History is brought to life in many historic houses, especially at Christmas time, when special decorations help to welcome the social season and visiting guests. In this revised second edition, learn history and local customs through engaging text and over 420 color photos. Costumed guides interpret Christmas traditions in some of the thirty specially decorated houses that are featured from across America. Both magnificent estates and simple residences offer a variety of styles, tastes, and ideas to inspire your own celebrations. See preserved buildings with illuminated gardens, inviting dining halls, and stunning interiors. Enjoy the many efforts on display here that help to make the Christmas season a magical time of sharing, caring, and gratitude.

The beauty of Christmas is displayed through decorated historic homes from around the country. From Virginia to Texas, tour 27 houses and see how history comes alive in a festive way during the holiday season. Learn the traditions of President Lyndon Baines Johnson's family with a trip to "The Texas White House," revisit colonial America with a trip to Colonial Williamsburg, and get decorating tips from professional designers. With more than 300 color images, historic homes ranging from magnificent estates to simple residences offer a variety of styles, tastes, and ideas to inspire your own celebrations. Homemakers, decorators, historians, or anybody who loves the magic of Christmas will appreciate the engaging text and wonderfully decorated interiors.

Glass tile is the hottest trend in today's design tricks bag. Glass tile plays with light, adds liquid sheen and brings any room to life. Glass tiles also add a surprising depth to even the tightest of spaces, creating a sense of openness, as little else can. Over 290 beautiful color photos celebrate the variety of color, shape, and texture emerging in response to a clamor of demand and show the many colors from which to choose, including metallic, red, pink, blue, green, good-earth, and cool neutral tones. A wide variety of tile patterns, finishes, textures, sizes, and shapes are available. See the latest tiles from leading design and manufacturing firms, including Orsoni Smalti Venezianna, Sicis, Adagio Art Glass, Ann Sacks, Dolce Glass Tile, Mixed-Up-Mosaics, and Ultraglas Tile, to name just a few. This book is a fantastic reference for architects, designers and homeowners.

Enjoy this historical approach to festive Christmas decorating. Taking inspiration from the wonderful decorations of fruits and greens at Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, and other historic house museums across the nation, this book provides essential details for creating colorful decorations of your own for exteriors, entryways, consoles, mantels, bedrooms, dining rooms, and the kitchen. Beautiful color photos give inspiration for authentic decorative arrangements made with fresh, dried, and preserved fruits and greenery. Instructions for drying your own fruit are included, as are sources and tips for buying and caring for your faux botanicals. This book is a fabulous keepsake for those who love Christmas and the elegant historical decorations of the past.

What would Christmas be without lights, color, greenery, and glitter? Join leading professional designers on a tour of well-appointed private residences dressed in their festive best. The one-of-a-kind decorating schemes are a study in the art of using scale, shape, and color to play up the house's best features and create a look that's pulled together. Here are fresh design ideas for indoor and outdoor scenes, whether it's a glamorous staircase, pristine tree, perfectly wrapped piles of presents, or a simple, well-placed evergreen wreath. Representing a range of geographic locations and decorating philosophies, the designers share their tips, tricks, and traditions for celebrating the season in style, and in every room of the house.

Want to be your own decorator? Design on a dime with Dummies! Home Decorating For Dummies packs all the information you need to know about décor into one easy-to-read source. Whether you want to decorate one room or make over the whole house, this book has everything you need to design like a pro. This is the only reference you'll need to transform your home into a space you'll love. Dummies offers no-nonsense help, so you can plan perfect projects and stay within budget. Updated with the latest on smart homes, short-term rentals, DIY décor, and more. Learn how to optimize your home's floor plan Discover tricks for mixing patterns, colors, and textures successfully Refresh your home's style without spending a fortune Decorate rental properties with eye-catching, trendy style Untangle the terms--mid-century modern, farmhouse, minimalism--and pinpoint your design style For those seeking ideas, resources, and budget-wise tips to spark their decorating creativity, Home Decorating For Dummies is a must-have.

Stunningly beautiful, high performance glass tiles are increasingly popular for walls, countertops, and floor coverings in kitchens and baths. As seen in the 205 beautiful color photos, a wide variety of forms and colors are available, produced by many skilled glass artists. Tiles are displayed both close up to reveal their individual beauty and installed to show ways in which these versitile tiles can be used. The engaging text provides details of tile colors, textures, finishes, patterns, sizes, shapes, and styles, providing the reader with many ideas for interior decoration. Quickly discover that bathroom tile is not just for the shower! Whether you fancy a kitchen in the Modern, Traditional, Art Deco, Contemporary, Lodge, or American Country style, glass tiles are readily available to suite your taste! Everyone from do-it-yourselfers to professional designers will find this book inspirational.

People who rescue dogs have a great deal of compassion and enough love to last through what is often a trying adjustment period. But adoptive owners say the bond they feel with their grateful pets makes it all worthwhile. Heartwarming color photos of 15 adopted dogs interacting with their humans celebrate the joy that comes from a fortuitous match. The photos are accompanied by the stories of the owners, many of whom selected their pets long-distance and met them at the airport. For adoptive families or those considering adoption, the book includes insights on how to make a good match and tips for a smooth adjustment after bringing a dog home. This soulful tribute to abandoned dogs of all ages, breeds, and temperaments, and the people who gave them a second chance, will appeal to animal lovers everywhere.

Here is Christmas decorating, history, architecture, and interior design wrapped in one sparkling package. More than 300 gorgeous images provide a leisurely look at historic house interiors magically decorated for Christmas. Begin with the foreword by Christopher Radko, famed re-creator of vintage Christmas ornaments. Tour historic holiday homes from Filoli to Colonial Williamsburg and look inside San Antonio's most beautiful housethe Spanish Governor's Palace. Nearby in Midland, Texas, is the ranch-style childhood home of the Bushestwo future US presidents, a first lady, and two state governors. There is something for everyone, from the modest dwelling of Canadian WW I flying ace Billy Bishop, to the "castle" of Edsel Ford of Ford Motors fame, and decorating styles from contemporary to period correct.

Nothing sparkles like downtown San Antonio at Christmastime. Dazzling color photographs take readers on a magic carpet ride to this multicultural city's most-visited events and attractions, extravagantly and romantically decorated for the winter holidays. See popular destinations such as Six Flags Texas Fiesta-a vast amusement park-Spanish colonial missions, fine restaurants, historic hotels, house museums on King William Street, and the San Antonio Zoo, which becomes a fairyland at night. Photos are accompanied by brief histories of the sites. An insider's take on the town's merrymaking, the book will be a treasured take-home souvenir for tourists and a striking coffee-table book for locals.