Paredes y Techos

Victoria Moran

Shelter for the Spirit: Create Your Own Haven in a Hectic World

Even though Americans spend thousands on furniture, appliances and interior decoration, many of our homes have become little more than drop-off zones where we collapse after work, glued to the TV while gulping down a microwave dinner. The home can be so much more than that, says Victoria Moran. It can be a haven in which people can revitalize mind, body and soul. That's what Shelter for the Spirit is all about. Merging Eastern and Western spiritual traditions with a sensitivity to the demands of modern life, it provides people with usable directions for bringing a sense of peace and renewal to their homes. Whether addressing how to get rid of clutter, decorate in a way that respects your personality, clean house as a spiritual exercise or celebrate special days (and ordinary ones too), Shelter for the Spirit shows how the quality of attention we give to everyday acts can transform our lives. The only book of its kind, it helps all readers make their homes places in which they and their guests enjoy spending their moments.

Melodie Moore

VIM & Vinegar: Moisten Cakes, Eliminate Grease, Remove Stains, Kill Weeds, Clean Pots & Pans, Soften Laundry, Unclog Drains, Control

Vinegar is inexpensive, safe and 100 percent natural, and nearly every household has a bottle tucked away somewhere, but few people ever take advantage of its full potential. Yes, it's great for dying Easter eggs and making salad dressing, but there's so much more it can do. In Vim & Vinegar, Melodie Moore tells all. Here are hundreds of tips to help readers tenderize meats, soup up soups, eradicate odor, firm fish fillets, cut grease, ease arthritis, cure cramps and more. Versatile vinegar also does wonders for flavoring food (plus, it has no fat or calories), and readers will be amazed at the range of tasty recipes, which include such treats as Vinegar Pie, Crazy Cake and Vinegar Hard Candy. For tightwads, environmental activists, health advocates and curious cooks -- in fact, anyone who appreciates good old American ingenuity -- Vim & Vinegar is the perfect book.

Jonathan Adler

My Prescription for Anti-Depressive Living

My Prescription for Anti-Depressive Living offers a window into the life and mind of an extraordinarily creative person who was once told by a pottery professor that he had no talent and should consider another career. Not only did Adler stick with pottery, he transformed it from a dreary, unappealing summer camp craft into a contemporary signifier of modern, handcrafted luxury and became America's first (and only) celebrity potter. Interior designer Bill Sofield has declared, "Jonathan Adler does for American pottery what Noel Coward did for cocktail parties -- he makes life witty, sophisticated, and simply delicious." And now, on a much larger canvas, Adler reveals how you can do the same.My Prescription for Anti-Depressive Living explores Jonathan's own tongue-in-cheek design "manifesto," with each chapter devoted to a different "tenet," moving through the major incarnations of his interiors and products and ending with the story of his personal creative odyssey. The book is a visual feast, jam-packed with images of interiors and objects for the home, both those designed by Jonathan and those that have inspired him. At the heart of the book are ten of Adler's signature ...