Two truths. 1) I picked this book up because it matched my walls, and, 2) I had no idea what Domino was. Which is why you’re rolling your eyes as I review & test out a book released in 2008. Domino, apparently, was quite the cult. As I’ve since become best friends with author Deborah Needleman, I wonder. Could Domino: The Book of Decorating kick-start a major reluctance to decorate?
A year ago I’d have thought that the renovating was the hard part. Once clean and painted, it was a matter of some cushions and a picture frame. I thought I’d dealt with the ugly baby’s neediness – now it wants to be pretty, too?
No! Tough! Go away! Leave me alone! I want my life back! And my wallet!
Domino magazine’s wiki page suggests trouble in paradise – it formerly appealed to the woman who “wants to have fun on the never-ending search for items for her home.” Never-ending!? A worse entertainment hell than Settlers of Catan.
So, Domino Decorating, talk straight to me. I want my apartment to get decorated quick, so I can forget about it, drink my damn wine and read my damn book. I need help now. Maybe the more I learn, the less time decorating will take? Or I can learn to enjoy it?
Chapter 1 - Ohhh, Deborah. You’re starting from absolute basics… just for me.
- Tip 1: Start an inspiration file! “The best system is the one you’ll actually use” – whether online, on a tack board or in a folder (page 12). I already had one – and I thought it was cheating. A rainy day project will be to sort through, cull the dross, and better know my preferred style.
While I’d sat down to read an educational book, I soon felt guilty. With gorgeous fonts, colours and tons of photos – it was an indulgent treat. Finally – a hefty, hardback magazine with no ads. Heaven. Why did it not come with jam and scones?
Chapter 2 – The book walks you through a house, much as you would look around one. It got me thinking of open houses and first impressions. The entry way? Deborah says it needs to smell nice. Easy enough – I can handle decorating after all.
Deborah takes a kindly “What Not To Wear” approach – teaching the names of a dozen table styles without hint of pretension. Which table best suits a given room’s size, style and purpose? I’d never given our entry area much thought, and soon I was saying “nice to meet you, ‘demilune’” (page 32-33).
We continued around the apartment – me and Deborah – and I was soon eyeing the entry way, dining area and bedroom suspiciously. To now I’d believed that decorating ideas could do little to help our boxy apartment, as we have none of the space/light/features of typical magazine homes. Deborah disagrees – it’s not a bulletproof excuse.
Would I be more excited to put in the effort after reading this book? I read on, and turned eventually to Domino’s edgy classic – a room with our turquoise walls. It was a cohesive creature indeed, and Deborah explained that its “painted ceiling creates a sense of being wrapped in color” (page 52). Looking up at our half-massacred, half-painted ceiling, I hoped Debster hadn’t noticed.
Source: Domino: The Book of Decorating, via Love Design Barbados
Domino decorating seems as big a project as the entire renovation to date. Our blanks walls and empty corners need “pieces” and “accessories”. Once found and paid for they might indeed look pretty – but what a massive undertaking. And what of the risk in making this apartment too personalized – surely not recommended for selling?
The book’s intro promises it’s for real people – then proceeds to show us the home office of Lily from Gossip Girl. Wiki again – a Domino reader was typically 37.5 years old, and had a 6-figure household income. Oh.
It’s no hardship spending a rainy afternoon in Domino Deb’s company – but I now know I have real decorating problems, and I wasn’t finding much to solve them. (Or, perhaps, the available advice required considerable cash outlay and lots of wishing & hoping).
Finally. Page 204. “No room for an office? Try a table behind the sofa…”. I have a table. I have a sofa. And why have two desk areas when I could have three? Every fidgety freelancer’s dream. A few hours later and I moved into Office C:
We so rarely use Ikea Ingo as a dining table, and I love looking straight out to the balcony plants. It’s warmer than my real desk, anyway. Not a permanent solution, and maybe it’s created other problems – but that’s all this pikey was able to transform after her date with Domino decorating.
Covers Canada? Na, Deb doesn’t love you like that.
1 reason to read it? You, as well, have picture frames on your walls with nothing in them.
Conclusion: Pretty book, pretty photos. Aspirational afternoons rather than instant improvement.
Anyone else drawn success from Domino’s decorating book?
Hey, you want a s'more? Some more of what?
Office B is next to the wine rack. I like this about it.
It’s got full 9-5 coverage… coffee to the left, wine to the right.
I need to get this book. I’ve wanted it since they started advertising it, it’s probably about time I picked it up. I still have most of my old copies of Domino–I wish they would at least bring it back as an online magazine.
Haha I must be a hermit – but glad to be a latent member of the “I know what Domino is besides a not-very-fun game” club.