Foreword by Debra Shriver.
Experience the joy of décor and design, restoration and rebirth, color and comfort—all in the enchanting locale of Louisiana. A New Orleans-based interior designer, Valorie Hart expertly leads a private tour of the most fashionable homes in the state. Sara Essex Bradley's photographs document the personality of Louisiana’s homes, from the formal Greek revival house to the warm Creole cottage, the pre-Civil war beauty to the kitschy '50s-style ranch, the grand Victorian to the modern urban loft. This is not simply a design inspiration book, but rather a thoughtful compilation of homeowners' personal stories of restoring and redesigning their dream houses—the stories of the "house-proud." In addition to Debra Shriver's forward, Hart gives her creative expertise on re-purposing furniture, displaying art collections, creating extra rooms, and rethinking storage. Hart presents us with today's Louisiana homes: the feel of southern hospitality married with a look of contemporary chic.
About the Authors:
Valorie Hart is an experienced interior designer and decorator and writes for the popular design blog "The Visual Vamp." Hart's writings have also appeared in New Orleans Homes & Lifestyles, GO NOLA, and House of Fifty Ideas for Inspired Living. She considers herself a "New New"—a New Yorker transplanted in New Orleans—and lives in a restored antique shotgun house in New Orleans' Irish Channel neighborhood with her husband, Alberto.
Debra Shriver is a twelfth-generation Southerner, admitted Francophile, and devotee of jazz music. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, she and her journalist husband bought and lovingly restored an 1830s Greek Revival home in the city's historic Vieux Carre neighborhood, and chronicled her incredible story in Stealing Magnolias: Tales From a New Orleans Courtyard (Glitterati 2010). She is a media executive at Hearst Corporation and sits on the boards of the New Orleans Museum of Art, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, and the Apollo Theater Foundation in Harlem. Shriver is a self-professed "New-New," dividing her time between New York and New Orleans.
ISBN: 978-0-9881745-3-5
192 pages; 9 x 11"; hardcover; 150 4/c photos
