Laura Ashley – Book of home decorating (1982)

Written by Elizabeth Dickson and Margaret Colvin, with a foreword by Laura Ashley herself, this is a comprehensive guide to interior design built around the coordinating fabrics, wallpapers, and furnishings that made the Laura Ashley brand a household name. It covers the full range of home decorating, from choosing colour schemes and window treatments to step-by-step instructions for making your own accessories, and leans heavily on the country-house aesthetic the brand was known for: Victorian florals, natural fabrics, quilts, patchwork and appliqué, all photographed in real, lived-in interiors of the early 1980s.

Each room and idea is illustrated with lavish photography and clearly explained, offering practical options across a range of budgets rather than just aspirational imagery. It sits alongside two companion volumes from the same era, “Laura Ashley at Home” and the “Laura Ashley Guide to Country Decorating,” and remains a well-loved time capsule of early-80s English country style for anyone decorating with an eye for understated, romantic good taste.

Harmony Books, New York City, 1982. Hardcover with dustcover, 160 pages. ISBN: 0517546108

First edition. Condition: Very good, a couple little scratches on dustcover, the rest is like new.