Mark Hampton on Decorating

by Mark Hampton

251pp.

Genres: Design, Interior Design, Nonfiction, Architecture

Hardcover

First published September 2, 1989

Reviews

[Joey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure which designer said that this was a “go to” book for him on decorating. Hampton writes sumptuously but alas I found it poorly supported. Describing an elaborate room or window dressing is lovely for a Jane Austen novel, but if you’re trying to instruct others on what something should look like, a picture would be helpful. Hampton does provide some of his own sketches but these really aren’t enough. I enjoyed the book as a record for gorgeous taste and beautiful living but as a decorating guide- not so much.

[quoms · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly fantastic little volume. This is mostly from the pages of House & Garden, and is an absolute breeze to read - there's much to be said for the way in which writing a regular column can hone one's prose - but is happily light on columnist's platitudes, and full instead of sharp insights from a great decorator and critic of interior design. The greenest of amateurs will lack the context to make sense of much of it, and the most seasoned professional may have all of these tricks in their bag already, but there is something for anyone who finds themself in the great space between those two poles.

Other than the loose thematic organisation, this is not a particularly structured text, and the morsels of wisdom appear in an offhand manner, sometimes tossed away, so that the reader must reach out and catch them. This is going to be the first physical book in a few years that I go back over with a highlighter, out of necessity to make it useful for future reference. But of course this speaks to the fact that I actually plan to refer to it.