My Current Read: Design Sponge at Home

Hooray and Happy Monday!

I bet many of you already know about

Design Sponge, a splendid design blog

created by Grace Bonney.

Now, the blog is already a book!

{Cue applause}

I was one of the excited fans who pre-ordered it online and tore off the plastic packaging once it arrived my doorstep.

I breathed in the scent of the freshly printed pages and soaked in all the genius ideas for the home.

And how lucky that Grace gets to have a book tour all over the US & Canada! And it's not just any old boring book tour...there are partnerships with cool stores like West Elm and Anthropologie where she does the book signing, complete with craft sessions, food & drinks and pretty vignettes/backdrops created by Poppies and Posies. Let me show you:

The New York City book signing at West Elm

A lovely vignette showcasing Design Sponge style

using West Elm furniture & accessories

Detail of the photo booth backdrop; guests could pose with

funny cut-outs of hats, glasses & mustaches and then keep

the photo as a souvenir!

The crafting session during the New Jersey book signing

Grace taught eager guests how to customize

cloth items like these napkins

Grace Bonney, signing my book

It's beautifully written and is a wonderful resource

for inspiration. It's divided into 5 sections:

Sneak Peeks is one of my favorite parts of the blog and book...

...offering house/apartment tours

{Isn't there a voyeur in each one of us?!}

DIY Basics provides tutorials on sewing and

updating furniture

Learning to make a curtain panel or slip cover

would be a cool skill to master

Fresh flowers always enliven a room and

suggestions on how to make an arrangement is

the highlight in the chapter, Flower Workshop

I really like how old vessels are

turned from blah to TADA!

with just a few blooms

Before and After reassures you that it's alright

to rescue that chair from the curb or that

frame from the trash...

...because they can be brought back to

life with paint and a new purpose

And there's also DIY Projects which is my theme

for this week. Beginning tomorrow, I'll make some

crafts inspired by the ones from the book.

See you then!