Big, Easy Style: Creating Rooms You Love to Live In,New

An enchanting space thats truly unique calls for a sense of humor, whimsy, and an open mind.From a charmed New Orleans childhood to a successful acting career on Broadway and the awardwinning TV show Mad Men to the opening of his popular Big Easy home furnishings boutique, Hazelnut, Bryan Batt has always turned to home design as a creative outlet. To him, the best rooms are unexpected yet refined and, above all, evoke emotion. He doesnt think twice about hanging oversized decorations from a Mardi Gras float in an elegant dining room or bringing home vintage etchings of sconces when he was actually shopping for real ones. He believes that a vibrant orange wall can be a neutral backdrop for an antique writing desk and earthy accessories, and that an artists whimsical birds nest sculpture hung in a lavender entryway couldnt serve as a better welcome into a cozy abode. New Orleans has taught Bryan so much about how to pull together a space thats fearless and colorful with plenty of panache. With the city as his museits strong roots in history, its celebration of tradition, and, of course, the wild festivities of Mardi Grashe believes that designing a fabulous, livable home that truly reflects a dwellers passions need not be intimidating.Big, Easy Style showcases rooms that make Bryan smile, with pages of rich photography featuring the work of many designersand plenty of Crescent City interiorsframed by his own entertaining maxims on color, pattern, collecting, living areas, intimate spaces, and more. Explore rooms hes personally designed and others that inspire him; from an oldworld kitchen imported straight from the heart of France to a luxurious Art Deco media room, these homes are enticing and unique, and through their surprising details, completely inviting.Decorating your home to reflect your personality and taste takes practice and patience and can be a daunting undertaking, but Bryan proposes that we not worry about making mistakes, that any decision we make is better than no decision at all. With Big, Easy Style, learn how to put aside your hesitation and surrender to the wild side of home design for a big statement thats easy to achieve.'Youll love his collection of photographs of beautiful New Orleans rooms layered with his design tips and anecdotes of his own design experiences.'Southern Living'[Big, Easy Style] reads like a hardcopy extension of Batt's personalityelegant, gregarious, funny, showmanlike. The rooms he's chosen to showcase are painstakingly designed, yet, in that enviable way, appear so easily tossed together.' Susan Langenhennig, The Times Picayune'With great passion and a zest for creativity, [Bryan Batt] and Katy Danos offer thoughtful tips on color, collecting, patterns and much more along the way. Kerri McCaffety captures the beauty of each room in her inviting photographs. I love Batt's unique whimsy style. How many of us would think of placing giant decorations from a Mardi Gras float in a lavish dining room? Or how about hanging an ornate crystal chandelier in the kitchen? Or what about painting a Chippendalestyle chair mellow yellow. But they all work!'Jeryl Brunner, Stylist.com'If you've missed Bryan Batt since he left the set of Mad Men in 2009 (he played Salvatore Romano), catch up with him in a decor ode to his hometown: New Orleans. [In Big, Easy Style], we're treated to his vision of making rooms inviting, festive and ultimately setting the foundation for entertaining, which is what this getdown town is all about.'San Francisco Chronicle'The book is full of Batt's tips. It's like spending an afternoon with someone who you'd like to watch decorate a home.' Karen DaltonBeninato, Huffington Post Books