident in this book. Each chapter focuses on a different room and the story behind that room. These stories are told through the book's engaging text (Mitchell Owens worked with Charlotte on the text; talk about the dynamic duo!), photographs, and scrapbook collages that Charlotte created for each project. Charlotte's collages include all kinds of inspirational material such as photos, drawings, quotations, even snippets of textiles. They give the reader such insight into Charlotte's creative and educated way of approaching design. And finally, each chapter ends with a recap of lessons learned from each room, but they're presented to the reader like a Diana Vreeland "Why Don't You" column. How fun is that?!

So, Why Don't You...check out this new book. I think you'll be as charmed with it as I was.

A scrapbook collage that tells the story of a sitting room that Charlotte designed for the 2009 Kips Bay Decorator Show House. This space was imagined for a husband and wife who were well-read and well-traveled.

The vestibule off of the sitting room at the 2009 Kips Bay Decorator Show House. Charlotte curtained this space in a magenta Michael Devine fabric. Note too the Van Day Truex drawings.

A room at the 2005 Southampton Designer Show House. The color scheme here consisted of Creamsicle colors. I think that I may have also been drawn to this room because of the dog bed in the corner. Adorable.

Two detail photos of Charlotte's 2006 Kips Bay Show House bedroom. The second photo is a perfect example of Charlotte's eye for gracious details.

All images © CHARLOTTE MOSS DECORATES, Rizzoli New York, 2011. Cover image and photographs #3, #5, and #6 by Pieter Estersohn; collage photo by Charlotte Moss; image #4 by photographer Eric Striffler.