Go Global
Global decor is something that has always fascinated me, when as a little girl my Mom took me to Pier 1 imports for the first time. I remember she bought a beautiful Asian bolero to ‘dress-up’ a dress she already owned. (This was back in the day when Pier 1 sold clothing) Right then and there, after browsing their globally inspired merchandise, I knew what I wanted my house to look like. I wanted beautifully embroidered linens with sparkly accents, ancient-looking bronze vessels, exotic knick knacks, intricately carved wood furniture and vibrant splashes of color everywhere! I wanted my home to look like a Middle Eastern Souk (without the snake charmers).
Marrakesh My Way
If you have been to my house you know that I am a huge fan of Bohemian and Indian Decor many because they are full of the vibrant color palettes, geometric patterns and various textures that I admire. I have added a lot of these fun features to my living room that you can see in my Living Room Tour.
Throughout the years (and several living spaces later) it has taken me a while to find those pieces to give my home that ‘global’ look. I love so many elements of the many different decor styles yet I have found it difficult to incorporate them into my space without it looking like a collection of mismatched junk. The art of decorating takes a skillful eye, which seems to have passed me bye.
As most newly weds, we didn’t have a lot of money so we furnished our home with hand me downs and massed produced pieces from the local furniture stores. It was easy to find something that I liked but never anything that I LOVED that would help me achieve the look I was ultimately going towards. After 10 years of marriage we have finally installed internet into our home which in turn has broadened the amount of choices for home decor and furniture. I have found myself spending way too much time looking at decor blogs, ethnic online stores, Pinterest and Face Book decor groups. All of these resources have helped me find my own sense of style. Now that I know what I like I am attempting to find these items at yard sales and bargain stores.
The Book Review: Marrakesh By Design
Marrakesh by Design by Maryam Montaque
The Colors of Morocco
The book devoted several chapters to key colors found in every Moroccan palette. It then divided up living spaces so one can easily zero in on ideas for particular rooms of choice (kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, etc…). The photography was beautiful and featured many zoomed in, detailed pictures which I found to be very inspiring. My favorite photos were those featuring stacks of colorful rug and linens from the souks of Marrakesh and the stacks of beautifully hand painted tile. The author even includes a brief overview of a few of the local trades in her home town of Marrakesh.
DIY Inspiration
At the end of each chapter a inspiration page gives ideas on how the reader can incorporate the look and what type of items to use. The author includes a little of her story and inspiration for writing this book.
My only disappointment with this book would be the appendix and list of resources. I visited several online resources from the book and found a few to be non-existent and others to be extremely expensive. If you are like me and you love garage-saleing and a bargain, you are not going to find anything affordable using this books appendix.
If you enjoyed this review you may be interested in a similar book I recently reviewed, The New Bohemians by Justina Blakeney.
It’s A Keeper
I loved this book so much that I decided to leave it on my wish list (in anticipation for my up coming birthday).
I have had this book on my Amazon Wish List for over a year, along with a bunch of other interesting looking decor books that I have never read. Recently, I discovered my library can get any book I request so I decided to start borrowing the books on my wish list instead of having them sit there for years and wait for them to never be bought. 😉 If I find any I still want after reading through them, I keep them on the list.
Do you have any ‘must have’ decor books that inspire you? I am always looking for new books to add to my list. I would love to hear of any suggestions you might have.
Thank you for taking the time to stop by.
By Justina Blakeney is a book about Bohemian decor, which includes a lot of bold color, texture, and patterns (do you see why I like this?) with natural elements such as house plants, wood accents and natural fibers. I Loved the amount of photos included and that many of them were a full page. The author takes several inspirational living spaces, interviews the decorator/home owner and zeros in on details about the space. She chooses 5-7 elements from each space and wraps up the section by giving the reader ideas on incorporating them into their space. There are even a handful of DIY projects with photographs and written directions.
