I was so excited to have a chance to offer one of my lovely readers a copy of Nathan Turner's first book. We also had an opportunity to ask a few questions about Nathan's design methods and inspirations, I hope you enjoy our little interview and a minute to leave a comment for your chance to win!
1. What is your design philosophy?
The most important thing is living well with comfort and style. So all of my designs need to not only look great, but be livable as well.
2. What inspires you and drives your passion for design?
I’m constantly being inspired. There’s inspiration all around us, you just have to be open to it. I derive the most inspiration from travel.
3. What jumpstarts each of your designs (color, fabric, furniture, etc.)?
I can be totally inspired by the architecture of a project & design comes of that. Or I can start with a color, or a single fabric & the whole room gets built around it. It really just depends on the project.
4. What do you hope people take away from reading your book?
I hope it inspires people to decorate, entertain, & have fun with design. To realize that there really aren’t any rules to do things that make you feel good. Hopefully they take away some ideas and inspiration as well.
5. You dedicated this book to the woman in your life, how did they inspire you to seek a career in design?
They inadvertently inspired me to seek a career in design. Both my grandmothers and my mother, although different, embodied the one thing that makes a great hostess, they had great style. They knew how to graciously entertain and make people comfortable. They make people want to come into their home for parties and dinner. I watched that growing up & it was engrained in me. I learned a lot from watching them.
6. Your book is full of helpful tips for living well, what is your best tip for making a space come together completely (that finishing touch)?
The finishing touches are the most important thing. It’s that last layer or two that people often forget or sadly they have depleted their budget. It’s those finishing touches I call the “jewelry” of the project. It’s the lamps, the table top accessories, & pillows…they should be personal and should reflect the person who bought them or who lives in the house. It’s always those little things that make a room.
7. What was the biggest challenge in writing this book?
Time. I have so many different things going on from decorating, television, my store, & product line. The book is very personal so I had to be 100% involved. That’s the only way I wanted to do it. So, the biggest challenge was setting aside a chunk of time aside every week to finish it.
8. What inspired you to write a book, and one centered on casual living and entertaining?
I really wanted to do a book that embodied everything that I do including decorating, food, entertaining. I wanted it to be more lifestyle than a decorator’s monograph. When I met with Abrams they understood that immediately & they were the ones to push me to make it personal & to share my own life experience as well as my work. I’m happy they did, because it literally feels likes a scrapbook of the last ten years of my life.
For a chance to win a copy of Nathan's book please leave a comment below telling us about your inspirations, for an additional chances to win you can tweet (easy to tweet just hit retweet at the bottom of the post), follow us here on the blog or on twitter or blog about our giveaway. The winner will be chosen at random on January 28th, 2013.
Please leave a separate comment for each entry.
