Adobe Details

Karen Witynski & Joe P. Carr
Gibbs Smith Publisher
Hardcover, $21.95

Karen Witynski and Joe P. Carr forage through the American Southwest and mountains of Mexico in celebration of the furnishings, accents, and architectural elements that reveal time-honored beauty and character.

From rugged Arizona ranches and haciendas to contemporary Santa Fe homes, Adobe Details celebrates the natural materials—earth, wood and stone—that proudly bear evidence of the human hand. From adobe walls textured with agave fibers to hand-adzed vigas and gleaming Saltillo-tile floors, the adobe home is alive with rich surfaces that evoke a casual, timeless context.

In vivid detail, Carr and Witynski reveal the elegant simplicity of the adobe design style: sculptural walls, nichos and bancos with contoured corners and softly flowing lines, breezy portales, stone-paved courtyards, and cross-cultural furnishings that exude warmth and grace. Favored decorative accents include richly hued textiles, antique trunks with decorative iron lockplates, hardy Mexican tables, glazed pottery, and handcrafted tin and copper mirrors.

Adobe Details is alive with the decorative elements that add depth and visual interest to adobe interiors, softening edges and creating emotional connections to simpler times.