9.09.2014

Book of the Month: 'The Stuff of Life' by Hilary Robertson

A new interest of mine is how to live with the things we love in a way that is aesthetically pleasing. Decorating a space that pushes the boundaries just enough to be interesting, without being too eccentric, is challenging, especially when incorporating all those quirky, beautiful, lovingly-collected 'things' that touch our hearts and souls. A new book called The Stuff of Life by stylist Hilary Robertson aims to help magpies and minimalists alike merge their modern tastes with the knick-knacks and collectibles they have inherited or gathered over the years. The photographs in this book are gorgeous and the ideas are inspiring. Here are a few words on how the book is structured to help us embrace the 'stuff of life' beautifully and artfully:
 
In the first chapter, How to Arrange your Stuff, Hilary identifies and illustrates four different approaches to arrangements and shows how each one can be achieved. In Chapter 2, Where to Arrange It. she suggests places to experiment with arrangements, From Blank walls to windowsills and tabletops. Finally, in Real Homes, Hilary shares inspiration from real-life interiors that fall into four different styles - Neatnik, Bohemian, Sculpture Vulture, and Noble Salvage. Some people are magpies - they love stuff; finding, collecting, and displaying it, while their opposite, the minimalists, are on a mission to contain it or tame it. The ideas in this book are sure to appeal to both magpies and minimalists and everyone in between.
 
"Many of the houses that interior designers show me look more like hotels than homes. And that's because there is often nothing personal about them: a designer created them and the owners haven't managed to add those personal layers that real homes need:decorative things, vases, sculptures, children's drawings, hats, bicycles..."the stuff of life" as I like to call it." - Hilary Robertson
 




1 comment:

Rowaida said...

Looks like an interesting book, I would live to purchase it.