The Family at Home: Love. Life. Style.

Description from Amazon

The Family at Home: Love. Life. Style. Hardcover – October 30, 2007

Anita Kaushal (Author)

Children and style rarely seem to share space; creating a home that reflects our chic sensibilities and kids’ yen for freedom has been baffling. Until now.

In The Family at Home, Anita Kaushal, decorator, designer, and mother of two, brings us into smartly designed and decorated spaces that function as seamlessly for stylish grown-ups as they do for the unpredictable melee of family life. After all, no matter how inviting your children’s bedrooms, your kids will want to drag their favorite toys beyond it. Now you can feel relief knowing that when the time comes, their things can be put away and the room can once again be transformed into your place.

Kaushal, herself one of seven children, embraces the modern concept that children are a natural part of our lives, neither inconvenient beings nor precious centers of the universe, and so The Family at Home, focuses on the needs of both parent and child. For example, a library trolley adds whimsy to a volume-lined living room and displays books within a child’s grasp; oversized pillows that look tidy both on the floor and on a couch make for inviting family time and easy cleanup; cubbyholes that double as a secret reading space and room divider create a shared bedroom; and axe-hewn teak benches contrast warmly with the surfaces of a sleek kitchen. The unique spaces in this book have the hallmark of a home anyone would want to return to: they are livable, flexible, and, above all, brimming with individual style.

The book’s four chapters echo the rhythms of family life and consider how each space lends itself to dual use, depending on whether children are present:

• Live shows how to adapt living areas to the needs of children and adults.
• Share offers ideas for making the kitchen and dining areas flow impeccably for cooking, eating, and celebrating with family and friends.
• Nest is devoted to making bedrooms and bathrooms calm retreats.
• Bare focuses on light and air, gardening, nature, and caring for the planet

The Family at Home is richly illustrated with 300 beautiful color photographs of domestic places inhabited by everyday people. Stunning and practical, it is replete with storage and display solutions, lighting suggestions, techniques for incorporating built-in furniture, an indispensable resource section, and much more. No other book abounds with ideas and insights to be adapted or merely appreciated as you create your ideal home.