Envy Aside, Book Inspires Dreams

BOOKS

Most of us don’t have second homes, so the retreats in “Family Houses in the Country” ($50, Clarkson Potter Publishers, 2000) may cause a spike of envy. They did with me as I stared at these knockout houses in knockout locales and read how wonderful living in them can be.

But that passed quickly enough and I got into the flow, agreeing with author Alexandra D’Arnoux that “every person--whether a harried urbanite or satisfied suburbanite--harbors thoughts of a dream house . . . a home away from our daily cares where we can commingle in gracious surroundings.”

This book certainly inspires that kind of thinking. Time to buy more Lotto tickets.

Some of these places are more estates than merely first or second homes, and D’Arnoux and photographer Gilles De Chabaneix’s approach is to take the reader on a guided tour of their opulence. The Bagnoli mansion and grounds in Italy, for instance, are so large and lavish that it seems more a museum than where someone actually lives.

Other homes are a bit less intimidating. A homestead in California’s Napa Valley wine country may be sprawling but it has an inviting simplicity. And the yellow-painted house overlooking Newfound Lake in New Hampshire is large but with a relaxed ambience. There are also homes, huge and huger, from around Europe, especially France and Great Britain.

Garden Design

“Designing Beds & Borders” ($13, Time-Life Books, 2000) is part of the home and garden improvement series put out by the editors of Time-Life Books. It’s easy to understand and the projects should be doable even if you’re only mildly ambitious.

The book has schematics and strategies for picking the right flowers and plants, and then laying them out in your front or backyard. Among the many considerations are the best color patterns, water needs, complementary designs of raised (flowers, bushes and larger ornamental grasses) and flatter areas (short grasses and paths).

THE WEB: So, Sanity Leaves You Unsatisfied?

Apparently, there are plenty of people craving household oddities. After I recently wrote about Off The Deep End (http//www.offthedeepend.com) where glowing pink flamingos may be the sanest thing you can buy, a couple of readers suggested Archie McPhee’s (https://www.mcphee.com) for loading up on stuff only a weirdo could love.

Like Off The Deep End, this commercial site primarily deals in kitschy gifts, but has a large collection of junk for the home. If ice cream lamps, chile pepper hanging lights, assorted “shrunken heads” made for display, skull candy trays, brain bookends and lawn pigs sound appealing, then click through Archie’s.

Non-Vegetarian Vegetation

While we’re on oddities, how about a few voracious plants for the garden?

California Carnivores (https://www.californiacarnivores.com) can provide you with Venus flytraps, American pitcher plants, cobra plants, butterworts and bladderworts, among others, that are all hungry for insects and ready for expert cultivation. Besides selling these varieties, the site provides many photos and growing tips.

Other destinations featuring bug-eaters are the International Carnivorous Plant Society (https://www.carnivorousplants.org) and the pages for the University of Georgia’s botany department (https://dogwood.botany.uga.edu/Tour6.html)

* To have a book or Web site considered for this column, send information to: Home Design, The Times’ Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Mark Chalon Smith can also be reached by e-mail at mark.smith@latimes.com.