blkmymorris 's review for:

The New Bohemians: Cool and Collected Homes by Justina Blakeney

2.0

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So, this book is by Justina Blakeney, interior decorator du jour, who has people filling their homes with plants and crystals. Her style is what she calls "New Bohemian." It initially appealed to me because I never liked the Scandinavian minimalist design. I like color and lots of objects. This books loves colors, plants, and lived in look (the photos have items strewn in the room, so it gives an items, like books, toys, and plates of of what the room is used for or lived in). The chapter on Flow has photos of a living room, with the furniture and rugs moved to show how the different configurations affect flow. There's also a few nice before and afters of redesigned places. I liked the patterns and fabrics used. The section on textiles and search terms for finding them is helpful.

The bad is that there's more than a whiff of cultural appropriation; I mean, sure throw some Buddha stature in when your decor is full of Moroccan rag rugs, African indigo, and serape inspired textiles, but it clashes and might get you the side eye from non-white friends. Blakeney uses "spirit animal" like she's a 1960s hippie. In the back, theirs a section about the people whose houses are photographed and their name, profession (mostly visual arts and creative fields who I assume are of means, but it is nice to see a high school prinicipal and city planner among the creatives), their instagram handle, and star signs (Sagittarius is misspelled several times and out of 54 people only 7 are Earth signs, so maybe there's some truth there) are noted but not where they live. So, I browsed the IGs, and it seems like a lot of Californians, so the airy and sunny interior design may not seems as cute if you live in a place with season. Also, I see rooms full of plants and think of all the care and upkeep it would take and then dusting with all those knick-knacks.

Good for inspiration, but I wouldn't buy it or copy the ideas completely.