Customer Reviews

Apartment Therapy Presents: Real Homes, Real People, Hundreds of Design Solutions

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Apartment Therapy Presents: Real Homes, Real People, Hundreds of Design Solutions by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan is eye candy for those of us interested in home decorating.

In the introduction, Gillingham-Ryan writes: "More than just a physical shelter, the home is both a second skin that protects us from the world outside and an emotional center that nourishes us and supports our innermost dreams. He also writes: "A healthy home will nurture and support you."

I absolutely agree with both statements.

The author believes that: "It's your home--design it for you!"

With that in mind, each apartment has it's own distinct personality and we get to read about the occupants of each apartment.

While I really enjoyed the book, it does lack one thing, which is why I gave the book 4, not 5, stars. It lacks general tips on how to decorate. I recommend Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify and Energize Your Life, Your Home and Your Planet as a companion to this book, because it provides hundreds of tips on how to decorate, clear clutter, make your home green, and more.

That said, Apartment Therapy is very inspirational and real. The apartments feel doable and lived in--not like unattainable glossies in the home decorating magazines.

A floor plan and basic information, like square footage, is provided for each apartment which is smart, as photos alone can't convey the layout of a home.

Next, there is a description which includes information on the occupants, their style and more. I enjoyed reading about the people and it made the decorating choices make sense.

Great photographs.

A survey was included for each section and included the following: style, inspiration, favorite element, biggest challenge, biggest embarrassment, biggest challenge, proudest DIY, biggest indulgence, best advice, fream sources. FUN to read.

Each apartment also included resources which is always great if you see something you want.

Real people real stuff.

Next,

A couple of weeks ago, I ordered a box full of decorating books. And out of that box, this was by far my favorite! Besides the variety of styles, it was SO NICE to see REAL HOMES for a change. I am SO TIRED of seeing overly dressed homes that I personally would be afraid to sit down in, or that would take an army of hired help to keep clean. I read this book first, skimmed through the other five (Almost all written by well-known TV personality-type decorators)and went right back to this one. The others...are still sitting in the box.

That said, if you are looking for a step-by-step "how-to" guide, this is likely not your book. But I found the pictures and the survey answers by the actual owners very inspiring. It gives you a lot of insight to the thought process behind the design. And the photos are FRESH...not rehashed, like a lot of the books that come out. (Yawn!) So from that perspective alone, it's worth the money.

My favorites-

"turquoise's directional shift" (Turquoise is her name, btw.) I LOVED her design, and her inspiration..."boutique hotels." They inspire me, too!! :) And she 'customized' an Ikea piece...something I have done as well! ;) Her apartment...is absolutely beautiful. Perhaps a few boutique hotels could actually get a little more inspired by Turquoise!

"curtis's paint by numbers" Talk about a great idea!! This guy did a life-sized Paris street scene using a paint-by-numbers kit!! (Directions as to how he did it, included.) I have a huge upstairs landing that has been sitting in limbo, as I had contemplated some type of wall-art...and THIS IS EXACTLY what I am going to do!! Thanks, Curtis, for the SMASHING idea!! How cool of you to think of it!!

"jane and darko's cozy thicket' I loved this, because it reminded me of a very modern cabin. (Hey, I'm from Minnesota!) After looking at the pictures, I was sure this apartment was somewhere in the Midwest...only to find out, it's right in Manhattan. Now that's what I call marching to your own drummer!!

ALL of the apartments were fun to look at, fun to read about, and very, very personal. Something you don't see in most decorating books out there. Not sure how those TV people can keep hawking the same darned rooms over and over, again. IMHO - This book certainly puts them to shame.

Great job, Maxwell!!

There were many good things about this book--the lists of resources and the creative ways the people featured went about organizing and decorating their spaces. I also liked the fact most of them did it without big budgets. I do have to agree somewhat with the reviewer who felt the photography was a little amateurish. My biggest complaint, however, is that so many of the dwellings were either retro (hard lines), or contemporary (industrial materials and more hard lines). The majority of the living spaces were also urban. I live in a house in a suburban setting that is more than 100 years old. I am also very fond of old furniture and detailing. I appreciate eclectic mixes of decor that manage to blend old and new. For someone like me, whose taste does not run to contemporary, there was almost nothing in this book that I could use as inspiration. There were plenty of found objects and kitsch, and some interesting paint colors, but overall, I would have liked to see a more varied point of view. I found Apartment Therapy's book on organizing very helpful, so I had hoped this would be as useful. Unfortunately, it wasn't.

This book is as good as I expected it would be; tons of ideas and ingenious solutions to space problems. Very talented people who achieve an individual look usually without mounds of money.

This book gives a lot of inspiration to people whose tastes run from modern to eclectic, who don't live in huge homes or have unlimitied financial resources. Shows what you can do with resale shops, eBay, and using what you have to make your home reflect your style and be a really comfortable place to live.

I'm a modern design junkie (magazines, books, blogs, web sites and oh yeah, actual decorating of our 975 square foot condo in a 100-year-old building). When I heard about this book I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. . . but I was a little disappointed. I enjoyed the text and the way each person/couple did something different with their space -- and those tiny apartments were amazing! -- but I was disappointed with the photos and the captions. I thought the photos looked sort of amateurish, and should have been bigger. Sometimes they referred to an object in a caption, but it was hard to find it in the photo! Often, the photos showed only a tiny section of a room, when a complete view and perspective would have been much more helpful. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but with these caveats. Anyone else feel that way?

The thing I like best about this book is that it offers design solutions that work for small spaces. Even though I own a home I have found that most home decor books feature GIANT houses, or at least homes that are much more spacious than my modest dwelling. Most of the design schemes are very affordable and are DIY.

This book was mostly visually appealing, but I was hoping for more practical tips, more explanation of how the featured domiciles used the principles outlined in the excellent _Apartment Therapy_ book, by the same author.

I also found that the aesthetic began to be rather monotonous. With a few exceptions, most of the homes were very 30-something-hipster-esque. That's not necessarily bad, in and of itself, but it would have been neat to see clever space-saving techniques, multi-purposing, etc. in a wider variety of styles.

I accidentally posted my initial review to this book when my son was signed in, so I'll just pretend that I really agree with what that other reviewer (really me) said. I love the whole Apartment Therapy idea, and I believe it applies to more than just apartment-dwellers. Anyone with only a couple hundred square feet per person can benefit from the ideas and philosophy contained in the Apartment Therapy website and books. However, I would really like to see more than just singles, couples, and couples with just one or two little kids. As families grow, and children get older, it gets a lot more challenging to integrate everyone's lives and interests in a small space, in a life-affirming way. I want to see more in that direction.

This book is packed full of great and beautiful ideas for real people with real stuff. It's great if you're looking for ideas for small homes especially if it's just one large space. I loved at least one aspect of every home shown.

I really wanted to LOVE this book. I was very excited to receive it in the mail, and when it did arrive, I dove in, expecting to have my hair blown back by the awesomeness. However, it soon became apparent that the book was much more about form than it was function. While there was plenty of "cool", there wasn't enough in the form of practical, money-saving, ingenious ideas. Plus, the coolness all started to look alike after a while. There is a definite running gag of mid-century, tongue-in-cheek, aren't-the-1970's-a-hoot? type thing going on.
If you are a youngish single person or couple with little to no kids, this book might appeal to you more than it did me. I have a hard time being impressed with the space-saving techniques or style of a childless couple's 1900 sq. foot vacation house. There were a couple of teeny tiny apartments inhabited by one or two people, and they were pretty impressive. Adults living alone in the city, can tend to use their homes more like hotels, anyway, though, using their apartments to sleep and heat up the odd Pop Tart. I wanted to see more dwellings of folks who actually LIVE in their homes, even work in them. These sorts were not sufficiently represented.
Woefully underrepresented, were families with children. The families with children that were shown, only had one or two little kids. It's easy enough to tuck one or two little kids and their blocks and crayons into the eaves. What I hoped to see were strategies for stylishly incorporating individuals (even if they aren't old enough to vote) with their own interests and activities, in a minimal space.