Fusing understated elegance and relaxed chic, this book reveals the secrets of successful, sophisticated and stress-free entertainment on a budget. It includes five chapters Flowers, Candles, The Table, Food and Art, that explore how to create a sense of occasion, a relaxed mood, simple pleasures and food without worry.

Fusing understated elegance and relaxed chic, fashion designer Marie France van Damme reveals the secrets of successful, sophisticated and stress-free entertainment on a budget. Five chapters – Flowers, Candles, The Table, Food and Art – explore how to create a sense of occasion, a relaxed mood, simple pleasures and food without worry. Each chapter finishes with actual events: a winter birthday at home, with plain black plates, flowers in a single colour, and sushi from a local Japanese restaurant; a Belgian celebration in a greenhouse with a wood-burning stove, transformed in two hours at minimal cost into what looks like a page from an event at Versailles; a stylish working lunch with takeaway curry… Perfectly attuned to the desires and realities of today’s living, this book will be welcome anywhere on the planet.