Love the House You're In: 40 Ways to Improve Your Home and Change Your Life

by Paige Rien

Overview

Stop hating your house and start adoring it—40 steps to make your home express who you are and work for the way you really live

Deco­rating can be daunting and overwhelm­ing, but here’s the secret: If you want to love your house, the inspiration and ideas need to come from you. Interior designer Paige Rien thinks it’s about more than creating a beautiful space; it’s about creating a home that reflects you and all that you find comforting and inspiring in your life.

Through 40 actionable steps, you’ll discover tools that will help you:
 
Explore your life story: Mine your life for those things that inspire nostalgia and create a positive connection to memories, explore your family’s heritage, and be conscious of how you want to live now.
Understand what you’re working with: Take stock of your stuff, understand the history of your home, and get clear on the space you have.
Create an inspired action plan: Discover how to ap­proach design room-by-room, find the through line that ties the whole house together, and work in ways that empower your own ideas and creativity.
Learn the design skills that matter: Get tips on pick­ing paint colors, choosing window dressings, arrang­ing art, and more.
 
When you start decorating your home with you as the starting point, you can create a highly personalized space that reflects your past, your future, and how you want to live today. In the process, you’ll gain the confidence and inspi­ration to come up with a functional and fabulous living space that’s just right for you and your life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611801989
Publisher:	Shambhala
Publication date:	03/08/2016
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	455,103
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

PAIGE RIEN, interior designer, mother of four, and passionate home lover, wants you to love where you live and believes you can do the work to get there. She consults with families all over the world to make interior design accessible, friendly, and multidimensional, encouraging clients to bring their whole selves into creating a home. Paige was one of two designers on HGTV's top-rated Hidden Potential for five seasons. When she is not working on a television project, she is helping others make real changes in their homes with a dynamic, creative, and spiritual approach to home improvement, or diving into the next project in her own home outside Washington, DC.

Read an Excerpt

From the introduction:

"I know what you're going to say. Your house is unlovable. Maybe unredeemable. You bought it because of the schools or the yard or the price, but you come home after a long day and think: yuck. You wish it were different. You need it to be different—to look better, to work better, and to make you feel better. I've been there, many times.

"If you want to get you to house love, here's the secret: house love doesn't come from interior designers or wildly popular design bloggers or rampant craftiness or an endless flow of new things, it comes from within you. It won't spring forth from a great couch or the perfect paint color—it comes from the feeling you create in the space which feels just right, to you. It comes, not when your rooms necessarily match each other, but when your rooms match you and what you are all about. Put what you love and what's important to you into your house and it will be lovable. (And it will love you back.)

"Guided by the ideas here, you'll discover how to transform your home into a space that reflects all that you love and all that you are—with your own funds, time, and possibly, your hands. You will love your house by getting to know yourself, coming to know and accept your house (and it's limitations), and most importantly, learning when you can trust yourself. We're taught to think others have better taste or abilities than we do. For something as intimate as your home, which serves you and your family 99 percent of the time, you are the best person for the job, by far. What you need in the greatest supply to make your house great is not money, time, or advice, but confidence. Even if you do hire an architect, designer, or decorator to help you (and I don't advocate one way or another) the work here will help you get the most out of that relationship."

Editorial Reviews

02/01/2016
Interior designer Rien, who has been featured on HGTV's Curb Appeal, wants the reader to review their own lifestyle and dwelling rather than viewing photos of the latest design ideas in order to create a decor that reflects their personality and provides a nurturing, comfortable environment. She begins by having readers examine their own likes, heritage, and memories, and continues with an inventory of the space and items in it to develop an appreciation of the abode. The planning phase includes implementing a decorating theme, building a team of encouraging friends and trusted professionals, and budgeting. After many lists and much time set aside for self-reflection, Rien dispenses ideas for a whole room renovation or sprucing up a problem area. VERDICT Those looking to create a home that reflects their personality rather than a cookie-cutter interior based on the most recent trend will find inspiration here.

Library Journal