Christopher Lowell takes on big challenge of designing small spaces
Where Pennington's book is based on the penny-pinching redo he gave his Atlanta home, Lowell's decorating challenge was vastly different: turning two bare-bones prefabricated homes into vibrant, individualistic, fully functional residences.
The result is the Emmy-winner's third book, "Christopher Lowell's You Can Do It! Small Spaces: Decorating to Make Every Inch Count" ($29.95, Clarkson Potter/Publishers).
Sometimes called mobile homes, "These architecturally challenged spaces, with their off-center fireplaces, underscaled windows, absent entry halls — and vaulted ceilings to boot! — storageless bathrooms and dining rooms minuscule or nonexistent had us all scratching our heads," Lowell writes in the book's foreword.
But he and his team were up to the challenge for two reasons. First, many of the thousands of viewer letters he receives beseech him to demonstrate how to make the most of small spaces. Second, prefab homes are the housing choice — or necessity — for many, many Americans.
"(They) are a remarkable value for those who couldn't otherwise afford to either own their own home or enjoy the luxury of a second vacation home," Lowell says.
To show their versatility, Lowell decorated the two identical structures very differently. One becomes modern, the other traditional.
Along the way, "Small Spaces" uses lots of large photos and illustrations to systematically explain the layers of design (Lowell calls them his seven) that lead up to the final product.
He shows how to maximize space by creating multipurpose rooms, how to create the illusion of an entry when there is none, where to locate the master bed if anchoring it to a wall would mess up traffic flow.
And he offers his usual blunt but truthful advice. Pointing out that sometimes a lack of space is nothing more than an excess of stuff, he writes, "Many dilemmas could be easily handled simply by getting rid of the clutter."
Oh, but how to do that. More bluntness: "Whatever you no longer have feeling for, make it go away. Either pitch it or disguise it and make it into something else."
In a phone interview from his Southern California office, Lowell says his new book may bring him on tour to Seattle, but no time soon. (A previous appearance here stunned him, he says. Unwittingly timed to coincide with a Mariners playoff game and a presidential visit, "I said, 'OK, three people will be here.' There were 5,000.")
Meanwhile, he's in production for his show's ninth season, still going strong amid a host of decorating-themed reality-show competitors like "Trading Spaces."
"Right now the entertainment industry is having fun with this category," he says. But it doesn't worry him.
"My job is to make sure you feel a sense of empowerment when you turn off the TV set. That's something these other TV shows don't do. Many of those are based on voyeurism, where you wonder what they (those whose homes are redone) are going to think when the blindfolds come off."
And besides, he says, he's selling something far beyond interior design: "I don't care about physical interiors. I care about mental interior."
That's why he subtitles all his books, "You can do it!"
Elizabeth Rhodes: erhodes@seattletimes.com