- ISBN13: 9780553383126
- Shape up: NEW
- Notes: Brаnd Nеw frοm Publisher. Nο Remainder Mаrk.
Product Description
Frοm nοt enough space аnd tοο many things tο nοt knowing whаt color tο paint thе living room walls, many οf υѕ struggle wіth ουr homes. Now Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, frequent makeover expert οn HGTV’s Mission: Organization аnd Small Spaces, Hυgе Style, shares thе dο-іt-yourself strategies thаt hаνе enabled hіѕ clients аnd fans tο transform thеіr apartments іntο well-organized, gοrgеουѕ places thаt suit thеіr style аnd budget.
Week bу week, Apartment Therapy… More >>
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As a reviewer previously noted, there really isn’t anything new here. But like a chef who takes ingredients we are well familiar with and combines them to give us a new experience, so too does Maxwell. There are the little gimmicks–calling people warm and cool, talking about the house like a body when he could just say he’s writing about attending to repairs (bones), arranging and organizing the stuff in your space (breath), figuring out the functions of each room (head) and decorating (heart). But this is not a meal of last night’s leftovers. Instead it is packaged into another gimmick: the eight week cure. There’s a lot to do in your eight weeks: and the work seems unbalanced. It starts out slowly (throwing out one thing, making lists) and ends slowly (preparing for a party) but in the middle there’s almost an impossible amount of things to do. But it’s all laid out. There are worksheets and practical tips to begin. Maxwell has taken all the steps to transforming a living space and laid them all out sequentially. This book is about more than just fixing up your place however: Maxwell aims to change and enrich your experience of your home. And that’s the spice that makes the book worth consuming.
This book is also something else. It’s a primer for a web site and blog. It sets out the vocabulary and explains the aims of hundreds of people who have already participated in the first on-line cure. Like Marla Cilley’s Sink Reflections, the book functions as a portal to the collective on-line experience. There are no lush photographs in the book.They are on the web site.
More than anything, though, Maxwell writes his prose well and in such a way that one feels inspired to tackle transforming one’s home and experience in it. I’m not in a small apartment in the city—but a small house in a city whose burbs are ever expanding outwards. I don’t need to start cooking at home–as he recommends–but taking those wonderful morning baths he advocates. It’ll be a challenge to implement the cure for my home and it will take longer than eight weeks. Nonetheless, he has inspired me to do all he counsels and for that reason I recommend the book.
Rating: 4 / 5
While I didn’t dislike the book with quite the venom of other reviewers, I do understand their frustrations. I did find the tone a little off-putting, but I decided to put those feeling aside and see if the book had anything useful to offer.
It does and it doesn’t. Like many design/decorating book it suffers from a lack of realistic understanding of its audience. Let’s face it, anyone seeking design advice and is only ponying up 14 bucks, probably isn’t the same kind of person who would spend 3000.00 on a couch.
still there is some excellent advice for clearing cluttering and making your home more of a refuge. And for the people that didn’t enjoy the book, you can just toss it, sell it or give it away (which is what the author recommending doing with books you don’t love.)
Bottom line: it can get you motivated to live more simply and if you can ignore the classist attitudes about what kind of decor best suits a home and how NYC centric the book is you might be able to find a few bits of advice worth taking.
Rating: 3 / 5
Unlike a lot of other books about design and interior spaces, this one doesn’t give you photos and examples of what you can do with the space… it really helps you evaluate what it is you feel/have with your living space and steps to take to make it into the space you feel better living in. It’s as insightful into your self as it is where you live.
Rating: 5 / 5
There are so many books to choose from when wanting to fix up your home. But this book really gets to the heart of what our spaces are all about – they’re about us. I don’t think there’s much psycho-babble at all; I think this guy knows what he’s talking about. It’s clear, concise, funny at times, heart-warming. It has true stories of real people he’s worked with and worksheets for the rest of us to fill out so we can benefit from his knowledge.
I also found his website, apartmenttherapy.com, really helpful – it’s a daily digest of ideas, news and forums about the home.
I think I’ll order a few copies as gifts for friends who are struggling with their homes, like I was.
Rating: 5 / 5
Its hard to find books that are accessible and inspire you to find your own aesthetic (rather than imitate the authors). In many ways this is a very gentle and non-judgemental book – its not flashy, hasn’t got photos, but it gets the job done. My apartment is coming together beautifully.
And the associated website http://www.apartmenttherapy.com is great – and provides ongoing inspiration and support as I find new ways to make my apartment into the home of my dreams.
Thanks to Max, I entertain constantly now!
Rating: 5 / 5