From the library

I love libraries. I don't know why more people don't use them. They're great!

I grabbed this little stack of books as things to flip through during quiet moments, to get inspiration.

I have flipped through Things I Love several times in book stores, hoping that it would be a crafting book (it always seems to be located with the crafting books), and I always return it to the shelves slightly disappointed. But when I saw it on the library shelf, I decided to give it a proper going through, because a) it's free! and b) design books are great for inspiration and just general ogling of pretty things. It is a pretty cool book. Morton separates it into four sections: houses I love, things I love, people I love, and tasks I love (or something like that, can't remember what it was called, but it's a section with great tips for styling.)

D.E.S.I.G.N. really impressed me. I think it is aimed at kids, but not so obviously that adults can't enjoy it as a coffee table book. It is illustrated throughout and features 69 pieces of instantly recognisable furniture or home wares that have changed the way people think about how functional items should look. There's the lips couch, bean bag chairs, the egg chair, the indestructible IKEA couch, even a sofa made to feel like you're sitting in a patch of giant grass. It was a good reminder that some of the world's most common funky furniture was once an impossible or unlikely idea in a brilliant designer's head. D.E.S.I.G.N. would be a great book for any school library to get kids' creative juices flowing.
 

Op Shop Chic was not so much my taste. It was a bit more granny than I like my crafting books to be and involved a lot of ideas like, "Buy vintage fabric from a charity shop" (not really that easy to do). Then, "If it's a tea towel, turn it into a pillow. If it's a sheet, turn it into a tea towel!"