Stylin'

I'm a sucker for home dec magazines and spend a shocking amount of money on them. I love to see real people's houses, and nothing makes me feel so cheated as a home dec magazine full of showhouse photos or obviously faked and styled interiors. I know that some primping has to be done by the photographic team but I love to see REAL shine through. I'm a long time fan of British decor magazines because much of what they show is real, right down to battered sofas and chairs. I love it.

And occasionally, American magazines get it right too.

It's fun to see how people style their lives and environments. And it's not really that I have an insatiable urge to snoop. One of my previous lives was a decade spent doing retail styling and visual merchandising and this stuff is more important to me than I like to admit. I do need to fuss with objects until they're arranged just so and to see how other people fuss with theirs.

A few weeks ago I shared the stomach-churning experience of placing my first order with Amazon.jp. I'm happy to report that my order arrived, everything I requested was in the box, and I couldn't be more pleased. Service was speedy and next time I won't be so shaky as I hit the Purchase button. Maybe.

Two thirds of my order were two wonderful Japanese home dec books I had seen on a couple blogs. It doesn't matter a bit that all the text is in Japanese. One is Holland Home Style and the other is Stockholm's Kitchens, and the homes shown are full of wit, verve, and color. Fun and inspirational. And REAL.

The other book is an unusual Japanese quilting book called Simple Quilt.

It shows minimalist treatments of traditional block designs. Very different--so many art quilts rely heavily on black. These quilts use spare pattern and color, mostly on fields of white. I'm seeing new possibilities with traditional patterns.

This book also shows some interesting approaches to color and fabric choices. I love getting my sensibilities shaken up. Very fun.

Speaking of getting things shaken up, have you heard of mousing goofy? My right hand has been sore lately. I assumed it was from bundling a lot of books with heavy rubber bands at the library every day, but my husband thinks I might be suffering from too much mousing. So I'm experimenting with using the mouse on the left side. This might just damage the left hand too, but I'm willing to give it a shot to rest the right hand. We'll see...

My husband took off for an old friend's deer hunting camp today, up in the wilds of the Yoop. I'm on my own till Tuesday. But he's stopping on the way, in Neenah ,to pick up some yarn for me, bless his heart!