70s house A bold homage to the most daring decade in design

This eye-catching debut by interior designer Bilson shows how to spruce up one's home with styles from the 1970s. "The bigger, bolder and brighter, the better," she writes, providing a breakdown of the decade's key aesthetics and exploring the brands and individuals that helped define it. She describes how Heal's Fabrics recruited design student Barbara Brown to create "unusual and instantly recognizable" patterns and how Barbara Hulanicki started the Biba fashion store, known for its "peach glass and marble, leopard print, art deco-inspired fabrics and lights." Detailing how readers can achieve the '70s look, she notes that painting orange and yellow stripes on the walls is an effective "way of injecting colour and pattern into a space" and that covering counters in decorative vinyl offers a cheap option for customizing kitchens. Bilson also encourages readers to lean heavily on shag carpets, tulip chairs, and, of course, lava lamps. The vibrant photos of houses decked out in '70s decor illustrate the striking possibilities, and the detailed advice on using color provides helpful guidance on how to tastefully recreate the bold combinations of the period (she notes that incorporating white offsets bright colors, and that earthy shades of "muted orange" and "avocado" green predominated). This will bring readers back to the era of disco and glam. (Apr.)