What I Got From Downtown Chic

I recently got an email from someone at Sixx Design saying they read my blog &  asking if I would review their latest book Downtown Chic.  I was thrilled!  I love getting new design books and of course have been intrigued by this young stylish family of (now) 9 since I'd first heard of them.

In case you haven't heard of them, they are the Novogratz's: super-chic Mom & Dad (Cortney & Robert) who run a wildly successful design business with 7 kids!

I wasn't the only one who got the book & reviewed it so you can check out some great reviews here:

http://paloma81.blogspot.com/2009/12/book-review-downtown-chic.html

http://www.strangeclosets.com/?p=18800

http://designfabulous.com/2009/12/22/downtown-chic-a-book-review/

I'm a little late on the reviews since Baby 2 came right after I'd received the book, so I'm going to approach this Downtown Chic book "review" a but differently.  Yes, it was an awesome book design-wise (bold, a bit funky- industrial, fearless, personal and very instructional)  but my favorite parts of it actually pertained to the Novogratz's themselves & their philosophies.  Cortney & Robert met and fell in love when Cortney was finishing up college.  Since then, they've married, had a beautiful (really beautiful!) gaggle of children and fixed up an insane amount of buildings- turning them into gorgeous unique homes & selling them for a nice profit.  They've invested wisely & have taken risks where others were afraid to & it's paid off. 

They have this amazingly laid-back parenting style & it's SO refreshing to see.  In a time where kids' lives are completely structured & parents worry about everything, it's awesome to read about a family who doesn't succumb to all the HOVERING & STRESSING. 

A Novogratz kid has a birthday, so they throw a party.  Cake & food for the kids and drinks for the adults.  Simple. Easy. FUN.  No big deal & no reason to stress.  They just live.

They party like rockstars too & they even had a catered party in one of their unfinished buildings.  (Cortney & Robert if you're reading-  I'm SO up for being a "filler!" ;)  You'll have to read the book to check out what a "filler" is, but what a true/ hysterical idea & I'm on the look-out for some in my life! 

The book is full of perfect quotes like "The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow." (H.G. Wells)

and

"Enthusiasm is life." (Paul Scofield)

I ended up reading the book in one sitting & reading a lot of it outloud to my husband.  From there, he went to the computer & started looking up real estate listings- wanting to flip our house & start all over again.  The Novogratz's feats are that inspirational.  I've said before that one of my favorite things about life is the feeling that there's limitless potential & that we can do anything we set out to do & that so much excitement lies ahead of us.  Well, Dowtown Chic really got us thinking in that direction.  Not only do the Novogratz's have a bright future ahead of them, but by reading about their path so far, I really got excited about my own family's future & creative potential.

So what are your thoughts?  Has anyone else read it?  Would love to know!

xoxo,

lauren

ps-  How gorgeous is the color scheme in the room above??!! 

And thank you SO  much to my Maria at Colour Me Happy for including one of my posts in her Top 10 Posts and to Cristin at Simplified Bee for including Christian's bedroom in her Favorite Posts of 2009 Roundup!  What awesome surprises & I'm honored!!!! :)

A Comfortable Home: My Thoughts

As you may have on a read on a couple of the other DC-area blogs, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams held their book launch & signing for their new book A Comfortable Home at their store in DC last week. I was sad to have missed it but so thrilled that they sent me a copy for review!

The layout is almost like a work-book with step-by-step instructions. It's very "how to" and I love that about it. It's full of beautiful rooms for sure, but its purpose is in teaching readers how to attain beautiful, comfortable rooms that make them happy. For example, here's an excerpt below which describes the process of creating inspiration files & discovering what it is that moves you in a room:

There's lots of eye-candy of course:

The idea of "the comfortable home" really resonates something within me. I love beautiful rooms but I'm happiest in a beautiful space that's, above all, comfortable. I love attainable rooms. Doable spaces. And that's what this book is all about.

The rooms in the book make you think, " I can do that" and it's really encouraging. Yes, the book is full of MG + BW merchandise, but it's not pushed on you at all... it's merely used as a means to show you how you can easily create spaces.

There are several sections of the book where they show you how a room can be arranged in different ways & it's a great way to jumpstart your traditional thinking. It's definitely a book that you can write in, take notes in & really use. I recommend it to those who are trying to reinvent their homes & make them more functional & versatile. It's a great overall teaching book on the design process of making your home beautiful, functional & comfortable.

So, what makes a home comfortable to you??

xoxo,

lauren