House porn... Taschen's new global interiors book

Some gratuitous house porn for a grey Wednesday morning. Prolific style publisher, Taschen, has just published a lavish new double-volume book showcasing some of the world's most striking homes. 

100 Interiors Around the World (two volumes), £34.99 shows off a homes designed with passion and decorated with individualist panache. What's great to see is so few nods to trends; the excellently witty Fuck Your Noguchi Table blog (if you don't know it, do – so long as you are comfortable being the butt of their joke) would struggle to find the styling cliches in these homes. (And I'm just as guilty of those cliches as the next person.) But I digress: enjoy this preview...

I love the combination of the imperfect turquoise with the earthy rusts, above. A classic mid-century blend, with a stronger twist. And, as regular readers will know, a wood panelled wall does it for me every time. That tiled floor is glorious, and I like how the whole arrangement looks a bit wonky and lived in, yet still dazzlingly well designed.

Black and white strips go with pretty much everything. The room below right is only for the bold, but the floor is strangely grounding. Ikea do a very very good monochrome rug.

This room is a bit too 'just moved in' for me; not very warm. But i like the pale yellows, greys and wooden floor together. And a panel of wallpaper appeals because it doesn't involve wallpapering a whole wall. And easy to move about to other walls or even different rooms to refresh your place without redecorating.

No way could I sleep beneath those hanging globes without nightmares about drowning or being crushed. But I like the unusual tiling idea on the wall behind the bed. Again, like the wallpapered panel, it avoids having to do the job in the painstaking traditional way (grouting scares me).

Marble floors! (Good for detracting from slightly disconcerting giant foot.)

Could this, above, be anywhere other than Copenhagen? I love how this and the two interiors below it are so representative of their respective countries, without being pastiches.

St Petersburg; fringing, carved wood, a specific sort of folksy layering... yep, this totally fits my superficially composed preconceptions of a romantic Russian dining room. 

And could this high-ceilinged, understated pale walls and parquet floors apartment be anywhere other than Paris? 

Corrugated iron walls (not for every climate, and probably better in photos unless it is cladding or a clever trompe l'oeil wallpaper) and cowboy hats, with beautifully re-upholstered chairs and a muted palette spiked with a flash of green. Nice.

Buy it from the Taschen website.