Featuring spicy palettes of color, exuberant patterns, earthy materials, and handmade objects, this book is filled with inspiration and practical advice for creating stylish, contemporary interiors. As the world shrinks, ideas for interior design are just as likely to come from sources abroad as from those on our own doorstep. And it is no longer necessary to be a far-flung traveler to find exotic, economical furnishings, for they are abundantly available in stores close to home. Today's exotic look retains a focused contemporary edge without compromising notions of space, light, and comfort, unlike the cluttered, hodgepodge of previous incarnations of ethnic style.Illustrated with inspiring photographs, the chapters cover walls, floors, windows and doors, furniture and furnishings, lighting and display and offer decorating suggestions for apartments and houses, large or small. And like its predecessor, Natural Decorating, also by Wilhide and Copestick, which has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide, this book offers a number of original projects. Supplementing the projects is a resource section that includes a guide to selected suppliers and to stores that feature international furnishings.