Fabulous!: The Dazzling Interiors of Tom Britt

The color plates are gorgeous, but what surprised me is how readable the text is. Britt's palette choices from the '60s through his later work get explained rather than just shown, so it works as a reference book too, not just a coffee table piece.

I bought this for the photos and stayed for the writing — the chapters walk through his palette room by room, and I keep flipping back to the section on those dramatic environments he built for clients overseas. The paper stock makes the images look richer than they do on a screen.

The photos of those high-profile international commissions are worth the price alone, especially the ones showing how he layered color in the New York apartments. I've flipped through it three times already and keep spotting new details in the room shots.