Crafting A Patterned Home - Book by Kristin Nicholas

I have been following Kristin Nicholas on her blog Getting Stitched on The Farm for a while now, and what I love about her is that she seems genuinely motivated out of the pure love of creating, to decorate her home and make things. She doesn't follow trends, she just has a love for pattern and colour that transcends the latest fashions. It's a true love affair, not just a fling!

photo by Rikki Snyder

This post contains affiliate links (see bottom of post for explanation).

So when I found out she had a new book out, Crafting A Patterned Home, published by Roost Books, I didn't hesitate, I didn't even read about it, I just jumped online and bought it!

I am, like Kristin, intoxicated by pattern and colour and love home decorating. Sometimes I walk into a minimalist space and find some peace and a breath of fresh air, but after a while, I grow bored. Pattern and colour excite me. So clearly I feel like I have lots in common with Kristin.

She has covered the walls in her home with hand-painted patterns, and objects such as lampshades and furniture are not safe... there's even a bath! In this book, she shares how she has done it.

Kristin talks about her previous book Crafting A Colorful Home in this video below, but you can get a sneak peek into her colourful life.

So even though I can appreciate a nice calm neutral home, when I saw Kristin's via this Houzz video I sat there absolutely enthralled. I just would love to sit in her loungeroom with a cuppa and cake and absorb all that pattern into my soul.

Kristin also includes some words of encouragement for the novice or the unsure (scared?) on how to get started.

She gives in-depth advice on how she creates her rooms. One of my favourite snippets of advice she gives is don't make your rooms too "matchy-matchy". I've always agreed with that line of thought; less matchy-matchy makes for a more personalised, interesting home. If all of your furniture is the same design, your rooms might end up looking too much like a furniture display store.

There's a lot of advice on colour, how to think about and design a room, and techniques and tools. There are projects for each space of the house, kitchen & dining, living room & library, bathroom and bedroom, and then outdoor spaces: pottery studio and garden shed, and in the orchard and under the pergola. And of course, if you don't have a pottery studio or pergola, you could make projects for your potting shed or outdoor deck for example.

Such as the one in the image below. I really want to do this with the chook pen window!

The book is bursting with colour, and as a creative person myself, I find it very motivating and I'm eager to try some of the projects in the book.

Thank you Kristin for a lovely book! It's going to slide out of my bookshelf and appear on my coffee table frequently!

Kristin's new book can be found here: Crafting A Patterned Home

Jules :)



*Affiliate Information: Affiliate links help me earn small commissions on products (at no extra cost to you), which helps support my love of blogging and sharing creative things. I only ever recommend or link to products that I'm genuinely into or would use.

Home Decorating Book Review: The New Bohemians

I love home decorating books! I'm chatting "The New Bohemians: Cool & Collected Homes" today here on my creative blog.

This post contains affiliate links (see bottom of post for explanation).

The New Bohemians by Justina Blakeney

Justine Blakeney has divided this home decorating book into different themes of boho. The modern bohemian, the folksy bohemian, the romantic, the earthy, the nomadic... and the maximal bohemian. Each section showcases various houses along with snippets of the lives of the people that reside within them.

The book explains the bohemian decorating style as it is seen today, which aligns with a shun-the-rules, creative, and free spirited state of mind. Best of all, it's an affordable way of decorating. I'm so glad I really love the boho home decorating style- can you imagine the damage on the credit card if I was into designer furniture!?

Bohemian decorating is about mismatching, displaying your collections, celebrating the sentimental and being intuitive rather than following rules such as "your rug needs to extend past the edge of your sofa by 'x' centimetres" kind of ideas that would stop people in their tracks with decorating because they feel like they don't know what they're doing.

This is one of those books that helps give you the confidence to shun the rules and just make spaces you totally love.

It was fun to look through the book and choose which bohemian style was for me. It was Maximalist, hands down! In the book it states that the maximalist boho "includes a whole lot of everything" and "decorates wild". Uh huh.

So much yes. What a gorgeous outdoor area...

I love how within the boho style Justina Blakeney has whittled the boho decorating style down and categorised each section. Each different category could so very much be it's own separate spin off book. I have a good friend who I would order The Earthy Bohemian for, and I'll back order The Maximalist Bohemian, thank you!

The book includes practical tips and hints to achieve certain looks, as well as some DIY projects too. There is an "adopt an idea" section, where she has zoned in on a detail of home decor and explains how to recreate the effect in your own home. The DIY projects go into more detail with step by step instructions.



And a boho home ain't a boho home without plants so The New Bohemians includes a handy guide  for the best indoor plants to use & their care. (My tip: Want to decorate boho? First fill your house with cushions and plants and you're almost there!)

Best of all The New Bohemians is full of lots of juicy pictures to gain inspiration from.

Overall I really enjoyed The New Bohemians. I think it's a fabulous coffee table book chock full of home decorating eye candy for the free spirited, the wanderers and the dreamers...

Find The New Bohemians on Amazon here.

Jules :)

*Affiliate Information: Affliliate links help me earn small commissions on products (at no extra cost to you), which helps support my love of blogging and sharing creative things. I only ever recommend or link to products that I'm genuinely into.

Home Decorating Book: Happy Home

Today I'm reviewing the home decorating book "Happy Home: Everyday Magic for a Colorful Life" on the blog.

I was happy to have a fellow internet- friend artist and reader recommend this home decorating book  to me after my last post on two awesome decorating books. This book fits into the same category as the other two, in that it's colourful, inspirational, and one of those chuck-out-the-rule-book books that encourages you to follow your own heart rather than some sort of defined formula for decorating your home.

This post contains affiliate links (see bottom of post for explanation).

Happy Home: Everyday Magic for a Colorful Life

I'm definitely a sucker for home decorating books that are in the colourful eclectic category. My only concern is I will sit down and spend too much time looking at beautiful books rather than decorating my home!

This book is by the founder of Rice Charlotte Hedeman Gueniau. It's no wonder that this book is fantastically colourful and inspiring when you have seen some of Rice's colourful products.

Some fun colourful products from Rice

The book goes through different sections of the home in detail, with inspiration and encouragement to play with colour and trust your choices.

I've been thinking of the fear we seem to have here of colour in Australia. I mean, I'm not sure you'd look at some bright pink flowers on a tree you've chosen for your garden and say... oh, I don't know, I might just get sick of that colour, better stick to white!

I am totally being cheeky right now. I get that people like neutrals, but I think it's sad when someone loves colour but they're too afraid to use it.

Colour makes me happy which is why I surround myself with it. So books like this easily win me over. You can see by these few photos from in my house why I love this style of book and decorating.

Images from my home

As I've mentioned before, I like home decorating books to have the perfect balance between words and photos. You need lots of photos in a home decorating book. And you need lots of tips and worded prompts to get you thinking about your spaces. This book has that balance.

Happy Home is available on Amazon.

Give me a shout if you have discovered a home decorating book I'd love.

Jules :)

*Affiliate Information: Affliliate links help me earn small commissions on products (at no extra cost to you), which helps support my love of blogging and sharing creative things. I only ever recommend or link to products that I'm genuinely into.

Home Decorating Books: Homespun style & Absolutely Beautiful Things

*This post contains affiliate links (see bottom of post for explanation).

I have recently come across two amazing home decorating books that celebrate the quirky, colourful & eclectic style.

Things that stand out for me with decorating books are lots + lots of beautiful photos. I don't think digital sites like Pinterest or e-books can ever replace holding a real book, but due to the fact that we have zillions of images online whenever we want them, books really have to stand out and be something special to warrant buying them. I think. And these two books fit the bill.

The first one is Homespun Style.

The first sentence in this book says "If you are crazy about colour, fascinated by craft and would rather paint a junk-store chair than buy a new one, then you will love homespun style." I've got my hand up!



The pictures in this book are gorgeous. I said to the husband-man whilst flicking through this book, "How 'me' is this book? Look at it... look!" He was like, "that's nice, dear." (Most husbands just don't get it, do they? Just like they don't understand cushions. But we know right? And if you're a guy reading this and you understand cushions, then please explain their awesomeness to my husband.)

This book is about styling unique, colourful, creative spaces within the home. It celebrates second hand flea market furniture, and the upcycled. There are beautiful, simple creative ideas for decorating your home, that don't require a tonne of skill. Think strips of fabric hanging from a pendant light, bunting hanging up, coloured painted upcycled frames, pretty dresses hanging on quirky op shop hangers & gorgeous wallpaper patches and patterned fabrics adorning every nook and cranny.

You can get crafty with lots of ideas for creating things for your home, but the book doesn't expect that you are crafty. You can always seek pieces out from other creative people. Ahem :)

Sometimes I pick up home decorating books and feel there are not enough pictures (as I mentioned before), but this isn't one of those books. It has the perfect balance of words and pictures. After all- books about home decorating are about creating visually pleasing spaces; so you need lots of juicy photos! And all those pics satisfy the colour loving maximalist in me.

I love that creative spaces such as sewing areas have been included in the book

It's just yum! I love this book!

Another book I have discovered is Anna Spiro's Absolutely Beautiful Things.

The author Anna Spiro stole my heart when she mentioned at the start of the book that she loves mismatched clashing items, and that she's a maximalist that loves layering and colour, mixing the old and the new, the expensive and the cheap. Seriously, could she be any more seducing!? :)

She shares her design tips, and her process of creating decorated spaces.

The photos are luscious and colourful and just beautiful and totally my style.

There's lots of inspiration for decorating your home in this eclectic colourful style if that's your thing, in both of these books.

Absolutely Beautiful Things

I love these two home decorating books because they celebrate individuality, creativity, and colour. They both promote the idea of using your intuition for decorating your home, not some rule book. I think if you collect items that you really love, you are not going to go wrong.

Anna Spiro also mentions that there is no rule book (yes!), and if there was she'd break all the rules anyway (double yes!)  I love that.

You just have to have fun with it.

So all the digital images in the world will never replace holding a real book and feeling the pages for me. I seem to slow down when I hold a book, and take the time to drink it in. Along with my tea :)

After reading these two books I'm definitely inspired and feeling the urge to buzz around the house rearranging spaces. I always go in cycles; sometimes I'm in a painting cycle.. sometimes a home decorating cycle.. gardening (although I'm struggling to find the time for gardening lately). I am in a home decorating phase at the moment, so I've come across these two gorgeous books at just the right time.

Do you love the creative, eclectic, colourful handmade decorating look too, or is this a bit out there for you? I often have people who come in to my house and say they wish they could be as bold in their own homes. I say, if you want to decorate your home with an eclectic, quirky & colourful style, just do it!

You can find these two books here: Homespun Style & Absolutely Beautiful Things.

Jules :)

*Affiliate Information: Affliliate links help me earn small commissions on products (at no extra cost to you), which helps support my love of blogging and sharing creative things. I only ever recommend or link to products that I'm genuinely into.