Happy Home

Simple, full of pictures, cosy spaces inside your house. I like it ver much, good ideas easy to copy or to integrte to your home.

I have a large no. of interior/home books and have quite enjoyed looking at the pictures in this book but did not feel it stood out as one of the better ones....Also, didn't feel the text had much to offer.....

Contains nice pictures, but little else. Content no more detailed than that of an interiors magazine. Coffee table book at best. Destined for charity shop, unfortunately.

What a refreshing change! An interiors book for real people with real houses, who don't have millions to spend but who want a house they can live in and love. While the usual light-bathed photos show deliciously designed rooms, they seem to be in quite normal houses for a change. I like the fact that a wide range of styles are featured, many clearly furnished with imagination on a tight budget. And the text tells you things you really need to know; not whimsical waffle about the personal habits of the lucky owners, but stuff like, if your living room is long and narrow, don't buy a huge sofa and jam it flat against the wall, get a chunkier one and use it to break up the corridor-like space by placing it at right angles to the wall. And, revitalise an old sofa (rather than buying new) by having washable cotton covers made up - but launder the fabric first so if it shrinks, it does so before rather than AFTER it's been made up to fit your sofa.Don't be put off by the constant pictures of kids if you don't have any of your own; this book is about having a comfortable, well-designed interior whatever your circumstances. This is an excellent, sensible book which is full of a mix of bright ideas and down-to-earth information. Read it as an antidote to all those wafty pretentious interior-porn books that fill us with envy, or have recourse to it to make sure your high-falutin plans don't end in tears. Buy it for yourself or it would be an ideal present for a couple setting up home, or even as a "house-warming" present. My only quibble is that, despite being undeniably useful and sensible, the writing style in which these pearls of wisdom are conveyed seriously lacks sparkle; this is a book which 'does exactly what it says on the tin' and the literary style is definitely more 'instruction leaflet' than 'gushing girly enthusiasm'. Excuse me if I find that a bit of a relief; others may differ.

Nice gift