Design Rules Winner

As all the design tips and comments, including the last, which was obviously born of a scarring design experience, seemed worthy of winning the book giveaway, I decided it would be fairest to randomly pick one winner.


Using an olive green card (great color for Fall) and a humble biro (groundbreaking design), I enlisted the help of The Guy to draw one name from the pile.


The winner of the Elaine Griffin's manual to successful stress-free decorating Design Rules: The Insider's Guide to Becoming Your Own Decorator is... drum roll, please...


Napoleon Woman. Congratulations! Email me at modernemama at modernemama dot com and I'll pass your details to the publishers Gotham Books/Avery | Penguin Group USA. And thanks to all who took part.

Book review: Design Rules with Bonus Giveaway

Challenged by scale? Always choosing paint colors that are too dark or too wishy-washy? Wonder why the chair that looked perfect in the store looks like children's furniture in your living room? Designer Elaine Griffin knows the theory and has tons of practical experience that she shares in her new handbook Design Rules: The Insider's Guide to Becoming Your Own Decorator. This easy to understand manual will become your go-to source for avoiding costly mistakes or wasting hours of your time. Elaine has you covered; she lets you in on the secrets of design professionals so you can redo every room in your house and get it right FIRST time.


Elaine is contributing editor of Elle Décor, she designed for Good Works Makeovers at Oprah’s O at Home magazine and is ranked as one of House Beautiful’s Top 100 American Designers. Her own style is warm and comfortable. On a more personal note her chic, intimate wedding earlier this year was featured in the style section of the New York Times. A Georgia peach who has her own design business in New York, Elaine retains a friendly, folksy, Southern voice in her writing - think Paula Deen with a tape measure and a roll of swatches. We quickly learn that it's all about proportion - and Elaine spells it out in feet and inches. Design Rules comprises chapters on every room in your house, including the basement, each full of notes, helpful tips and rules of thumb. My favorite tip: always take the lamp with you when you go to buy a new shade. As Elaine says "sugar, there are no exceptions to this rule" - that's a lesson I had to learn the hard way! My second favorite tip is one that I'll use very soon: a wall-mounted flat screen TV means you cannot change the layout of your bedroom, so go with a stand-mounted model on a dresser. If, like me, you change the layout of your room every season, you'll be glad you paid attention here!

And so to the bonus: The Cool House's very first giveaway. One lucky interweb reader will win a copy of Design Rules, courtesy of Gotham Books/Avery & Penguin Group USA. Just leave a comment detailing the most important thing you've learnt about design and the one that resonates the most will get their own copy of Design Rules: The Insider's Guide to Becoming Your Own Decorator. That's it... Go!

*Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Legal disclosure stuff: Gotham Books/Avery & Penguin Group USA asked me to review the book, I did it of my own free will and was not seduced into giving a favorable critique either by the copy they sent me or the knowledge that one of my blog visitors would be the lucky recipient of another copy. I have received neither bucket-loads of cash nor the promise of a lavish trip for my book review.