Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff by Myquillen Smith

Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff

By Myquillen Smith

Read by Lisa Wright

3 hours, 50 minutes

Published October 2018 by Zondervan

Publisher's Summary: 

Writing for the hands-on woman who'd rather move her own furniture than hire a designer, Myquillyn Smith—author of the The Nesting Place—helps you think through every room in your house, one purposeful design decision at a time. With people, priorities, and purpose in mind, you can create a warm, inviting, and timeless home that transcends the latest trends and centers around your personal style.

You'll have the tools to create a home you're proud of in a way that honors your unique priorities, budget, and taste. And best of all, you can completely transform your home starting with furniture and décor that you already have!

In Cozy Minimalist Home, Smith helps you:

• Recognize your role as the curator of your home who makes smart, style-impacting design choices
• Know what to focus on and what not to worry about
• Discover the real secret to finding your unique style
• Find a sofa you won't hate tomorrow
• Deconstruct each room and re-create it step by step
• Create a pretty home with more style and less stuff
• Make your home look the way you've always hoped so you can use it the way you've always dreamed 
• Fall in love with the space you've created

Discover how creating a cozy minimalist home goes beyond pretty and sets the stage for the true connection, relationship, and rest that you deserve.

My Thoughts: 

Confession: I actually own this book in print (and, in my defense, I have actually read it), but I choose to listen to it to complement the work I've been doing around the house with the Cozy Minimalist community this year. I could have pulled it off of the shelf; but, at the time, I felt more confident that I'd get through it this way. Lesson I learned: a lot of what Smith has to say comes across just fine in an audiobook, but I missed the visual part of a book like this. 

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure that I am a cozy minimalist. I love the homes that have layers and layers of things that tell a story, where you can really learn who someone is by the things they choose to display in their homes. My heart is drawn to that. But my brain knows two things about me that stop my heart from having it's way: 1) I know I'm not going to dust all of that stuff regularly and I HATE knowing my house is dusty; and 2) my mood is much better if my brain is not overwhelmed by stuff. Maybe that makes me a super cozy minimalist? Someone who needs more cozy than the regular cozy minimalist, but who also doesn't want to have as much stuff as she does now? 

So I'm refreshing myself with the idea of cozy minimalism - having just the right amount of "stuff" to make your home work for you, feel comfortable, and look lovely; but doing it in a way that's very intentional so that everything works together. Smith is very adamant that when you're working on redecorating a room, you do it in the right order and make very deliberate choices. About room arrangement. About the size of rugs and decorative pieces. And about NOT choosing a paint color until AFTER you've decided on your big pieces of furniture and rugs. Why? Because there are thousands of paint colors to choose from and it's going to be easier to match your paint to the other things you've chosen, rather than trying to find a rug to match the color you've painted on the walls.  

Smith (or Nester, as she's known to those who follow her teachings) uses her own homes to teach her community these lessons. It's a style that's all her own, and it wouldn't be for me. But I recognize that by using her techniques, she's made a room that is lovely, cozy, and works for her family. And I'm confident that those same techniques will work for any of us. 

The Art of Home: A Designer Guide to Creating an Elevated Yet Approachable Home by Shea McGee

The Art of Home: A Designer Guide to Creating an Elevated Yet Approachable Home by Shea McGee

408 pages

Published September 2023 by Harper Horizon

Publisher's Summary: 

Whether it's through her thriving design business, Studio McGee, her popular Netflix series, Dream Home Makeover, or her online community of over five million followers, Shea McGee has shown the world how the principles of high-end design can be applied to any home. As the title of her new book suggests, designing rooms for maximum impact while also remaining approachable to any who enter is an art. But it's also a skill that can be learned because it's inside each one of us.

In The Art of Home, Shea takes us through every room of the house, starting with an explanation of process and then guiding our entryways, living rooms, kitchens, offices, kids' rooms, and even our utility rooms. With step-by-step guides paired with her own design projects and the power of her personal stories, Shea helps us transform the most important parts of our lives and how we live.

What I love about design is the opportunity to dream and then will that vision into existence.

Join Shea as she teaches us to dream and then shows us how to make it reality. Her new book, The Art of Home, is as functional as it is heart-stoppingly beautiful and it will maintain a presence in your home for years to come.

My Thoughts: 

You may have heard of the Studio McGee line of home goods at Target.  I mostly became aware of it there because of influencers on Instagram, who go nuts every time a new collection is released, causing so many of the pieces to sell out quickly. But it wasn’t until I was browsing Netflix for something to watch and came across Dream Home Makeover that I actually became aware that the Studio McGee was created by Shea McGee as part of a company she and her husband own (of course it was – Target isn’t collaborating with just anyone!). Think Chip and Joanna Gaines and you’ll understand how McGee’s efforts have expanded into television, both higher end and more affordable product lines, and now books. 

I learned about the book while watching Myquillin Smith (the Nester) in a Cozy Minimalist community video. The community had a summer reading group - best I could do was try to read a couple of the books (success on that score!). I expected not to be able to get this book for a long while so was surprised to have gotten it in time to participate in the discussion. 

The Art of Home is very much a book designed on the outside to live on the coffee table of a room designed by McGee. Neutral, uncluttered, and yet, somehow, eye catching. And that’s just the outside. It’s equally beautiful inside, filled with two-page spreads of full-color photographs of rooms McGee has created in the past ten years and her own home. Are they all my style? No. McGee has a distinctive style and uses a lot of neutrals (something I always find beautiful but can’t make myself do in my own home). But are they all beautifully done? Yes, yes, they are. Which makes me want to read what McGee has to say about why the spaces were created they way they were and why they work. 

McGee walks readers through the full process, from the very earliest stages architecturally designing the room to the finishing touches. She demonstrates how to mix patterns, provides definitions, guidelines, and tips for a variety of design and décor topics. If you’re not formally trained or haven’t been doing room renovations for years, there is a lot to learn here. I think it would be really useful to have as a resource if you were contemplating renovations. One day, hopefully in the not so distant future, we’ll be doing some renovations and I can definitely see myself purchasing a copy of this book to help walk me through the process. 

White and Faded: Restoring Beauty in Your Home and Life by Janet Parrella-Van Den Berg

White and Faded: Restoring Beauty in Your Home and Life by Janet Parrella-Van Den Berg

Published September 2023 by Nelson, Thomas Inc. 

208 pages

Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher, through TLC Book Tours, in exchange for an honest review

Publisher's Summary: 

The only thing more beautiful than home transformation is personal transformation. Bring new life into your home and your soul through the gorgeous photography, inspiring story, and creative design ideas from Janet Parrella-Van Den Berg, founder of popular UK brand White & Faded. Journey through these hope-filled pages, and discover the hidden beauty in your own home and life.

In White & Faded, Janet Parrella-Van Den Berg takes you on a stunning photographic tour through her restored English homes as she invites you into her personal journey of restoring her own sense of value and purpose—and reveals how you can do the same.

So what is White & Faded? As Janet explains, she loves white things as a culmination of all colors and a representation of new mercies. And she loves faded things, such as cast-aside furniture, as a reminder that even what is painful or imperfect can be repurposed to reveal hidden beauty. Janet gives insights into both the literal and metaphorical aspects of white and faded as she draws on her decades of experience to offer:

• Full-color photography of restored English country homes, including a 1767 Georgian rectory in Kent and a home originally built in 1500
• Practical restoration tips—from large-scale homes to smaller antiques
• Fresh decorative ideas you can adapt to your own style, home, and season of life
• Fun inspiration—from antique to modern—ideal for fans of HGTV and Magnolia Network
• Inspiration to incorporate a touch of seasonal charm throughout the year
• How to make white work with kids and pets
• Janet's own remarkable story of trauma, love, and rediscovered identity

How will you create a place in your life where you feel loved, find healing, and discover new treasures? Sometimes seeing the past through new eyes gives hope for the future—and looking ahead can be a beautiful way to come home.

My Thoughts: 

I've been working with TLC Book Tours for a decade, perhaps, and still there are glitches. I received this book for what I understood to be an Instagram post. But they didn't know I had an Instagram so were surprised when I didn't post here on my designated day. So this book is getting both. Here's what I had to say on Instagram: 

I have always dreamed of an all-white house and Leo me some chippy, worn, well-loved furniture [as, by now, all of you know] so I was excited to receive White and Faded through TLC Book Tours. Even my husband was impressed - wish I had had it years ago when I was trying to convince him to go all white! The photography is beautiful and the way Janet Parrella-Van den Berg ties the choices she's made in her home to the events of her life is lovely.

Seriously, this book was sitting on my (not white) coffee table and The Big Guy picked it up and browsed through it, as he will with any of the books I have sitting around. I expected some comment about how impractical all-white is, or how he could never live without color. Instead, he remarked on how pretty the rooms were, how calming it felt. If I would have had this book twenty years ago, would my house look entirely different? Maybe. Maybe not. 

But with my daughter finally getting her things out of our basement, we will finally be able to make that space our own. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be able to use this book to create a bright, calm, clean space like the ones in this book, a space for which my heart has been aching for decades. For that, I'll be forever grateful to Parrella-Van Den Berg for showing my husband that all-white doesn't have to mean boring or impractical.

Flea Market Fabulous by Lara Spencer

Flea Market Fabulous by Lara Spencer
Published 2014 by ABRAMS
Source: my copy checked out from my local library

Publisher's Summary: 
Focusing on nine different rooms (including her own recently purchased Manhattan apartment), Lara Spencer shows readers that all it takes is planning, shopping know-how, and a little imagination to create beautiful and comfortable homes that reflect their personal style. She takes readers through the step-by-step process of overcoming the challenges of the room, offering helpful tips and lessons along the way. She identi­fies the design dilemma; comes up with a decorat­ing plan; makes a mood board for inspiration; compiles a shopping list; scours flea markets for furniture and accessories that fit the bill; restores, repurposes, and reinvents the pieces she finds, giving them new life; and brings all the elements together in the gorgeous, finished space. With illuminating before, during, and after photographs of her DIY projects and the room installations, Lara demystifies the decorating process and allows readers to envision endless possibilities for what they can do in their own homes.


My Thoughts:
I’ve long been a fan of Lara Spencer’s HGTV show Flea Market Flip and I’m always impressed with how creative the contestants on the show are (although I can’t say I always like their ideas!). So when I saw this book was available from my library, I figured it was something I would enjoy.

I wasn’t wrong. But then I wasn’t entirely right, either.

When I finished, I had to look up when the book was published because, honestly, it felt a little dated to me. I was a bit surprised to find that it was only five years old but then I imagine that many of the rooms highlighted were actually decorated some time before that. Still, there were only a couple of the finished rooms I really liked and I’m sure that I would have felt the same way five years ago. Most of the time, I felt like it was all just too much. Too much color, too many patterns, too much “stuff.”

My other issue with the book, as with the t.v. show, is that, while there are some great ideas here for ways to use or reuse flea market finds, many of them require a skill set that I just don’t have. It doesn’t do me much good to know that a metal piece might easily be transformed, for example, if welding is required. Sure, I could do some research around town and try to find a welder that would take on a small project but I’m not sure it would be worth the time or money. The same holds true with reupholstering furniture. Spencer does include a guild at the back of the book that gives cost estimates to have some of these kinds of jobs done, which is helpful to have when you’re considering purchasing a piece of furniture. For example, maybe you find an old sofa with great “bones” and it would cost $3000 for something comparable new; with that guide to show you that it will probably cost $1500 to have it reupholstered, you’d know that it was still a good deal.

Still, there are a lot of great tips in this book, particularly for those who are considered completely redecorating a room. Some seem pretty obvious (understand the way you will be using the room before you buy anything); other ideas are less obvious (Spencer bought a set of small tables for the tops only to be used as frames for artwork). Some of the tips are just great reminders of things I already knew (use fabric to line the inside of a hutch to add color and pattern). There are also sections of general information to keep in mind when on the hunt, including one of flea market rules, style inspiration for each room, and some suggestions for things to keep an eye out for that always make good additions to a room (huzzah for the suggestion of old books!).

Despite what I said earlier about not really liking all of the finished rooms, nearly all of them had something I liked about them and decorating ideas I do think I could manage. One piece was a clock with a really terrific frame but the clock didn’t work; they took out the clock piece and put in a mirror. Voila - really cool wall hanging for a really low price with very little effort. Most importantly, this book reminded me that my flea market/thrifting/picking can really pay off – now to put that inspiration to work!