A Home for the Soul: A Guide for Dwelling wtih Spirit and Imagination (Hardcover)

by Anthony Lawlor (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Mindfulness has become a common religious buzzword. In A Home for the Soul award-winning architect Anthony Lawlor shows us how to decorate a home that encourages mindfulness from every bathroom and bibelot. Despite a (perhaps unavoidable) tendency toward camp and solipsism, the stunning photographs and insights into the potentially sacred details of domestic living prompt you to pay closer attention to your immediate environment. For example, "Books are like small altars, each page serving as a threshold for crossing into realms of broadened vision." Investing the items around us with soulful symbolism is like living in a temple of one's own design.

Product Description
A Home for the Soul
        by Anthony Lawlor

                Anthony Lawlor is known as the architect who brings soul to design. His acclaimed book The Temple in the House showed how to and the sacred in architecture. Now, in A Home for the Soul, he reveals how our houses and apartments can become havens of inspiration and renewal.
"From the moment we're born, we seek to find home." Lawlor says, "Yet, despite this primal longing, our dwelling places often disappoint us." In A Home for the Soul, we discover that the depth and meaning we seek is right in front of us if we but have the eyes to see. Lawlor teaches us how to develop a consciousness about the spiritual possibilities inherent in our interior surroundings; he shows how to recognize the sacred in material form. "Each time we bathe," says Lawlor, "we not only cleanse the body,
we refresh the spirit. Each time we open our front door, we enter a universe of connection and signifcance."
                Lawlor leads us on a journey through each
room of the house, opening our vision to hidden possibilities. We discover, for example, how a stove expresses the transforming power of nature, how clothes closets reveal our inner personalities, and how home offices display our talents. Lawlor shows us the mythological
and archetypal meanings within the common objects of daily life--such as a bed, a bathtub, a pair of shoes, or a loaf or bread.
                The author also offers practical suggestions
for arranging or building soulful homes.
He explains how to use wood, tile, brick, and stone to express qualities of the spirit and
how to use furniture and personal objects as allies in creating meaning.

        Finally, Lawlor shows us how to construct a Mandala of the Soul--a wood cabinet with compartments for housing the symbols of home that have particular personal meanings for
each reader.
        In these pages, we come to understand how all the rooms we live in can form a sacred place of wholeness, a home that cares for and uplifts the totality of mind, body, and soul.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter; 1st edition (November 11, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517704005
• ISBN-13: 978-0517704004
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #669,700 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Planning for a home, not a showcase, November 7, 2000

By	Gwyneth Calvetti (West Salem, WI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you are looking for lots of ideas for floor plans, design or decorating ideas, this is not the book you want. If you are looking for a book that will help you create a space that feels like "home," this book will help you think about what that means in terms of your space.

Lawlor takes an unusual approach to his subject by first examining each living area with respect to the Greek gods typically responsible for that space. Before one dismisses this as a New Age thing, study the ideas behind the activities represented by that god. It's simply his "hook" to get the reader to continue on, to think about what this space is intended to do in the routine of life. As a storyteller, I was thrilled to read of his ideas for planning one's living area, which should be a space for stories, music and social interaction. He does not ignore the ever-present television, but he does suggest planning for lively, involved social interaction, which we all crave but often lack in our busy lives.

He does give general suggestions for room layouts if you are in the planning stages of construction, and closes each chapter with his vision of the ideal layout for that living area. He suggests materials, colors, furnishings and accents for each specific area, so that if you are looking to change existing space, you'll find that, too. Anyone who places a priority on books as a major furnishing component will win me over every time, but his vision of planning for a home, not a house, has appeal as well.

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Mundane ideas at best..., June 29, 1999

By A Customer

Unless you've lived under a rock for the past decade & have read NOTHING in design periodicals (or even the newspaper!) about trends in decorating & design; you've already seen most of what is in this book. The author's suggestions are topics covered in entire books elsewhere. On a new garden "use plants native to your microclimate. Install bird feeders". Could you have guessed? Most pictures are antique-y and have an East coast derivative feel: hardly inspiratioin to those in other regions. Softening sunlight using rattan shades has been done in Calif. for at least 20 years!On the toilet: author's exhalted importance here will be left to your imagination unless you buy the book anyway. The curve of stairways "inviting the soul to flow....upward"...I expected an expose on the supernatural. On dining: use runners & placemats, a cluster of candles...this is new? "Breath 3 times, look at each person, look at food.". .this book has an air of total meloncholy; damp & moldy. He tells us to "observe", "think of ways", "think of materials"...things we are looking to HIM for. "Wood panel doors offer grainy texture.... "Place a desk by a window..." these are not unique either. What a downer. Save your money & peruse your Pottery Barn catalog instead. I wish I had.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thus the difference between a house and a home., April 12, 2000

By A Customer

Light a few candles. Put on the tea kettle. Find the most comfortable spot in your home and settle in. This book will transport you to the essence of your soul room-by-room. There are many ideas on how to turn your space into a nurturing nest, and not all fluff--many practical ideas that make a huge impact. I highly recommend this book.