Thomas Jayne, friend and decorator extraordinaire, has written the outstanding new book: The Finest Rooms in America. It celebrates the decoration of fifty American rooms from the 18th century to the present. He writes about places he knows personally—from grand houses to small apartments—and the elements that contribute to the success of each room. Thomas, himself a Winterthur trained classicist and connoisseur, has deliberately featured a cross section of rooms from California organic to unexpected, elegant and stylish spaces for living and sleeping, relaxing and entertaining. The rooms have been decorated over time and demonstrate the changing preferences for certain colors from the vivid schemes at Mount Vernon, to Mark Hampton’s silver papered bedroom, to the earth tones in Rose Tarlows’ house.