House Rules
How to Decorate for Every Home, Style, and Budget
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
Finally, a decorating book that transcends trends and applies to every style! You want to create a beautiful, livable home, but you feel stuck. House Rules is your guide to understanding why some rooms look great and other rooms don't look quite right.
From the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Cozy Minimalist Home comes this charming collection of one hundred memorable, universal decorating truths that apply to every house, style, and budget. By guiding you to do what you know, use what you have, and finish what you started, Myquillyn Smith will help you find
· understanding of why you love (or don't love) your spaces
· confidence to make rewarding decisions that feel risky
· satisfaction with small wins that combine to create big changes
· inspiration and motivation resulting in finished, personalized rooms
Learn how to make better decorating decisions with ease. House Rules is packed full of simple, encouraging truths and quick takeaways for you to implement into your home immediately.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The Nester blogger Smith (Welcome Home) outlines 100 interior design principles in this middling manual for decorating one's home. Among the "rules" are recommendations for readers to utilize a few large items instead of many small pieces when trying to fill a space and purchase covers for tissue boxes and other products to ensure their commercial design doesn't disrupt the composition of a room. Smith sheds light on her design principles with anecdotes about how she's decorated her own home, as when she encourages repurposing items one already owns and tells how she painted a new design over a factory-printed canvas after she grew tired of the original image. Other rules touch on the importance of contrast ("For that white room, try adding darker pieces") and the principle of threes ("If you want something to look purposeful, either group it in threes or repeat it at least three times"). Despite a few useful tidbits, other suggestions feel redundant ("Timelessness is here to stay" and "find your own timeless classics," for example) and Smith's decision to only feature photos of her own home will turn off readers unmoved by her minimalist aesthetic, whose muted tones can border on bland. This comes up short.