Customer Reviews

First Home: A Decorating Guide and Source Book for the First Time Around

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I checked out this book from the library to "preview" it. My husband and I are planning on buying our first house in less than two months. I wanted to see what type of advice the author gave before I went out and spent the money on a book. (We are on quite a tight budget, my husband is finishing school.) I thought this book gave me lots of "direction" and helpful advice on where to start. Although, I do disagree with the author about the bedroom being the most important place to decorate. I believe the kitchen is the most important. But that is a matter of personal opinion. She gave me lots of ideas about how to go about furnishing a room etc. The only problem with this book that I can see is that there is no real help when it comes to choosing colors for room and no "instructions" on where to place furniture. I think a little more "insturction" in classical placement and color would have made the book a little better. On the whole it is a very helpful book and high on my list of things to buy when we do get our new (first) house.

This book could easily have been half the number of pages for several reasons. Besides using larger print (which is okay by me) and lots of b&w drawings, she only uses about 2/3 of the page for text, so there's quite a bit of blank space. Mainly though, I got tired of her repeating the same information. For example, when she talks about cabinets, she tells you the same stuff in the chapters on kitchens and home offices. She repeats the information about lighting in the bathroom and living room chapters. Also, she likes to decorate with white and often recommends that color scheme, which doesn't seem very practical to me. Overall, I learned a couple of things about decorating and picked up a few tips, but unless you really don't know anything at all about decorating, I would keep looking for a book with more depth and detail.

I ended up returning this very disappointing book. It's all black and white, with no color. How can a decorating book be effective in black and white? The advice seemed very outdated and the book was boring. Don't waste your money!