Carter’s Way: A No-Nonsense Method for Designing Your Own Super Stylish Home is an interior design book based on Carter Oosterhouse’s HGTV program. Sadly I’ve never seen his show. But I have read this book. Switching between images of well decorated rooms and Carter pretending to cut boards, at first worried me. Employing a ghost writer furthered suspicion. And suggesting his method leads to “super stylish” homes didn’t help either. Yet buried within these pages are loads of practical advice that may help homeowners take charge of their interior design projects.
The Good: Photos and practical discussions of projects are sprinkled throughout the pages. Accompanying kernels of wisdom, sometimes labeled “Carter’s Laws”, explain commonly accepted design rules. Generally, dimensions and standards provided are consistent with industry norms. If you like reading about interior design, the ghost writer isn’t bad and the images are pleasing.
The Almost Good: Some of Carter’s Laws, while commonly accepted, seem myopic. For instance, one law states that lamp shades should be 2/3 the height of the base. I’m not an interior designer, but should this really be a rule? A quick Google search, in fact, revealed this advice is commonly recommended by designers and lamp suppliers. Although the math varies somewhat between sources, apparently this rule provides a proportion keeping lamps from looking top-heavy.
Researching another of Carter’s Laws called, “Decorate Oddly” revealed that placing an odd number of items together is widely considered pleasing. Being a math geek, I realized this rule only holds true with groupings of 5 or less, above that number humans have trouble distinguishing. Many exceptions proving the rule can be found. But as an architect I generally agree with this approach. I usually defer to 3 instead of 2 or 4 when laying out windows, gables, etc.
The Bad: Staged scenes of Carter with a spotless chop saw or in a model’s pose (yes, just like on the cover) are sprinkled throughout the book. Maybe this strategy reinforces the author’s presence. But I found it distracting.
The Bottom Line: This book is a reasonable read for anyone dreaming of redecorating who needs basic practical help. Don’t expect radical or unique ideas. Instead, the reader will find practical and useful advice, including tried and true design rules.
Full Citation: Oosterhouse, Carter (With Peterson, Chris)
Carter’s Way: A No-Nonsense Method for Designing Your Own Super Stylish Home.
Guilford CT: Lyons Press, 2013. Paperback
194 pages, 8.5″ x 11″ size, several interior decorating oriented photos. Too many photos of Carter.
Carter's Way: A No-Nonsense Method for Designing Your Own Super Stylish Home.
Pros
- Basic Practical Advice
- Well Written
- Supporting Images
Cons
- Carter's Many Poses
- Spotless Saw