For those of you who don’t know, I am obsesses with home decorating books even though I really don’t have the money to do much more than rearrange what I already have and throw in some inexpensive shelves and side tables. I lamented the day that Domino, the decorating-within-reach magazine, shut down, as I looked forward to Deborah Needleman and her crew’s expertise. In this book, The Perfectly Imperfect Home, Needleman breaks down how to turn your home into its best version of itself room by room, nook by nook.
The illustrations by Virginia Johnson are beautiful, charming, and inspired by the homes of various designers and artists and add to the eye candy of the book. The book homes in on the idea that personal touches and comfort is what makes a worthy home, not the show-house version so often portrayed in magazines where everything is perfect and there are no signs of the aftermath of small children or pets or messy spouses.
For me, it’s knowing how to arrange all my little items that tend to gather onto flat surfaces that I enjoyed learning about in the book. How to make inexpensive trays take the everyday items we enjoy and showcase them in a way that looks nicer than just having them spread out on the nightstand or coffee table. How to organize your entryway is another valuable lesson for me. How we enter our home is not only a first impression for guests but for ourselves and having places to put coats, keys, umbrellas, shoes, and mail is vital to keeping clutter at bay.
I also liked that there are allowances for “ugly” and “glam” items in the same spaces. There will always be that hideous chair or object beloved by someone else that you must create space for but it’s okay. You can also introduce something fancier, or shinier, into the same space and this book shows and tell you how.
One of my other pet peeves is how to entertain and what kind of dining room table works best in an apartment. I’m stuck with what I have for now but there is a section that explains the ideal shape for your lifestyle and space which shed much needed light on the subject for me and future dinner parties. There are also notes on the fact that you can entertain without a dining table which is just as important to me as having no dining table at all.
All the bits and pieces that make up living comfortably in your home are presented here with common sense, fun, and positive attitude. None of us are expected to go out on a shopping spree, we can simply rearrange our furniture or table top objects to better accommodate traffic flow and guests.
I have read this book beginning to end and end to beginning several times, I enjoy it so much. If you love the idea of making every day life more comfortable at home, I highly recommend this book which can be found at your local book-store, perhaps at your local library, or you may order it for $30.00 (not including s/h) on-line at:
http://www.randomhouse.com/book/205724/the-perfectly-imperfect-home-by-deborah-needleman
Thanks always for reading, please drop in again next week…
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