7 h 10 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a beautiful room begins not with what you add, but with the walls around you?
In The Decoration of Houses, Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman challenge rooms crowded with heavy curtains, patterned fabrics and knickknacks. Their practical guide puts architecture first: walls, doors, windows and proportions should shape a room before furnishings enter it. Against the fashion of their day, they make a clear case for restraint rather than a pile of decorative objects.
Their models come from houses in Italy, France and England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. From entrance halls and staircases to fireplaces, ceilings and floors, they ask how each part serves the whole. The question is not simply what looks attractive, but what makes a room restful, gives it character and helps it suit its purpose.
What you’ll discover
- A room's good bones Learn why the authors place architectural structure ahead of upholstery, ornament and crowded furnishings.
- The quiet of proportion Explore their belief that restful rooms depend on the relationships between their parts.
- Walls that set character Look closely at how walls, doors and windows establish the character of a room.
- A place for every purpose Consider entrance halls and staircases through the first impression they give a visitor.
- Ornament in its place Discover a restrained approach to furniture, pictures and small objects that keeps architecture in view.
Who will love it
For readers who love design, architecture and history, and anyone who enjoys a clear case for restraint in the home. Admirers of Wharton's fiction will also find her interest in houses and taste here.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Architecture comes before upholstery
- Proportion and symmetry make rooms restful
- Walls, doors and windows shape the room
- Fireplaces, ceilings and floors complete the frame
- Each room should suit its purpose
- Furniture and ornament must stay in their place
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 7 h 10 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
eBooks and audiobooks open right away. Download EPUB or PDF, or send the book to your Kindle. Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then USD 0.14 a day in your first year on the yearly plan and USD 0.27 a day after, or USD 0.66 a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Read and hear The Decoration of Houses in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Decoration of Houses
by Edith Wharton; Ogden Codman · 1897
A bare wall, a well placed door and a single fine mantel reveal how architecture gives a room its beauty.
Challenging5–10 hours to read25 languages
Excellent
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then USD 0.14 a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
In short
The Decoration of Houses is a practical guide to how a house should look inside. It was published in 1897 by Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman Jr.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Architecture comes before upholstery
The first claim of the book is simple. A room is good because of its bones, not because of what is hung or piled on it. Wharton and Codman complain that their contemporaries treat decoration as a matter of cloth, ornament and bright objects. In their view this gets things backward. The shape of the room, the placing of its openings and the quality of its woodwork and plaster should do most of the work.
They trace this error to a long decline of taste in the nineteenth century. Houses were built without much thought, then dressed up afterward with layers of drapery to hide their faults. The authors say that this habit made rooms dark, dusty and false. A badly planned room cannot be saved by fabric. A well planned room hardly needs it.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
Free gifts
USD 580 in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
USD 170FREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
USD 120FREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
USD 60FREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
USD 60FREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
USD 170FREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about The Decoration of Houses
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is The Decoration of Houses about?
It is a guide to designing and furnishing the interiors of homes. Wharton and Codman argue that architecture, proportion and balance matter more than ornament or fabric, and they use European houses of earlier centuries as models.
Did Edith Wharton really write a book about interior design?
Yes. The Decoration of Houses, published in 1897, was her first major book, written with the architect Ogden Codman Jr. It came before her famous novels and shows her strong interest in houses and taste.
When was The Decoration of Houses written and why?
It was published in 1897. The authors wrote it to oppose the cluttered, heavily draped interiors fashionable in late nineteenth century America, and to put a plainer, more architectural approach in its place.
The author
Edith Wharton
1862–1937 · American novelist
Edith Wharton (1862–1937) was an American writer and designer born in New York City. She later lived in France, where she died. Her books include The House of Mirth (1905), Ethan Frome (1911), and The Age of Innocence (1920). She co-wrote The Decoration of Houses with Ogden Codman Jr. in 1897.
More by Edith Wharton; Ogden Codman
All 10 books
More like this
Free
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
Popular in science & nature
See all
