Whether for a plantation guesthouse in South Carolina or a Dutch Colonial home on Long Island Sound, Eric J. Smith’s evocative designs are the result of thoughtful planning integrated with a deep understanding of his clients’ lives and lifestyles, a design ethos beautifully evident in the book.

From a Georgian home in California and a French Country home on Long Island to a Shelter Island fishing camp, Smith’s work is at once an homage to tradition and an expression of the living beauties these traditions still offer. Over the course of a storied career, and often working with prestigious interior designers - including Alexa Hampton, David Easton, and William Diamond - Smith has garnered a reputation for a kind of personal architecture that is, in each case, in sync with the homeowner, whomever he or she may be, and the place, whether it is oceanfront, on a hillside, or set beside a lake or stream. Renewing Tradition features custom residential projects from New York to California, and Bermuda to the United Kingdom, and Smith’s houses, apartments, and country cabins are a revelation, work to be savoured and which will serve to inspire homeowners in search of a guide to achieving comfortable elegance in the home.