The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well

by Deborah Needleman, Virginia Johnson (Illustrator)

Overview

Style is a luxury, and luxury is simply what makes you happy.

Over the years, founding editor in chief of domino magazine Deborah Needleman has seen all kinds of rooms, with all kinds of furnishings. Her conclusion: It’s not hard to create a relaxed, stylish, and comfortable home. Just a few well-considered items can completely change the feel of your space, and The Perfectly Imperfect Home reveals them all.

Ranging from classics such as “A Really Good Sofa” and “Pretty Table Settings” to unusual surprises like “A Bit of Quirk” and “Cozifications,” the essential elements of style are treated in witty and wonderfully useful little essays. You’ll learn what to look for, whether you are at a flea market or a fancy boutique—or just mining what you already own.
 
Celebrated artist Virginia Johnson’s original watercolor illustrations bring the items and the inspiring rooms of world-famous tastemakers to vibrant life. Styling tips and simple how-tos show you techniques to put it all together to create, say, a beautifully made bed (the fast way and the fancy way), an inviting reading nook, or an effortlessly chic display of pictures.

According to Deborah, the point of decorating is to create the background for the best life you can have, with all its joys and imperfections.
This book will show you how.
 
Deborah Needleman is the editor in chief of WSJ. Magazine and creator of the Off Duty section of The Wall Street Journal. She was the founding editor in chief of domino magazine and coauthor of domino: the book of decorating. 
 
Virginia Johnson’s illustrations have appeared in books by Kate Spade and on textiles carried in more than one hundred stores, including Barneys, Liberty of London,
and Net-A-Porter.
 
perfectlyimperfect.com

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307720139
Publisher:	Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date:	11/01/2011
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	587,443
Product dimensions:	9.28(w) x 8.44(h) x 1.03(d)

About the Author

Deborah Needleman is the editor in chief of T: The New York Times Style Magazine and creator of the Off Duty section of The Wall Street Journal. She was the founding editor in chief of domino magazine and co-author of domino: the book of decorating. She grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and attended George Washington University. She now lives in Manhattan with her husband, Slate editor in chief Jacob Weisberg, and their two children.

Virginia Johnson was born in Toronto and attended Parsons School of Design before returning to her hometown, where she now lives with her husband and two children. Her illustrations have appeared in books by Kate Spade and on textiles carried in more than 100 stores, including Barneys, Liberty of London, and Net-A-Porter.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Deborah Needleman is a terrific editor—of words, and now, of rooms and living spaces. In her very readable book, The Perfectly Imperfect Home, the author offers her advice and expertise on a very important subject—how to make your house your home. She includes succinct advice from the great decorators, sage commentary on what to keep and what to throw away, and valuable rules for what to add to a room to make it exactly right—for you and your family. -Martha Stewart
 
I used to think that my taste was so irredeemable and so rooted in some kind of male, post-college, National Football League time warp—I own a green velour couch!—that no one, not even Deborah Needleman, could help me. I was wrong. -Malcolm Gladwell

Beautiful in a similar way is Deborah Needleman’s PERFECTLY IMPERFECT HOME: HOW TO DECORATE & LIVE WELL (Clarkson Potter, $30), with Kalman-like illustrations by Virginia Johnson. Ms. Needleman, the editor in chief of WSJ Magazine and the founding editor of Domino magazine, has a terrific eye and a dry sense of humor. This is a decorating book for how we live today, and it’s for the 99 percent as well as for the swells. Chapter titles include: “Places for Chatting,” “Cozifications,” “A Bit of Quirk” and “Spots for Books, Drinks, & Feet.” This has the feel of a minor classic, and aren’t the minor classics so often better than the major ones? -Dwight Garner, New York Times Holiday Gift Guide

Editorial Reviews

Flipping through pages of Deborah Needleman's new book, it's easy to see why New York Magazine praised her for her "sophisticated mix-and-match aesthetic." In Perfectly Imperfect, she arrives on the scene knowing that most home dwellers are not completely satisfied with their abodes. Whether it's a cramped kitchen or a dreary bedroom that lacks sunlight, our houses possess weaknesses that seem to become more apparent with each passing year. Needleman's decorating tutorial points the way to solutions that don't require inexhaustible resources or patience. (P.S. The author is a major personage in the world of style. She is the editor of WSJ, the Wall Street Journal's weekend lifestyle magazine, which is distributed to 1.5 million readers.)

Deborah Needleman is a terrific editor—of words, and now, of rooms and living spaces. In her very readable book, The Perfectly Imperfect Home, the author offers her advice and expertise on a very important subject—how to make your house your home. She includes succinct advice from the great decorators, sage commentary on what to keep and what to throw away, and valuable rules for what to add to a room to make it exactly right—for you and your family. -Martha Stewart
 
I used to think that my taste was so irredeemable and so rooted in some kind of male, post-college, National Football League time warp—I own a green velour couch!—that no one, not even Deborah Needleman, could help me. I was wrong. -Malcolm Gladwell

Beautiful in a similar way is Deborah Needleman’s PERFECTLY IMPERFECT HOME: HOW TO DECORATE & LIVE WELL (Clarkson Potter, $30), with Kalman-like illustrations by Virginia Johnson. Ms. Needleman, the editor in chief of WSJ Magazine and the founding editor of Domino magazine, has a terrific eye and a dry sense of humor. This is a decorating book for how we live today, and it’s for the 99 percent as well as for the swells. Chapter titles include: “Places for Chatting,” “Cozifications,” “A Bit of Quirk” and “Spots for Books, Drinks, & Feet.” This has the feel of a minor classic, and aren’t the minor classics so often better than the major ones? -Dwight Garner, New York Times Holiday Gift Guide

From the Publisher

Needleman's previous book, Domino, is a comprehensive guide for amateurs seeking young, sophisticated decor. She here focuses on professionally designed interiors—lending authority to her advice but diminishing the appeal for inexperienced home decorators. Illustrated with over 60 of Johnson's watercolors of actual interiors, the book covers lighting, furniture arrangements, and the use of decorative accessories, along with scents, plants, and linens. Resources for products mentioned are provided. Books such as Grace Bonney's Design*Sponge at Home and Christiane Lemieux's Undecorate explain how to add a personal touch to decor, while Needleman shows how professionals approach interior design.

Library Journal