Alexandra Stoddard
Autor(a) de Living a Beautiful Life: 500 Ways to Add Elegance, Order, Beauty and Joy to Every Day of Your Life
About the Author
Alexandra Stoddard has designed the interiors of mansions and embassies as well as cottages and one-room studios for clients ranging from notable individuals to young people just starting out. The recipient of the first full scholarship ever awarded by the New York School of Interior Design, she mostrar mais brings more than thirty-six years of design expertise to her work. For fourteen years she worked with Eleanor McMillen Brown, one of the doyennes of interior design, before starting her own design firm, Alexandra Stoddard Incorporated. She appears frequently on television and radio nationwide and has been featured in major magazines internationally. Author of twenty books, including her most recent book on decorating. Open Your Eyes, and her classic. The Decoration of Houses, she is a sought-after speaker on the art of living. She lives with her husband. Peter Megargee Brown, in New York City and Stonington Village, Connecticut. mostrar menos
Obras por Alexandra Stoddard
Living a Beautiful Life: 500 Ways to Add Elegance, Order, Beauty and Joy to Every Day of Your Life (1986) 455 exemplares
Gift of a Letter: Giving the Gift of Ourselves-- Add Richness and Grace to Your Life Through the Art of Letter-writing (1990) 186 exemplares
Open Your Eyes: 1,000 Simple Ways To Bring Beauty Into Your Home And Life Each Day (1998) 150 exemplares
Fa Xian Jian Pu Xin Shi Jie 1 exemplar
Associated Works
The Book That Changed My Life: 71 Remarkable Writers Celebrate the Books That Matter Most to Them (2006) — Contribuidor — 389 exemplares
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Data de nascimento
- 1941-11-08
- Sexo
- female
- Nacionalidade
- USA
- Locais de residência
- Carnegie Hill, Manhattan, NY
Stonington, Connecticut, USA - Relações
- Brown, Megargee Peter (husband)
Membros
Críticas
Listas
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 33
- Also by
- 2
- Membros
- 2,902
- Popularidade
- #8,827
- Avaliação
- 3.6
- Críticas
- 19
- ISBN
- 72
- Línguas
- 3
- Marcado como favorito
- 5
I'm sorry for you if you are Stoddard's personal friend because she will be happy to use your imperfections to set off her own impeccable taste and style. In one passage she tells of her benighted friend who was so unorganized that she had three address books. Stoddard rushes to the rescue, with her recommendation for the very best filing system. Her friend responds with fawning appreciation; her life is now livable thanks to Stoddard's favorite planner pages.
There are many instances like this where Stoddard draws attention to her own style by using her so-called friends as a foil, but another deserves to be quoted in full:
"I will never forget going to a friend's house for dinner many years ago. We were served creamed chicken, mashed potatoes, and canned creamed corn. This colorless menu was unrelieved by being served on a beige plate! A sprig of parsley, even some cranberry jelly, would have whet my appetite. It takes a great deal to make me lose it, but that night even my imagination failed me. Dinner was so dull. I couldn't taste anything at all" (p. 70).
Oh, the horror! A friend invites you over, prepares dinner for you, but fails to make it colorful! Can anyone imagine a worse fate? Of course it takes a "great deal" to upset Stoddard's inner peace, but this colorless meal was most certainly beyond the pale of what any mortal should be forced to endure.
I recently reread The Pilgrim's Regress by C. S. Lewis and Stoddard is undoubtedly of the school of Mr. Sensible, whose advice on the art of happiness consists of "be in good health and have enough money to live comfortably" (my paraphrase). There are no words of advice for anyone who is not so happily circumstanced; Mr. Sensible, and Alexandra Stoddard, have nothing but a blank stare for anyone who does not share their affluence.
This is the worst book I have read this year and I can't believe no one at the publisher tried to tone back its unrelenting narcissism. Awful.… (mais)