Mexican Details

Karen Witynski & Joe P. Carr
Gibbs Smith Publisher,
Hardback $21.95; Paperback $16.95

In their 6th book, authors Karen Witynski and Joe P. Carr travel through Mexico and the Southwest in celebration of the character-rich details of Mexican furniture, architectural elements and hand-crafted accents that resonate with beauty and ingenuity.

From chip-carved benches and hand-hewn tortilla tables to painted trunks and carved-stone moldings, the soulful nature of Mexican design abounds. Decorative accents include intricately woven textiles, glazed ceramics, wooden masks and folk art objects that bear evidence of the hands that made them.

In vivid detail, Carr and Witynski reveal how they have readapted old doors, gates and once-utilitarian elements, including culinary antiques, for creative new roles in modern-day homes. Mesquite doors are newly fashioned into console and coffee tables, iron window grilles are converted to headboards and stone water filters newly flower as planters with the addition of iron bases.

Carr and Witynski also showcase myriad innovations mixing antique Mexican elements with contemporary accents. Colorfully tiled kitchens come to life in the "Cocinas" chapter, and a heavenly collection of crosses, santos and retablos are highlighted in "Devotional Elements."

Featuring brilliant close-up photographs by Witynski, Mexican Details is alive with the decorative elements that oranment their surroundings with wit and charm.