The Comfortable Home
Reviewing on my second read-through of this book. I really like [b:Room Rescues: Decorating Solutions For Awkward Spaces|1640523|Room Rescues Decorating Solutions For Awkward Spaces|Jane Burdon|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1186218376s/1640523.jpg|1634851], so I checked this one out as well. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as useful to me as the other, because it relies too much on home renovations for its "comfort." And maybe the truth is that homes you can't change are never going to be truly comfortable for you, or something, but I wish there was more advice on creating comfort without changing bathroom fixtures and creating a kitchen from scratch. Which I suppose is what Room Rescues is for--those rooms you can't do much about.
On the other hand this book has a lot of practical advice. Particularly helpful are the brief explanations of which thread counts you should look for while buying various furnishings/textiles, and which fabrics are useful for which purposes. Since I buy new sheets and blankets all the time (a cheaper way to give my room a new look), that's useful for me. Burdon also wants me to throw out my mattress and soft furniture (couches and armchairs) every ten years and buy new ones, which... is not happening, but good to know if I ever have the money to do that.
She points out several times that comfort is personal. Some people are always cold, some people love the feeling of wood floors under their feet, some people like to be woken up by the sun on their face. Others like the opposite of those things. So to create your comfortable home, you have to figure out what is comfortable for you. That works a bit better if you live alone, but most decorating books assume nobody else has any input on the decorating, for some reason. She does recommend some solutions, for people who share a bed but prefer different levels of warmth, for example.
In the chapter on bedrooms, Burdon says that the bedroom should be a sanctuary and we should fill it only with calming, comfortable, non-stressful things--but then she doesn't provide a chapter on home offices. Or tell you what to do when you don't have a home office and you HAVE to turn your bedroom into a multi-use space. (Ikea recommends curtains separating the sleeping and working areas from each other.) While this book's content is way more practical than most decorating advice, there are some suggestions that just require more money than many people have. And my search for better decorating books continues.
On the other hand this book has a lot of practical advice. Particularly helpful are the brief explanations of which thread counts you should look for while buying various furnishings/textiles, and which fabrics are useful for which purposes. Since I buy new sheets and blankets all the time (a cheaper way to give my room a new look), that's useful for me. Burdon also wants me to throw out my mattress and soft furniture (couches and armchairs) every ten years and buy new ones, which... is not happening, but good to know if I ever have the money to do that.
She points out several times that comfort is personal. Some people are always cold, some people love the feeling of wood floors under their feet, some people like to be woken up by the sun on their face. Others like the opposite of those things. So to create your comfortable home, you have to figure out what is comfortable for you. That works a bit better if you live alone, but most decorating books assume nobody else has any input on the decorating, for some reason. She does recommend some solutions, for people who share a bed but prefer different levels of warmth, for example.
In the chapter on bedrooms, Burdon says that the bedroom should be a sanctuary and we should fill it only with calming, comfortable, non-stressful things--but then she doesn't provide a chapter on home offices. Or tell you what to do when you don't have a home office and you HAVE to turn your bedroom into a multi-use space. (Ikea recommends curtains separating the sleeping and working areas from each other.) While this book's content is way more practical than most decorating advice, there are some suggestions that just require more money than many people have. And my search for better decorating books continues.