Undecorate: The No-Rules Approach To Interior Design (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
Probably the best interior design book I've read so far. The idea here is to see how you can create your own style by collecting your favorite things. If you use your eye and your heart, things that normally don't go together will work. You can be your own decorator. You don't need to spend a lot of money or do a lot of DIY or have a perfect house (though it helps to have a decent house, some money for paint and flea-markets, and some craft/furniture-repair skills). You can have a coffee table that's bigger than your couch, if that's what works for you. You can have brightly cheerful kids' rooms without giving them plastic furniture. You can have a studio apartment that welcomes guests and still have a real bed (not Murphy or daybed). Don't worry about the rules, think freely about what you like.You may not like any of *many* homes shown here. You may, like me, wish that floor plans were included so you could see how the rooms fit & flowed together in each home. But I don't see how you could spend any time with this and not be inspired to find ways to get rid of the pieces in your home that you don't love, and to bring in, repurpose, salvage, or build some that you do. Lemieux has gathered a collection of beautiful homes for this book, and I found most of them to be accessible and not unrealistically styled (although there were a couple of exceptions) as is usually the case with interior design books. I was obviously drawn to the homes of families with children, particularly those where it was evident that they *LIVED* in their homes -- that's not always evident in some of the houses you frequently see on design blogs or in shelter mags. For me, the standout houses were Genifer Goodman Sohr's Nashville log cabin, Kim Ficaro's Brooklyn apartment, Christina Sacalis's New Jersey home, and Harriet Maxwell McDonald's beach cottage. The text is well-written, and I took away several good reminders from Lemieux's "undecorated" vision.*Note: It did get to where I was playing "spot the Dwell bedding in each house" as I browsed. Lemieux's line was featured in almost every home in the book and become a little obtrusive toward the end, particularly since several homes featured the same linens on their master beds quite close together, making it much more obvious.
What do You think about Undecorate: The No-Rules Approach To Interior Design (2011)?
Lots of Californians featured in a book version of a Dwell/Apartment Therapy/Design Sponge article.
—Sissy
Interesting, and definitely different than other books I've read, but overly precious at times.
—farina1954
Pretty rooms and homes. Nothing I could or would do with my own home, but pleasant to look at.
—fahmida
If you like books on decorating,etc. I highly recommend this one!
—holy
Pretty pictures of pretty houses and apartments.
—bhumi
