Interior Design Course: Principles, Practices, And Techniques for the Aspiring Designer Paperback – January 1, 2006

I'm somewhat puzzled by reviews that criticize this book for being too basic, unhelpful, nothing new, etc. The title says it all. As someone who has studied interior design in many formats, I think this is probably better than something you would find in an online lower level college class. So what's wrong with that? That's what the title says it is.I just love how the author breaks so many concepts down to something understandable. Really, so many designers talk "over" their readers' heads or leave important information out. One would be better prepared for any course above basic by reading and understanding the concepts, which are also illustrated. Illustrating a concept is no small task! In a profession which is in a large part, visual, it's difficult to find material with so many straightforward illustrations that, well....illustrate the concept! The photographs are stunning (jeweled colors in some, which I'm a sucker for).This book doesn't promise to help you create anything in particular, it just explains the basics of design, which are necessary to come up with any and all designs. The creativity part is up to you. I think a lot of the design concepts here could be applied to just about anything, not just interior design. I love this book and you will find me today with it in front of me as I read it, absorb it, and get a new take on the design concepts I learned in school.

I needed something to help me review some basics of Interior design. The book has great pictures, easy to read and very informative for only being about 135 pages. Great companion to other design books I have.

I purchased this book to use as a review and refresher. It served my purpose and made me realize how much information I had shelved, forgotten and needed.Nothing replaces the college program but if you think this is what you truly want to do in life or you are interested in doing your home..this will serve your purpose.It gives the essentials you will need and use .. forever.

Great for the basic with fun little projects/assignments to complete. I did this for fun and it really expanded my knowledge!

this book is not about interior design. it is about how to be a professional designer. it takes the skills and concepts needed for design for granted and instead shows you how to build professional models and draw floorplans and present them to clients. not a book for the person who wants to learn the concepts of interior design.

"Principles"-- that's what I was looking for. A few principles to follow in improving my home, not a new career. But not there, folks. Not one principle could I discover. Lot of "practice", tho. Exercises galore for a wannabe designer, but a complete waste of time if you just want to know whether to paint your old bookcase or buy a new one.Don't waste your money unless you really want to spend a thousand hours doing "exercises".

In college, you'd get a class where the professor could make Calculus exciting, fun, and funny. Then you'd get a class where the professor would make Human Sexuality seem banal, technical, and tedious. Well, this "course" makes interior design so excruciatingly boring and tedious it actually turned me off from a career in it, although it was a half-hearted interest, kind of like my interest in lounge singing. If you already have a passion for interior design and know stuff, I guess you could use this book as a technical guide like a writer or poet would use a dictionary, but you certainly wouldn't read it from to back. This book does a good comprehensive technical job, but it still doesn't answer the question I had coming into the book. Where do you put a big vase of flowers in a room? Any interior design book should at least tell you that. What goes with a big painting? How do you hang four small paintings that are all related? Where should you put a couch in a room? All these questions go unanswered. Perhaps I should buy a feng shui book.

For 10-year-old very bright Granddaughter who has expressed interest in Interior decoration/design as possible career choice. She loves item.