World Hotels - Safari Style

Designers will appreciate the clear arrangement and large scope of design possibilities. You will see everything from salvaged heavy teak wood platform beds with misquote netting, baskets and carved masks in very rustic bedroom settings, to contemporary eclectic dining rooms with ever so slight touches of favorite and hard to find African objects strewn within more modern houses. Part of what makes this such a fantastic book is that the �look� you wish you could achieve in your own home are possible; Classical, Stylish, Simple, Eclectic, Exotic, Masculine or Feminine, Rustic, etc. For example - a photo of a patio with a raw timber pergola covered with fucia bougainvillea and a casual wood four person dining area replete with plants, chaise lounge and ethnic lanterns could easily fit into a Southwestern home. Another example of the diversity of style in the ideas found in this book is the Modern Romantic open loft room. Here is where a tanned leather couches gently separate the space between the living and dining areas. Additionally, the Modern Romantic has silver columns with only a little mudcloth wrapped around the bottom, raw wood tables and lighting treatments, bamboo blinds and a large abstract oil on canvas taking up an entire wall in the dining area. This second example could be found in a Manhattan apartment or a swank L.A. house with only subtle nuances to a mixed African style.

A plethora of native craft objects such as, paintings, carvings, textiles, spears, shields, shells, bowls, and pottery, which make their appearance throughout. I would also like to site that more architectural elements like treatments for roofs, ceilings, walls and floors, balconies, chimneys, sinks and showers, windows, doors, corridors and more are all part of what makes these places so enticing. Natural elements are key � stone and wood, rough woven textiles, baskets, mats, and so on. If you like more eco-friendly living (such as the books Earth to Spirit, or the New Natural House Book both by David Pearson), you must at least look at this Safari Style for reference material. Indian, Asian and Coastal / subtropical blends on the African tradition are perfectly woven into the concept of creating foreign spaces yet comfortably beautiful living arrangements.

Indeed this book makes no argument that it borrows from the land and native cultures. Black and white photos from the 1920�s accompany historical text exploring the British colonization of south and eastern regions of Africa. Very fortunately, I counted less than ten photos, which depict hunting trophies, animal skins or taxidermy, which I had previously associated with a safari style. I find this refreshing! Don�t be mistaken that Tin Beddow�s book departs from more than an exploration of sites into adventures. Not a single image shown within depicts humans, native or non-native, beyond the introduction. Safari Style does not whatsoever portray, with even the remotest sense of accuracy, how any native African peoples live, their homes or villages. Then again, this subject is hardly broached.

It is easy to promote this book to the both the novice interior designers and design student, professional interior design firms, architects and possibly contractors, the curious eclectic artist, hermits and meditative spirits, romantics and in general, to travel lifestyle enthusiasts. (Stay away Ralph Laurent platinum card waving wannabes and homogenized Martha Stewart rip-off artists, or you�ll ruin a good thing.)