The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well

Styling tips and simple how-tos show you techniques to put it all together to create, say, a beautifully made bed (the fast way and the fancy way), an inviting reading nook, or an effortlessly chic display of pictures.According to Deborah, the point of decorating is to create the background for the best life you can have, with all its joys and imperfections. Her conclusion: It’s not hard to create a relaxed, stylish, and comfortable home. Just a few well-considered items can completely change the feel of your space, and The Perfectly Imperfect Home reveals them all. You’ll learn what to look for, whether you are at a flea market or a fancy boutique—or just mining what you already own. Celebrated artist Virginia Johnson’s original watercolor illustrations bring the items and the inspiring rooms of world-famous tastemakers to vibrant life. Ranging from classics such as “A Really Good Sofa” and “Pretty Table Settings” to unusual surprises like “A

A. Holmes said Read it cover to cover. I purchased this book after listening to an interview with Needleman on a podcast I subscribe to. I watch a lot of HGTV and DIY, but beyond that I am very new to the consumption of interior design products, and every magazine I've bought on the subject only served to depress me about the lack of money and skill I have to reproduce the results in the photos.Needleman's book did not inspire the same defeatism; in fact, it has energized me to redecorate my home on my o. Decor, Children's Book style While Needleham's writing was engaging and some of her tips were helpful, it was supremely distracting to try to figure out what she was describing via cartoon. Reading "This is Kate Spade's living room," or "Brooke Astor's bedroom" and seeing, nope, it's an illustration - and sloppily drawn ones at that - was bad enough, but trying to discern her points about pattern or table placement just felt silly: of course everything will look fine in a drawing. If I could im. "Truely inspired, wonderful book" according to Marisa. This is a lovely and beautifully illustrated book with real, practical advice on home decorating. It explains what types of items will achieve certain looks, and how to make decisions about where to place items for the best effect.The real achievement is that it manages to inspire you without making you think "if i could find a ___ exactly like the one in that photo, my room would be complete!"Ive read mine cover to cover, and keep it on my coffee table to reread re

Her illustrations have appeared in books by Kate Spade and on textiles carried in more than 100 stores, including Barneys, Liberty of London, and Net-A-Porter. . She grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and attended George Washington University. She now lives in Manhattan with her husband, Slate editor in chief Jacob Weisbe

Chapter titles include: “Places for Chatting,” “Cozifications,” “A Bit of Quirk” and “Spots for Books, Drinks, & Feet.” This has the feel of a minor classic, and aren’t the minor classics so often better than the major ones? -Dwight Garner, New York Times Holiday Gift Guide. In her very readable book, The Perfectly Imperfect Home, the author offers her advice and expertise on a very important subject--how to make your house your home. This is a decorating book for how we live today, and it’s for the 99 percent as well as for the swells. -Martha Stewart I used to think that my taste was so irredeemable and so rooted in some kind of male, post-college, National Football League time warp--I own a green velour couch!--that no one, not even Deborah Needleman, could help me. Needleman, the editor in chief of WSJ Magazine