Home Sweet Home: Sumptuous and Bohemian Interiors Hardcover – October 11, 2011

A lovely, oversize book of stunning photography. Mostly interiors, but it does show a few outdoor photos and artsy portraits as well. That was a little disappointing to me personally, because after all I paid $50-something to drool over SUMPTUOUS BOHEMIAN INTERIORS, not strange tinted pictures of naked women. Oh well. A minor complaint, and the reason for my four-star vote instead of five.I have all three of the Michele Lalande books, so I never get tired of looking at really excellent examples of eclectic interior decor. This book does not disappoint on that front. So if you enjoy getting your eye full of other people's houses, or if you like the Lalande books and similar publications, such as Holly Moore's "Domestic Art: Curated Interiors", I think you will really enjoy this one. It's full of inspirational ideas and will help you to hone your own eye for what works. It includes a variety of styles, from the shabby-junky-well-worn that I adore on the cover, to more stark, modernist stuff that personally doesn't do anything for me, although the photos are still quite lovely.P.S. Contrary to the ignorant remarks of another reviewer, this book does NOT actually promote communism {eyeroll}.

I love Bohemian style and couldn't wait to settle in and absorb all this book had to offer. However, I came away a bit disappointed at the lack of any specific ideas I could apply or re-create in my own home....I don't live in a penthouse, italian villa, artist's loft or a foreign country (although I would love to). I will admit though that after re-reading the description I realized I should have known it was more about photography than decorating. The up side is that I immediately grabbed my camera and starting shooting vignettes of my bedroom so I guess I really was inspired after all. Just not the way I expected.

You can easily lose yourself in this exceptionally beautiful book.In the preface photographer Oberto Gili writes, "Every image in this book is the memory of a great experience. The pictures are about seeing, learning, admiring, guessing, enjoying, and digesting. Their significance is not about décor as interior decoration. Nor are they about trendy or untrendy, modern or passé, rich or poor, famous or unknown. Instead, décor serves as an expression of personality, fantasy, personal taste, culture and history. Whether the photographs were taken in the Seventies or today is irrelevant. In my vision, they all belong to the present, and I expect them to be there forever".And indeed, what is most striking is how experiential and alive these images are. They aren't simply to be looked at - they're to be entered into, and they invite you in. As Susanna Salk writes in characterizing this living quality, "...his photographs looked as if the owner had just left a few seconds before the picture was taken". And so we see lounging pets, work in process projects, even intimate apparel or the contents of a pantry, all woven together in ways that are artful and unexpected.This is a collection of Gili's photography of more than forty homes from around the world - an apartment in Milan, a New York loft, a villa in Tangier, even a castle in Rome. Also in its pages is an intimate exploration of the author's own farmhouse and studio in Piedmont. While an enormous stylistic range is in evidence, all are linked in their vibrancy and in their expression of creative lives well lived.Enter and enjoy.

Very interesting places and décor. A new designer to me.

I'm not really enjoying this book. Would not buy again.

I love this book! It truly captures better than any other book the feeling of bohemian homes, from Minimalist Bohemian to Full Blown Bohemian. I plan to feature and recommend this book on my blog as a wonderful resource and inspiration for Bohemian home decor.

Beautiful book but really large....

It seems this is a poor title for such an elegant book! It is superb---so many outstanding photos to study and learn from. Another book for my grandson's interior photography library.

For years I've admired the photographs of Oberto Gili but this book was a disappointment.The photos are brashly coloured, the book was too short for the amount of money paid,and it seems he should get another publisher who would do the photo placement in abetter way.

I found this book very disappointing for the price. I expected to see room pictures and articles like the cover picture. Instead the rooms are mostly somewhat minimalist and extremely boring. I would not describe them as bohemian at all. I didn't find anything other than the cover picture sumptuous. A poor bang for the buck.