Book excerpt: Top interior designer Steven Gambrel's luxe aspirational cloth-bound tome showcases his latest home interiors. Using a classical approach injected with contemporary touches and vibrant color, he creates spaces for today rooted in the past. A connoisseur of historical styles, Gambrel's designs feature compelling reinterpretations of the past coupled with a sense of place. Rooms range in style from elegant country to high-gloss urban. A confident colorist, his daring palette includes bright pinks, emerald-greens, deep grays, and cerulean blues. His tactile surfaces--from shiny lacquer to rugged matte--provide an exciting textural contrast to the elegant antiques and vintage furnishings mixed seamlessly with his upholstered creations. For his second book, the designer gives insight into his unique sensibility with recent projects including his nineteenth-century townhouse in New York City's West Village; a lime-washed brick Bridgehampton beach house; a rustic, refined Zurich estate; the luxurious Astor Suite in Manhattan's Plaza Hotel; and a charming sea captain's house in Sag Harbor. These residences will inspire design aficionados.