Customer Reviews

Home Swell Home

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Just like it's mama publication Swell: A Girl's Guide to the Good Life, this isn't a bible--it's for inspiration. CR and IR remind you that your place is a reflection of you--so why not make it just as kooky, fun, crazy, and yep, swell, as you are? You're not going to read this book on the way to Home Depot to pick up exactly what you're going to buy to re-do your bathroom. You're going to read it and be inspired to think up your very own ideas. What could be more swell than that?

This book was a disappointment. There is a small handful of good ideas (ie. using frayed denim as a bedskirt, paintng one wall a bright color and the rest of the walls white, hanging hooks on the bedroom wall to hang your outfit for the next day, etc.). However, the remaining totally absurd ideas, the constant suggestions of having a bar/minibar throughout various rooms of the house, the abuse to books (nevermind perhaps reading the books and enrichening oneself), and the flippant suggestions to just have your carpenter come over and do the work made me think the authors are just a bunch of arrogant mindless rich witches most likely on drugs. Not everybody can afford to own a place or hire a carpenter/contractor, especially during these times. The real creativity lies in making something wonderful with little resources. I also did not appreciate the broad generalizations they make and hold as truth, such as stating it is a known fact that people who can cook cannot make a good cup of coffee. Ehhh? I don't think so. This was the most irritating book to read, and I had to force myself to read it through to the end. I really felt like burning it when I finished reading. And I consider myself pretty open-minded.... It's amazing how much crap gets allowed to be published.

I actually had put this book on my wish list before it had come out - but decided to check it out at the bookstore before ordering on Amazon. First off you'll notice the book is thin, at only 192 pages, and remember that includes the intro, index, and bibliography, etc. Keep in mind that this is not coffee table sized hardcover either, but around 9 X 7. There are also no real pictures (save for one of the two writers/designers on the last page). A decorating book with no pictures? There are illustrations, but c'mon, we're not talking detailed images or even very imaginative ideas. I kept on going back to the table of contents thinking that I must have missed something, that they were somehow hidding pictures, or projects, or different colour schemes or anything, but alas no. If you're really looking for a swell guide to designing your digs this is surely not it. I'm pretty sure I wrote something like this book a few years back for a college 'zine. Trying for a groovy 'It' girl look? try checking out my lists, or check out design books by period, get a feel for your style, which designers you like, which period you like. If your interested in this book, i'd put the time periods around 1940s and on.

PS for some kooky rooms but great projects check out Pad: The Guide to Ultra-Living -- by Matt Maranian.

This book was so much more fun to read than any other (home/interior). It gave me ideas true to teen spirit and inspired ideas true to ME. Much better than the original Swell book, the contents were organized well and practical tips for decorating were scattered throughout the book to keep away boredom. Not for people really into crafty home decorating though-although it may give new perspective.

This book is an amusing, tongue-in-cheek read, but that's it. Only a professional stylist or someone very, very artistic could carry off these decorating ideas successfully--anyone else will just look like they're having an indoor yard sale.

It's a cute read for a young woman in her first apartment, but unlike Rowley's first Swell book, which I loved and found very useful, there's very little practical help in this one. If you're seriously looking for decorating ideas, take a pass on this one.

I love Cynthia Rowley and Ilene Rosenzweig's "Swell" series. I have every edition and must confess that I am a bit of a "Swell" addict. I found "Home Swell Home" really up my alley. I love home design and decorating. I love Cynthia Rowley. And, I love illustration (which is very glorified in the "Swell" series).

This great book is a mix between Martha Stewart (traditional) and modern chic. I find each idea very creative and while some thing's I would never attempt (way too "out-there") but there are many ideas that I have and WOULD do. I love their sense of fun about everything. From throwing a dinner party - to painting a room. It's all done with a sense of style and humor. I really love that and I will always try to bring that into my design and home.

Love the entire "Swell" series and I will continue to follow their work for as long as they do it.

I thought this book would be more inspiring and have more new ideas than than it turned out to have. Its philosophy and its ideas are no different than a lot of the decorating books and magazines I already own. (Do your own thing? Gee, I never heard that one before....) The book is kinda thin too. It's sort of a magazine more than a book and not worth the money.

If you want a good inspiration for making your place ultra swanky, I agree with the other reviewer that "Pad" is the way to go. But this book is really cute and not too outrageous, has some good ideas and a great layout. It makes a good housewarming gifty for single gal friends. Some of the advice is annoying and just makes you go "duh. I knew that". Like the advice for "Get real paint out of your hair" (mentioned above) it is basically a one paragraph inset about shampooing out latex paint. Now, how to remove oil based varnish from a platinum blonde dye job would have been really helpful, but this is pretty basic stuff. Its still a fun read.

theme rooms. Wow, nobody ever did that before. turn your kitchen into a spa with river stones in the sink! (even the themes they chose for the rooms aren't clever or even funny, they're just silly and childish.) Not only is this repetitive, unoriginal book overpriced, but they're selling a whole line of home items to go with it. As for the reviewer who said a person can get their own ideas by reading this, if you can't come up with better than this simply by recombining ideas from t.v., movies, and other decorating books, then there's no hope for you.

And the concept is? I'm mad at myself for buying this. I'm tired of being sold meaningless concepts. I wanted a book, dammit. I want something meaningful, visual, substantial, and fun between the covers. Unfortunately, I didn't get that. This is nothing but some sort of silly push for a concept or product line created by what looks to be people who don' t have real homes or lives. Silly, meaningless, and superficial. What will they try to sell me next? An empty book? Well, in a way, that's what they sold me this time.