Customer Reviews

Decorate: 1,000 Design Ideas for Every Room in Your Home

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Length:: 2:41 Mins

It's obvious that this original and vibrant book was designed with great craft and care to be useful to the apartment dweller or home-owner who is looking for direction on where to begin in decorating their space. The following styles are highlighted: simple, natural, modern, flea-market, colorful, floral, eclectic and modern glamour style. There are helpful guidelines in how to create each of these styles in a home. In "Attention to Detail" you'll see accessorizing tips for mirrors, lighting, pillows, flowers and table settings.

The styles represented are fresh and vibrant; this book should appeal to folks who like modern, vintage, flea-market, DIY, urban, retro, cottage, rural, industrial, bohemian, global, mid-century, heirloom, Apartment Therapy, eclectic and any variation on these themes. These are real homes in which you can easily imagine folks living. It is fun to see designers Jonathan Adler & Simon Doonan's home and Vicente Wolf's loft in the mix. If you've ever wondered how one-room living and sleeping would be, Liz Bauer's NYC studio apartment in this book (and Billy Baldwin's from another book) are convincing that you can have a bed in your living room and still look stylish! Loved her space.

This book exceeded my expectations--didn't really know what to expect regarding how 1000 quality design ideas would fit in one book--and think it will be especially valuable to those who want their home to express them and their personal vision of a lively, lovable and livable space.

Decorate:1,000 Design Ideas for Every Room in Your Home, by Holly Beckerand Joanna Copestick,is filled with great tips from the top designers. That said, it is still accessible for the layman and is a very insprational--and beautiful--read.

The book is divided into sections:
Space Matters: working with the space you have to create rooms that work and flow
Seeking your style: helps you to determine what style is best for you
Room by room: gorgeous pictures of different rooms and how to maximize the look
Attention to detail: how little details make a big difference

As a designer, I always check out new books on interior design. I was very impressed with how this book is filled with great tips and ideas and is accessible to all--not intimidating as many design books can be.

I highly recommend Decorate and would like to recommend another book that I often give my clients: HARMONIOUS ENVIRONMENT: BEAUTIFY, DETOXIFY & ENERGIZE YOUR LIFE, YOUR HOME AND YOUR PLANET for more tips on how to create the home of your dreams.

Love the book and wanted to mention that after I was unable to get it from Amazon I went to the publisher's site (Chronicle Books) and found that they have it in stock with a discount code. I think Amazon's price will likely be less expensive once it's back in stock, but for people who want it now and are eying those crazy prices from resellers, just go to the publisher and buy it direct.

Happy reading!

I won't lie. I buy a LOT of books. Home Decor books are a favorite. This one has earned a spot on my coffee table (a spot I reserve for the best of the best). Buy it. Read it. Absorb the ideas. I think you'll love it. I know I did. :)

I love Holly's blog Decor8 and I'm enjoying this book too. I was a bit overwhelmed when I first got it, I didn't know quite where to start; there's just so much to absorb and admire. Decorate is choke-ful of information, ideas and resources. It covers a range of style although it leans a little toward the country and vintage, shabby chic look.

I liked: the fountain of ideas and tips; the great photos and the use of visuals to explain concepts and ideas; the quotes on every facing page from designers, writers and other professionals; the house tours. The book makes interior decorating accessible to anyone and is filled with suggestions that are DIY-able and easy to realize in scope and budget.

There's so much in this book it's pretty easy to get lost in all that eye candy. But the book is divided into 4 sections (Space Matters; Setting Your Style; Room by Room; Attention to Detail) that helps you navigate this library of ideas and formulate your own creative plans.

Unless you're very specific about which style you like and it's not represented here, I think most readers will be able to take away at least a few things from this book. Excellent value for money.

I really enjoyed this book. I read a lot of design books and magazines each month and this one set a different tone. I think it's a fantastic resource for the home owner who wants to transform their space. The thoughtful layout out helps walk you through the basics of starting a project; planning your space, understanding the architecture of the room, room-by-room examples and ideas, and attention to details. It's filled with creative ideas that make you re-think what you already own, shop the high end stores and plan a trip to the flea market and even look to your own garden for ideas. The directory in the back of the book gives pages of design resources and products to help guide your project and the beautiful photography and inspirational quotes throughout the book were a nice treat.

If you like Elle Decor or House Beautiful magazines you will LOVE this book! Excellent coffee table book, heavy too! Styles range from eclectic, quirky to modern with a tiny splash of Country Living added in. I think the Million Dollar Decorators would approve of this book. You eye won't know where to look first, every page is great, I cannot say enough of this book. Loads of ideas for your normal person to flea market person. I have the House Beautiful coffee table books and this is unlike it so it's worth the purchase, no duplication of ideas here. I would compare this book to the Lonny Magazine website as they are similar styles - Buy it, you won't be sorry.

p.s. Holly & Joanna, please start another book as I'm a forever follower after this book.

I would probably give this book 3.5 stars, not 3. It's a book with a lot of advice and a decent variety of decor styles (although many do have an shabby chic undercurrent as some other reviewers noted), but the book is incredibly difficult to read. There's so many pull quotes and sidebars and photo captions and sections within sections (like there's kitchens, then various case studies with their own subsections), it's hard to tell where one idea ends and the other begins. Your eye doesn't know where to land or how to digest the information. I think this could've been easily fixed with layout design.

I also felt that many of these ideas were not feasible for people who are not homeowners (aka people who rent/lease). I know this was not touted as an apartment/rental living book, but it just seemed like you had to make some big changes in materials to achieve the design effects. There was also occasionally some noticeable overlap of information already stated in the book (for example, that north-facing rooms look gray if they have white walls).

But, I did really like the drawn blueprints and information about furniture placement was quite helpful. Most of the spaces shown, also, seem fairly livable, not stark and designer influenced like in many other shelter/home decor books. And although I don't like how it's presented, I do like that there is a lot of information, so you are getting a lot of bang for your buck.

Beginning in the '70s with Terence Conran's "House," I've collected many decorating books and thought I didn't need any more. But this one is just lovely, so fun to look through, and I plan to savor it gradually over a long time. The publisher's website (Chronicle Books) is very helpful, as another reviewer mentioned. Thanks!