By Lindsay Field Penticuff
Carl Dellatore’s fifth book for Rizzoli New York, “100 Rooms: Lessons from the Finest Designers on the Art of Home,” was released earlier this month.
“I wanted to make a book about practical application,” Dellatore says. “You have a subject, but within that subject, I’m giving you some suggestions, advice and information that will concretely inform me and the readers.”
Dellatore, who is originally from Pennsylvania but moved to New York City in the 1980s to pursue a career in the arts, has a background in printmaking and textiles. He released his first book, “Interior Design Master Class: 100 Lessons from America’s Finest Designers on Art of Decoration,” in 2016, and is also a content consultant for the interior and garden design communities.
In his new book, Dellatore features 100 individual designers’ remarkable spaces that are broken down by type of room, including Gathering (media and family rooms), Transitional (porches and entryways), Respite (bedrooms and sitting rooms), Entertaining (dining rooms and bars) and Utility (kitchens, baths and mudrooms).
The writing process began nearly two years ago and with between 1,200 and 1,500 rooms that Dellatore hand-selected to consider featuring in the book.
“I wanted to represent as many aesthetic visions as possible—minimalist, maximalist, traditionalist, contemporary—because that’s the landscape of design,” he says. “But thinking in terms of how do I get to 100 rooms from 1,200 to 1,500, the process at Rizzoli is a bit intense.
“I have an editor, there’s a book designer, then there’s a marketing team. I bring all the rooms to the table first, then we have preliminary photo editing, so I may in any given meeting bring 250 rooms, and what we’re actually looking to get from that is 25.
“The rooms are all different; there’s a laundry room, a lacquered bedroom, there are three to four different kinds of kitchens, and each designer has one very specific subject to write about.”
Criteria to decide which rooms were included in the book then came down to having a good balance of legendary designers, those who are really well-established in their careers, and then people who are mid-career, and then finally five spots were open to designers Dellatore had maybe never heard of before.
“What I’m looking to do is capture a snapshot in decorative arts history in America at this moment—here we are, a quarter-century in—so, having looked at all these rooms, seeing the prevalent voices and what their aesthetic is I asked, ‘How can I come up with 100 rooms that sort of represent where we are right now?’ That’s what I was looking for! Those decisions are all subjective on some level, but being so entrenched in the community, I sort of have some sense of that.”
But Dellatore reminds us that the book isn’t just for design professionals.
"One of the things we ask is, ‘Is the person in Illinois going to read this and be empowered to make decisions about what they are doing in their own home?’” he adds. “And that brings us back to editing. I wanted [the featured designers] to be expressive, and I wanted people to really say what they meant so they have an organic voice, but I needed to direct that in a way such that someone in Illinois, who doesn’t have a design professional in their life, feels empowered by the book. I think that’s what makes these kinds of books successful, when there’s a takeaway from the audience.”
Earlier this month, Dellatore also began working on his sixth book, which he plans to release in spring 2027.
“I’ve noticed how the modernist designers from the last century continue to influence contemporary design, which inspired my new book ‘Contemporary Modernism,’” he shares. “The book explores my observation that many designers today have adopted the idea of creating pared-down spaces—perhaps not strictly minimalist but serving as respites from our frenetic world.
“I’ve identified about 40 firms so far, but I’m always open to discovering more. If anyone has suggestions for designers or firms I should examine, I’d welcome the recommendations.”
After that? Well, Dellatore is already planning to start another garden book, which he hopes to release in spring of 2028.
“When I set out in this career as an author, I said I wanted to produce 10 books,” he concludes.
To learn more about Dellatore, you’re also invited to follow him on Instagram @carldellatore or visit his website, carldellatore.com. Also, be sure to dive back into his series with DSA, Some Thoughts On…
