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Inspirations from France & Italy was awarded first prize in the USA Book News; Best Books 2007 award in the Home: Decorating/Interior Design category. http://www.usabooknews.com/bestbooksawards2007.html

Continental style
Kim Brown Tulsa World, Oklahoma
Released : Sunday, November 11, 2007 3:00 AM

Nov. 11--Award-winning author, designer offers new book about French, Italian interiors

If you've been longing for the secrets that make European homes so stunning, Betty Lou Phillips has your answers.
In her new book, "Inspirations From France & Italy," (Gibbs Smith, $39.95), the award-winning author and interior designer delivers the goods on these distinctive French and Italian interiors, but also supplies information on how those interiors reach to England and Portugal for influences.

USA TODAY
February 17, 2006 Friday

Cezanne in 'Provence' -- and in your home

BYLINE: Maria Puente

Blockbuster art exhibits have influenced interior design since King Tut ignited a national craze for all things Egyptian in the '70s. Now it's painter Paul Cezanne's turn in the decorators' circle.

In spite of America's recent frosty feelings toward France over its opposition to the Iraq war, American homeowners continue to be among the most enthusiastic fans of French country design, says Betty Lou Phillips, a Dallas-based interior designer and author of seven books on the subject.

"The secrets of French design are all there in those paintings ... a way of life that mingles elegance and ease," Phillips says. "It's relaxed yet refined, and steeped in the past while mixing easily with the comforts of the 21st century."

Sacramento Bee (California)
December 10, 2005 Saturday

BYLINE: Dan Vierria, Bob Sylva, Terry Dvorak

The French Connection By Betty Lou Phillips (Gibbs Smith, Publisher; 192 pages, $39.95)
Betty Lou Phillips can't keep her eyes off of French design. "The French Connection" is the seventh book on the topic by Phillips, a member of the American Society of Interior Designers who lives in Dallas.

With text and striking photographs, she continues the love affair but with a subtle twist, discussing how French design can be imbued with other influences: "... We push the borders of design - sculpting distinctive, pleasing interiors that are at once a bit English, a dash Swedish, a trace Italian, to say nothing about ties to other central European countries or even the Far East." The book is a delightful blend of classic French and modern applications. ~ T.D.

The Virginian-Pilot(Norfolk, Va.)
May 8, 2005 Sunday The Virginian-Pilot Edition

A look into French mode of decorating

BY KRYS STEFANSKY

FASCINATED BY THE French? Want their look without prowling the streets of Paris? Follow the lead of Betty Lou Phillips, the author of ''Secrets of French Design'' (Gibbs Smith, $19.95, 79 pages).

Phillips is an interior designer who has made a career out of following and emulating French flair. Her room creations have appeared in popular magazines, she's been Oprah's guest and has written other books that unveil the mystery of French savoir-faire.
This volume is, again, delectably full of color photos to mine for ideas.

In language that is suitably arch, Phillips confides that the French have always felt they know good design better than anyone else. They don't use designers or decorators, but put their own stamp on their interiors by collecting fine furniture, fabrics and accessories as they happen on them.

A useful book? Mais, oui!

* Reach Krys Stefansky at krys.stefansky@pilotonline.com and 446-2732.

Chicago Tribune

February 13, 2005 Sunday

Want to know a secret (or 2) about French design ideas?

BYLINE: By Hilary Waldman, Tribune Newspapers: The Hartford Courant.

Everyone, it seems, falls in love with the classic French farmhouse look, but how do you translate that warm, been-around-forever elegance in a boxy, suburban development?

It's really not that difficult, says Betty Lou Phillips, who has written six books on the topic. Her latest, "Secrets of French Design" (Gibbs Smith, 79 pages, $19.95), attempts to offer a how-to for making any room feel like a 200-year-old Parisian salon, even if it's really a living room in a $200,000 house in Plainville.

The Vancouver Sun (British Columbia)
December 14, 2007 Friday

BYLINE: Kim Pemberton, Vancouver Sun

Inspirations from France & Italy, by Betty Lou Phillips, is a coffee table book with lots of photographs and little in the way of text. It's ideal for flipping through on a rainy day while dreaming of these romantic countries where style abounds. The book is divided into three sections -- "French Flair," "Italian Panache" and "International Style." The latter showcases lavish homes in the United States and explains the influence from other countries, such as Sweden, Africa and China. While certainly a feast for the eyes, if an in-depth explanation of what goes into creating these rooms is what you are after, it will disappoint. (Gibbs Smith Publisher, $44, hardcover.)
kpemberton@png.canwest.com

Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Texas)
February 1, 2006, Wednesday

Ooh la la!

BYLINE: By Cathy Frisinger

Forget freedom fries. It must be OK to call them french fries again. Two highly regarded designers, Betty Lou Phillips and Charles Faudree, have just published gorgeous coffee-table books on decorating a la French mode. Phillips' book, "The French Connection" (Gibbs Smith, $39.95), makes the claim that it's time to loosen up on style rules. We should spice up our French decor with a splash of Swedish design, a trace of Italianate or even _ can it really be? _ a soupcon of cold-hearted American technology. Faudree's "Country French Living" (Gibbs Smith, $39.95) takes French country panache through the house and out onto the patio. Both books take the tack that pictures are more effective than words when it comes to design inspiration.

The Dallas Morning News (Texas)

January 18, 2006, Wednesday

Books for snuggling

"The French Connection," by Betty Lou Phillips

In The French Connection, Dallas designer and author Betty Lou Phillips navigates us through the stylish challenges of incorporating furnishings and accessories from other cultures into French-themed homes, making this stunning volume an especially informative journey. As with her previous six best-selling decor books, the properties Ms. Phillips highlights inspire admiration (if not pangs of envy). It's fascinating to discover, for instance, the extent to which Asian antiques play a role in the French home. (Gibbs Smith, $40)
~Lisa Martin

The Boston Globe

November 11, 2007 Sunday
THIRD EDITION

The Top 5 - Home Improvement Books in New England
SECTION: BOOKS; Pg. E6

1. ‘‘The Organized Life: Secrets of an Expert Organizer,’’ by Stephanie Denton (North Light, paperback)
2. ‘‘Inspirations From France and Italy,’’ by Betty Lou Phillips (Gibbs Smith, hardcover)
3. ‘‘It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life With Less Stuff,’’ by Peter Walsh (Free Press, paperback)
4. ‘‘Homes and Courtyards: 28 Beautifully Designed Homes for Outdoor Living,’’ edited by Bassenian/Lagoni Architects (Designs Direct, hardcover)
5. ‘‘Real Simple: Cleaning,’’ by the editors of Real Simple magazine (Time Home Entertainment, spiral-bound)
Source: Barnes & Noble.com (bn.com), New England sales, Oct. 28-Nov. 3.