Darryl Carter Review! Part 2: The Collected Home
The Collected Home: Rooms with Style, Grace, and History
Photographs by Gordon Beall
Clarkson Potter Publishers, 2012
“Forgo the immediate, and embrace the lasting.”
Darryl Carter is a sophisticated interior designer who champions blending the modern with the traditional. Last review, I looked at The New Traditional, in which Carter defined his style with shining examples and anecdotes from his personal experiences. Four years later, The Collected Home elaborates on Carter’s special approach to interior design, providing more concrete suggestions by room for readers who are on their own design journeys. Welcome to Part 2!
The Collected Home is successful in its generous plethora of ideas shared in an organized way, as well as its written voice which encourages the reader to follow her own preferences, goals, and intuition. In the end, the hard-cover merits 5 out of 6 treasured geese.
In the Introduction and throughout, Carter repeatedly rallies the reader to have fun during the process. Without forgetting to urge you to be thoughtful and careful in your selections, Carter promises that patience and excitement can coexist. The Collected Home is, in a way, antithetical to current DIY movements; both welcome creativity, but Carter’s approach favors discovery, planning, and listening. Reflection questions throughout the volume ask readers to consider how they use spaces from needs to style proclivity:What appliances do you use?
Where do you anticipate needing electrical outlets? Step-stools?
How many people eat here regularly?
How often do you buy food? How do you store it?
Where do you want privacy?
How frequently do you use things?
What’s important to access in your daily life?
I think reflection is key. Too often I see everyday people getting into interior design by coming into contact with a particular aesthetic they like and want to consume. This isn’t bad or good, but doesn’t allow for a few things to happen.
First, you end up robbing yourself of the joy of collecting, which takes time. Of course, most interior designers recommend starting with mood boards or inspirational images to brainstorm goals and envision ideas. But if this stage is done in one afternoon, or after watching one YouTuber, the result is rarely a style you will truly treasure, let alone one that will last. Changing and growing is to be expected (and celebrated!), but Carter’s idea of home is to be an assemblage of meaningful treasures, and a gathering of all things personal. Basically, not something you can replicate from elsewhere.
“The home should be oriented toward your personal use and enjoyment.”
The second incentive to reflect deeply before transforming your space is because often we do not listen to what the house tells you, about itself and about you. I really appreciate when designs recognize that the home has a voice, and that the particularities of the space are one-of-a-kind! This includes materials in walls, light coming from outside, proportions of doors and closets, everything! Carter insists on process as play: upcycling or reclamation, contributions from everyone in the household, and envisioning multiple possibilities can say a lot about how the home wants to be inhabited. In his price-range, Carter recommends collaborating with tradespeople, architects, and others who can provide a solution you may not have thought of-- or even how to make a limitation work better than the original idea. Does the house offer natural lighting instead of needing to buy a fixture? Would durable floors serve residents better than a fancier floor, thus allowing something else in the space to shine? Can you repurpose cabinets as children’s desks? Or reuse an old door as a pony wall for a bit of separation? Are you able to retrofit furniture into existing architectural elements, like shelving? Knowing and building relationships with craftspeople and experts will only enhance your experience creating your home.
“Often, intangibles define the experience of a home.”
Carter clearly has years of experience and an extensive network in his field. My main critique of The Collected Home is in being way out of league for many readers. Most people don’t collect antique Han dynasty figurines to learn how to display, or own a cast-sculpture of a carousel horse to orient in a foyer. Carter uses lots of terms I had to look up. He also shared swatches from his own paint line that he developed. He’s clearly involved in the art world and has a sophisticated relationship with artists, sculptors, and antique vendors. Furniture designer George Nakashima is featured for embedding an antique work table into a ‘frame’ to actually function (below left). It’s actually really cool. The book just seemed out-of-reach at times.
This is not for lack of encouragement and really clever ideas! I particularly like his vision to buy furniture pieces that can translate into different uses over time. A lot of projects he described leaned into a chance find at a flea market, or pre-existing architectural features, such as staircases or windows. All of his nuanced and well-trained advice is great for people who have the resources to hire experts. Any of his inspiration can be ‘dialed down’, especially because Carter included so many concrete questions to ask and possibilities to consider. For example, he acknowledges the more affordable but high-impact option of ‘try painting it’. He repeats that nothing should be too precious to use, which is an excellent sentiment.
The Collected Home showcases impressive and high-quality interior design, exactly what it says it does. 5 of 6 sensible geese.
