The Perfectly Imperfect Home How to Decorate & Live Well by Deborah Needleman illustrated by Virginia Johnson

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…

Issue #181 Lilliput Review

In this issue editor Don Wentworth gathers up rainy days, droning insects, and lonely souls into a beautiful and cathartic collection to be enjoyed on a day when you just aren’t “feeling up to it.” Below I am happy to share a short sample:


static in my head
crickets rub hind legs
in Buddha rhythm

By: A. D. Winans of San Franciso, CA

This poem reminds me of those dog days of summer where you drown out your thoughts and clear your mind while sitting on an old blanket in the grass and listen to the crickets, I miss those days.



cook, i.e.
where your thoughts meet your brainstem
where your brainstem meets the map of
forever on your back
where your forever map meets mortality

that is where i want to sleep
burrow into hide inside of hibernate within
with a box of pomegranate seeds and a bear cub
and a cherry pie with crust right out of hansel’s oven

by: Kennedy Cane

This poem makes me want to cocoon myself into blankets with the love of my life. I love the idea of sleeping where your loved one’s thoughts meet mortality/immortality, then the poet brings in the comfort food of cherry pie from the innocent hansel’s oven from the fairy tale. It is a whimsical poem that gets you thinking about what the poet is or is not truly saying.



full
moon

filling
my

cracked (old)
tea-cup

by: Ed Baker of Takoma Park, MD

I picture the poet sitting by the kitchen window at midnight as he sips hot tea, trying to ease his troubled mind. A lovely snapshot poem.


If you enjoyed this review you may purchase this little journal, Lilliput Review, for a mere $1.00 by going to Lilliput Review’s blog, Issa’s Untidy Hut at:

http://lilliputreview.blogspot.com/

Thanks always for reading, please drop in Friday for another featured Good Read…

Book Shelf Porn

Visually stunning, this is a site devoted to how people display their books either creatively or on shelves. While you may think this is unusual I urge you to take a peak because it is absolutely inspiring. I even saw a Christmas tree made entirely out of books stacked up to form the tree itself, why didn’t I think of that?
Check it out at:

http://bookshelfporn.com/

Thanks for clicking in, please stop by tomorrow for another featured poetry review…