Made for Living
Collected Interiors for All Sorts of Styles
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Average rating2.5
The trendsetting designer known for her effortless style shares the secrets of the art of layering, with more than 250 gorgeous photographs of her signature interiors.
“Livability is my true north. The materials I use time and again all change with age and wear. Not only is that okay, it’s how you achieve more than a re-creation of what you’ve already seen, or what somebody else has done. You can do this, too—I promise.”—from the introduction
Designing a room with all the vibes comes down to how you layer your décor. The more you can mix the elements of your room—your pillows, objects, patterns, and lighting—the more finished it’ll not too new, not too old, but just right.
Known for her eclectic approach that stems from her California cool, Amber Lewis trains your eye in Made for Living, offering friendly advice on everything from nailing that perfect shade of paint to mismatching patterns with wild abandon to choosing a stone finish for new countertops. These pages will help you design a home that's made to be lived in.
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Pretty pictures but a bit too heavy on the “me, me, me.”
Here are the steps I learned that will ensure I design a beautiful interior:
1. Have a ginormous house. 6,000 square feet should be sufficient, as demonstrated by “Bu Round Two.” If you can only fit two couches, a coffee table, and a big chair in your living room (as demonstrated in the “small space” that's 3x larger than my living room), you can still make it “comfy.”
2. Layer things. Layer layer layer. How do you know what to layer? Just put things on top of each other and if it looks right, that's what you should layer.
3. Put vintage rugs everywhere, including bathrooms and mudrooms. But never have only the front feet of your bedside tables on the vintage rug. That's just tacky. Or basic. Or something.
4. When in doubt, some piece of furniture from Shoppe Amber Interiors will pull it all together.
It's still worth browsing through the pictures á la Pinterest. But for a gal that gets “asked a million times a day” about her style, her answers seem pretty much to be, “I try things and pick the ones that look best.” Fair enough, but doesn't merit the level of navel-gazing that follows.
(Also: I'm very sad there wasn't a single bookshelf with a reasonable number of books on it. It's clear that “books” are a decorative touch only, to be put in small impractical stacks to “make a statement” for a “#shelfie”. I didn't dock stars for this because maybe her clients genuinely don't read, but it still makes me sad.)