Although many designers and homeowners try to endow homes with authentic European charm and character, these attempts rarely result in genuine Old World savoir faire. Renowned designer and antiques dealer Richard Shapiro devotes his first book to the art of creating refined, cultivated spaces that truly transport their inhabitants to distant lands and far-flung historical epochs. In the tradition of Bunny Williams’s An Affair with a House, this book offers inspiration to homeowners, decorators, and anyone with a love of beautiful design.

With exquisite new photographs of Richard Shapiro’s much-imitated homes and gardens, the designer demonstrates the alchemy required to conjure the mood, patina, and sensibility of a home that seems cultivated over many generations.