Perfect English

After months, years, decades, MILLENIA of general disappointment with books featuring traditional decor -- we have a WINNAH! Abundant with gorgeous piccies of charming rooms filled with the romantic clutter of life, I drooled over most every photograph as if it were a rasher of crisply fried bacon. But the STAR photograph (it's also on the cover of the book & not the same as the cover featured on Amazon) has to be this ancient monster of a wing chair, large enough for two and upholstered in a faded yellow floral, a deteriorating green velvet & a beige linen. And scrunched together on the seat of this throne are 2 gigantic yellow silk pillows in which one can sink in a billow of joy. Blimey, you don't see chairs like this on Architectural Digest! I really must salute the photographer Chris Tubbs who imbued every image with the glorious shabby Englishness that many of us miss in today's contemporary interiors. This book makes we want to sell my Spanish Colonial & move to a tumble-down English rectory. I must also commend Ros Byam Shaw's well-written & superbly descriptive text, as contributing much to my pleasure.So I say HUZZAHHH! 5 stars & a Cornish pasty!

As an avid Anglophile and future builder of my own English cottage, I'm always on the lookout for books on English architecture and decorating! I got this book today and I have to say of all my books (and there are plenty!) this is THE BEST ONE YET! Instead of a book with one or two really good pictures - this one is chock full of really excellent photos (interior and exterior, but mostly interior) and great ideas for those little English touches as well! Many times these types of books are full of pictures of very dated looking interiors but not this one! This is definitely my favorite book so far and I heartily (can you tell? :o) ) recommend it to fellow Anglophiles! You won't be disappointed! Well done to the author and photographer of this book!

What a delightful book. Well writen and a keeper. I love this look of worn, well used and love. I like the idea of using up and making do and not adding to the landfills. This book shows that the English enjoy things from the past and do not throw them away for the newest plastic items from China that are mass produced in resin! Thank you for this book Ros Shaw!

A fun book full of eye candy, but not quite what I expected. Thought I was purchasing a book more along the lines of the New Rural style of home design (judging by the cover's image). Not really a book for practical inspiration, but certainly one worth sitting down with while sipping hot cocoa. Actually has quite a wide range of examples of English farmhouses.

I have Perfect English, Perfect English Cottage, and now Perfect English Farmhouse, each and everyone has been for me wonderful, big books, beautiful pictures, and no repeat in any three books, if you like the lived in look of English, the cozy,comfy but also classy look I don't think you would be disappointed in any three of these books I have mentioned, at this point I feel I can trust this woman to deliver what she says. Hope it stays that way.

My daughter gave me this book for Christmas and I just love looking at the photos. I'm taking a trip to Cornwall in a few months and these photos just make the anticipation bearable.

I have to agree with the negative reviews of this book. Some of its photos do encapsulate English traditional style, but some are just boring, and others contain little or nothing identifiably English. The home exterior shots are very poor. And to showcase a chair with a badly torn seat cushion on the cover is excessive; an insult to the English shabby elegance I love.

This book takes a couple hours to look through if you move quickly looking at the pictures and barely reading the captions there are so many! Actually there are several houses, all with a story from the owners, some dating back to 1400's with several remodels over the years. There are different styles, something for everyone from the antique collector to the organic without a lot of clutter and a whole lot in between. Fun book and helpful if you are like me and getting ready to build a farm/ranch house with artistic look. I bought it used and feel it wasa good value at about half new price plus shipping.

Me gusta la decoración de especialmente las casas rurales inglesas, por eso me ha gustado este libro.

My favourite! Such a good inspiration book.

Un libro fotografico corredato da bei testi, splendido, da leggere o da sfogliare, da cui trarre spunti, ottima fattura, bellissimo.

海外の発送だったので、到着までに時間がかかるかと思いましたが、早く到着し良かったです。

This is a fantastic book, I leant my first copy to a friend who didn't give it back, but I really missed it and had to buy another copy! There is nothing like it and it's sister book, perfect english cottages. I help run the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings Gloucestershire branch so that's why I call old and beautiful things spabby. This is the perfect book for creating spabby style, that is using things that generally aren't mass produced, that value beauty and associations rather than condition and a style that actually creates comfort and rooms that people can relax in and feel comfortable in. This book is about houses to live in, houses where you can kick your shoes off and cosy up to the fire. There are too many books about boutique & minimal style, this is a book for real people and real families to live in. I only hope Ros is working on other books in this style - they're fab!