CATEGORY

With its vivid yellows, glowing reds, cool blues, and lush greens, Tropical Asian Style evokes the riches of Southeast Asia. Gorgeous color photos of homes from Chiang Mai to Kuala Lumpur demonstrate essential design elements: living spaces open to nature, and accents of wood, textiles, and earthenware. This is a coffee-table book that will enlighten and entertain with its discussion of local crafts, such as basketware, batik, lacquerware, furniture, terra cotta, ikat weaving, Thai silk, garden sculpture, and more. Its sumptuous full-page spreads--from a saltwater pool above the surf in Phuket to a lovely open-air bathroom accented with old beams and seashells--will beckon you to exotic locales and entice you to add a little Asian flavor (a carved teak daybed, a decorative weaving, or more simply, a hammock on the veranda) to your home. --Jhana Bach