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35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The "Thinking Person's" decorating book, January 1, 2006
This review is from: Kitty Bartholomew's Decorating Style: A Hands-On Approach to Creating Affordable, Beautiful, and Comfortable Rooms (Hardcover)
If you like to read, if you have time to read, this is a fantastic book about a specific decorating philosophy--how to make YOUR house work for YOUR family.
Many of us want books that tell us exactly what to do. And that's fine. But this book encourages you to think about your family, your needs, your desires, your preferences, your history, your future--and then make decorating decisions based on all that. Your house should be very personal to you, not based on the dictates of a magazine editor.
It's an amazing experience to be reading through this book and a specific decorating problem you have starts to bubble up in your mind, and the solution to it begins to emerge. I had this experience while reading this book, as did a friend of mine. For instance, I had never thought about my dining room before with any clarity, but I knew that nobody ever sat there, even though it's adjacent to the living room. With a small house, it doesn't make sense to have a whole space that is never sat in. So while I was reading this book, I started wondering: "What is wrong with that room?" I realized the table should turned the other way, that it needed some mirrors to liven up the walls, it needed more light, and I replaced two of the chairs with a little silk brocade-covered love seat that was in my office. I put bed risers under the four legs to raise it up to be comfortable at table height. Now that is the favorite spot in the combined living room/dining room area. Everybody in the family wants to sit in the cozy corner I've created, to read, or to use their laptops to send email or surf the Internet. I'm so pleased with what I did, and it was completely unique to my house, my needs, my family. There's no way this exact idea would have been in a book, but I got infused with the spirit of creating space that works for me.
Yes, this book has very beautiful photos of cozy and wonderful rooms, but the importance of the book is not in those photos, but in Kitty's decorating philosophy. And to embrace that, you'll need to read her words. You know how with some decorating books you can stand at your kitchen counter and flip through the book in 30 minutes and feel you've "gotten" the whole book? I don't recommend you do that with this book. You need to sit down and read it and let the ideas and spirit of it seep into your being. Then you'll end up decorating your house in a way that is completely unique and nurturing to you and your family.
To me, this is a very valuable book. If you get a copy, take the time to embrace it.
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book will teach you to trust your instincts in decorating., November 4, 2005
This review is from: Kitty Bartholomew's Decorating Style: A Hands-On Approach to Creating Affordable, Beautiful, and Comfortable Rooms (Hardcover)
My passion is decorating my house.It's sort of a mix of Cottage, Country French and Miscellaneous.I have a zillion home decor books and I have always tried to pick up little tricks and emulate someone else's style. But, since I read "Kitty Bartholomew's Decorating Style "I have abandoned all inclinations and obligations to copy. Inspired by the book,I do what I like and what looks good to me and it works out well---in my opinion. And my opinion is what counts!!!I don't think Paige Rense will come calling, but I'm happy!!
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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book has a NICE TONE to it, October 25, 2005
This review is from: Kitty Bartholomew's Decorating Style: A Hands-On Approach to Creating Affordable, Beautiful, and Comfortable Rooms (Hardcover)
I got this book and Kitty's new KNITTING BOOK around the same time. I didn't even know Kitty put out books, even though I've been a fan for YEARS.
Here's what I noticed: There is a really nice, caring tone to these books. Kitty has such a calm awareness of the COLORS and MATERIALS and MEANING behind everything she does. Colors mean something. Materials mean something. It's not just meaningless stuff.
For instance, she shows how to weave together a TIE COLLECTION to cover a chair seat, and also the same with a BELT COLLECTION. So instead of TOSSING OUT the memories of our past, we can repurpose them to use in our homes.
I love her chapter on FLEA MARKET SHOPPING. Used tools like wooden folding tape measures have VALUE and DIGNITY, she says, and should be preserved and used. Yes. I COULD READ A WHOLE BOOK ABOUT REPURPOSING TREASURES INTO ITEMS FOR OUR HOMES.
This is a book about HONORING US AND OUR FAMILIES, not trying to be better than the Joneses. Kitty couldn't care less about that.
LIKE THE OTHER REVIEWER SAID, THIS IS A BOOK THAT NEEDS TO BE READ, NOT JUST FLIPPED THROUGH LOOKING AT THE PICTURES.
IF more of us had this attitude of caring, there would be less junk in our homes, fewer family memories in the landfill, and A MORE CONTENT AND WHOLESOME FEELING TO OUR HOMES.
THIS IS A DECORATING PHILOSOPHY THAT NEEDS TO SPREAD ACROSS THE LAND, IN MY OPINON.
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