Eclectic Country

Product Description

In this memoir/design book, Emmerling takes her readers sleuthing and partying at Round Top antiques fair; reminisces on her days at Mademoiselle, House Beautiful and other top magazines; shares oodles of her favorite things; and shares personal, fresh country decorating in her own home and those of a few close friends.
MARY EMMERLING is an iconic innovator of American Country style. She has authored 30 previous books, including Art of the Cross, Turquoise, Skull, Heart, and Buckle and most recently The American Flag: Art, Design, Fashion. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.
REED DAVIS is an editorial and commercial photographer living in Los Angeles and New York.

About the Author

One of the best-known names in American decorating, Mary Emmerling is the author of twenty books, many of them part of her American Country series. She is creative director of Country Home magazine and host of the Country at Home series on HGTV as well as a designer and collector. She lives in Des Moines, Iowa; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Phoenix, Arizona.

Reed Davis lives in Los Angeles.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

When I was starting out, the classic Country look was popular again, thanks to the Bicentennial, but it sorely needed an update. Being in the magazine business, I always knew where country was going and always had an opinion about where it should go. In August of 1978, House and Garden ran a story about my take on country, called “A New High: Country Cottage 10 Floors Up.” My name was forever linked with that wonderful word.
As I look back, it’s a happy blur of eclectic collections and details that warm my heart: striped fabrics, framed American flags, folk art, leopard touches, blue-and-white china, wooden watermelons, watering cans, dried flowers, straw hats, baseball hats, redware, glass kerosene lanterns, chandeliers, English antiques, pumpkins, dried wildflowers, topiaries, linens, shells, bird’s nests, sea grass, rag rugs, ladder-back chairs, farm tables, antique rattan, white upholstery, hooked rugs, glass bottles, country blankets, homespun, quilt pillows,gingham, bandanas, barrels of red geraniums, local paintings of lighthouses or beach scenes, and candles―there can never, ever be too many candles.
When I was a little girl, I never could have dreamed of having such a long and crazy career. It’s truly been a joy to meet so many wonderful people and help shape a style that I love so much. From New England Country to Beach Country to Cottage Country Style and Country Modern, it always needs a little something new, but it never seems to get old. Decorating is a way of telling a story. Never stop telling yours. I know I won’t.