2 Book Reviews

Real Simple: The Organized Home


Just like the magazine, the book had really good photos. And the photos showed some good organizing ideas. But the downfall of this book is that it didn't describe really how to implement its ideas. There isn't hardly any text in the book and no captions or how-to instructions to go with the photos to tell you how to create that in your home. In the back of the book, it has a resource list but not an index of what item went with each resource. So although I found some great and interesting containers in the photos, there is no clear way to find those items without just going through each resource which is a big list. If you like Real Simple's photos you will enjoy this book. If you enjoy real simple's tips and ideas, you won't enjoy this book, as it really doesn't give much written content and how to create the ideas put forth in the photos.

Decorating Small Spaces: Live Large in Any Space (Better Homes & Gardens)

The book is only good maybe for section to do layouts. It has graph-paper and then cut-outs that so you can arrange your room. But if you are wanting a book that will tell you how to get the most space out of your small room - this probably isn't the book for you. I mean it has some nice ideas for hidden compartments behind mirrors, under the stairs or over doorway type storage solutions. I don't feel it was really a book for utilizing space in small rooms rather a book of utilizing space in any/bigger size room/house. Many of the photos show medium to large rooms that look airy and not in need of space.

The solutions I did kind of like in the book of course then didn't go into detail on how to create the idea and I notice many of the purposed ideas were the same. Another annoying things was the layout of the text because it was confusing to follow and hard to read.

Overall I found some of the photos in the book inspiring. And even a few might be worth while to implement in a future house but won't work in our current house. The book offers some ways to utilize and organize un-used space more creatively. But BH&G didn't focus enough on actual small rooms to create space so for me it didn't live up to expectations.