We’re very excited to introduce a brand new, regular blog series – Bookmarks – in which we review books & magazines that have caught our eye. Naturally, the books we choose to feature will be on subjects close to our hearts – such as vintage interior design.
Our first title is The Comforts of Home written by Caroline Clifton-Mogg and published by Ryland, Peters & Small.
Clifton-Mogg’s maxim – which runs throughout each chapter – is that making a home calm, cosy and comfortable isn’t hard, shouldn’t be daunting and doesn’t have to be.
A lot of what she recommends, such as de-cluttering and having a household cleaning routine, you think you already know and have heard it all before.
But the way in which she puts it makes so much sense, that you may find yourself suddenly whisking piles of stuff off your kitchen table or from your hallway that you’d been oblivious to for months!
Each room in the house is given its own chapter; with advice on how to make them more homely.
The book is brimful of glossy, colour photographs of beautiful vignettes…
…there’s page after page of inspiring rooms…
…but these aren’t rooms in unattainable, fantasy homes – all of the looks are easily achievable.
There are beautiful and practical ideas for storage solutions and showing off your collections of items.
The book was a very enjoyable initial read – and it’s great for dipping back into for tips & ideas.
You can also get a copy of the book from Amazon or Abe Books.
[Many thanks to Ryland, Peters & Small for supplying this review copy]
I bought this book having read your review when it was first published. I read a few pages and set it aside but I did look at the photographs which were lovely. I finally read the book over the past few days. I have been feeling unwell and it seemed like the perfect antidote. How wrong I was. This book is dreadful. The advice in it boils down to be tidy and buy lots of fresh flowers and new cushions. This advice is delivered in a slightly hectoring upper middle-class tone which I found very irritating. I do agree that the photographs are inspiring but would not recommend this book to anyone. I am taking the author’s advice in relation to de-clutteirng and will be donating this to the charity shop.