The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking: Decorating, Dining, and the Gratifying Pleasures of Self-Sufficiency--on a Budget! [Paperback]

Kate Payne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 19, 2011

With The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking, it's possible and even convenient to create an inviting space for living and entertaining on a budget. From unique decor ideas to growing strawberries on your fire escape, Kate Payne shares fun, low-cost (and often free!) creative solutions that will make anyone feel more accomplished in minutes.

Inside this savvy motivational guide filled to the brim with small-scale creative home projects, Kate's tongue-in-cheek tone will keep you tuned in to her much-needed advice. In three easy sections, you'll learn how to create a comfortable space while being time- and budget-conscious. Section One, Home-ify Your Pad, features quick, convenient ways to make your place cozier with low-cost, special touches to help you tap into and show off your inner artist. Section Two, Impressive Acts of Domesticity, teaches how to impress others (and yourself) with the gratifying pleasures of self-sufficiency—a first-time guide to cleaning, sewing, repairing, and other previously out-of-the-question tasks. Section Three, Life After Restaurants, frees you to release the take-out menu, avoid pricey bar tabs, and entertain others in the space you've so thoughtfully and gorgeously created.

User-friendly "how-to" sidebars, illustrations, and tips and tricks throughout the book offer easy-to-follow recipes and do-it-yourself craft suggestions for making your home hip, comfortable, and inviting. Keep in mind that this is not your grandmother's handbook and it's not the kind of wisdom your mom knows how to impart. Modern women need a modern approach to domestic pleasures—a guide to doing household things on our own terms, because most of this stuff isn't as hard as we've been led to believe. Don't worry, she's not asking you to host Tupperware parties or iron your underwear. But as all beginning home keepers know, a sure fire way to feel bad about ourselves is to consult Martha Stewart. So ditch that 2-inch thick handbook, dust off your pots and pans, and join Kate on this journey to incorporating creativity and self-sufficiency on the home front.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“My daughter is moving into her first apartment next year. Along with boxes of second hand linens and furniture from the attic, she’s getting this fresh, modern, and enthusiastic primer on all things housekeeping.” (Eugenia Bone, New York Times writer and author of The Denver Post's Well-Preserved blog and the Well-Preserved book )

Living comfortably in your home is endlessly rewarding, and all it takes is attention and creativity. I’m so convinced that I’m taking Kate’s advice on bread baking this very week! (Zora O’Neill, co-author of Forking Fantastic! Put the Party back in Dinner Party )

I am a huge fan of The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking! Kate nailed it in this humorous, creative guide for fabulous, chic, and easy-on-the-wallet ideas. It’s a joy to read a book that makes you laugh and get great ideas from—another must have for my girlfriends (Kim Barnouin, co-author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller, Skinny Bitch )

The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking is a wonderfully insightful, encouraging, non-perfectionist guide for creating a pleasurable home without killing yourself (or the planet). It’s full of information your mother forgot to tell you, that will help you live well and sustainably, and have fun in the process. (Sally Schneider, Founder of 'the improvised life' website, author of The Improvisational Cook and A New Way to Cook. )

This should be required reading for anyone with a roof over their heads. You’ll find yourself returning to it again and again, whether you’re looking for party ideas or which side of the place setting the napkin goes on. (Ashley English, author of the Homemade Living book series and small measure blog )

The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking will release your hidden domestic talents. Kate’s friendly voice will transform even the most clueless guy or gal into a homemaking marvel. Loaded with smart, frugal, and pragmatic tips, it is the ideal home-life manual for the modern age. (Marisa McLellan, creator of foodinjars.com )

About the Author

Kate Payne is a grant writer, creative writing instructor, part-time nanny; after-hours poet; occasional painter, big-time procrastinator, tea, toast, and jam obsessed Austinite; and former Brooklynite. The creator of the Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking website, she is an expert on thrift stores, flea markets, and Craigslist, and a frequent consultant for design, decorating, cooking, and crafting sites.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harper Design (April 19, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062014706
• ISBN-13: 978-0062014702
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #123,289 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kate Payne is an author, grant writer, part-time nanny, after-hours poet, occasional painter, committed doodler, drive-by trash collector, big-time procrastinator, tea, toast and jam obsessed Austinite-in-Brooklyn. She collects old typewriters; some of them still work. She studied anthropology and sociology in the Sonoran Desert. She worked on a tomato farm once, and paper-mached gigantic thumbs once, too.

The creator of the Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking website, she is the internet's go to girl for domestic advice--an expert on thrift stores, flea markets, and Craigslist, and a frequent consultant for design, decorating, cooking, crafting, and urban living sites--as well as a creative writing instructor with the New York Writers Coalition where she leads writing workshops for all ages, from adults to elementary and middle school-aged children, and frequently uses her students to test out her new recipes. Most recently, they fell in love with her honey whole wheat bread.

Kate rotates her time between Brooklyn, NY and Austin, TX.