Acclaimed architect Gil Schafer illustrates how he blends classical architecture, interior decoration, and landscape to create homes with a feeling of history. As a traditional architect, Gil Schafer specializes in building new "old" houses as well as renovating historic homes. His work takes the best of American historic and classical architecture-its detailed moldings and harmonious proportions-and updates it, retaining its character and detail while simultaneously reworking it to be more in tune with the way we live now-comfortable, practical, family-oriented. In his first book, Schafer covers the three essential cornerstones of creating a great traditional house: architecture, landscape, and decoration. He discusses the important interplay between the interior architecture and the fabrics, furniture, and wall treatments. In-depth profiles build on these essays, including Schafer's own new "old" house in the Hudson Valley; the renovation of a historic home in Nashville designed by Charles Platt in 1915; and the restoration of a magnificent 1843 Greek Revival mansion in Charleston. Filled with hundreds of interior and detail shots, The Great American House is an invaluable resource for anyone who loves old houses and traditional design.

This Southern gentleman's beloved property in bucolic Americus, Georgia, has absorbed him for over six decades. It consists of four intimate dwellings that exemplify various southern architectural traditions - from a mid-nineteenth-century Gothic to a Palladian-inspired cottage - charming gardens, and out buildings. Gatewood shares his personal reflections on how he has created a unique world for himself tailored to his refined sensibility. Captured in thoughtful photographs, his seductive spaces illustrate a relaxed Arcadian style. Gatewood describes the hunt for discovering singular antique and vintage pieces with a poetic patina. He is an expert on custom paint finishes and composing subtle colour palettes, and has an innate talent for incorporating arresting architectural elements. With flair, he has collected art, antique furnishings, and decorative objects, which are artfully displayed in the beautifully appointed dwellings. Gatewood respects the importance of old world craftsmanship and architectural restoration, and takes delight in designing picturesque grounds and plantings, as well as creating comfy areas for his beloved dogs and peacocks. His close friend, Bunny Williams, has contributed a section about the lessons she has learned from this master of discernment.

For 28 years the world-renowned interior designer Bunny Williams has been involved in a passionate love affair with an18th-century New England manor house that she found in sad repair. From the moment she walked up the driveway and her palms began to perspire, Williams knew she wanted the affair to last forever. In her sumptuous new book, An Affair with a House, the venerable decorator describes in detail how she and her husband, antiques dealer John Rosselli, rescued, nurtured, renovated, and decorated the well-worn house, giving it new life as they restored each room, resurrected the abandoned gardens, and filled this weekend home with family and friends. Through photographs, anecdotes, how-tos, and recipes, Williams provides a rare inside look at a top decorator's retreat and explains how she approached the joys, pleasures, challenges, obstacles, and day-to-day realities of creating a beautiful, comfortable country home. An Affair with a House provides a wealth of advice on interior decor and such topics as mixing design styles, but it also addresses such practical matters as stocking the pantry and outfitting the linen closet. Beautiful photographs of the house, the gardens, and the property's rustic structures provide an intimate glimpse of the couple's lifestyle and illustrate a way of life we can all appreciate and learn from. Also available from Bunny Williams: A House by the Sea and Bunny Williams On Garden Style.

In this story-filled monograph, Bunny Williams presents new work through 15 houses she has decorated and loved. She tells the tale of each "affair," tracing the style of the spaces, what drew her to the projects, and her approach to decor that evolves with the lives of her clients. She offers personal secrets for choosing classics-and for decorating with flexible pieces that can play more than one role in a design scheme. Along the way, she offers many amazingly chic, but always comfortable, residences whose interiors she has designed during the latest phase of her astounding career. As Bunny tells it, "The best pieces have the best stories," and in this book, she shows readers a fresh collection of projects that demonstrate just that.