A Beautiful Mess Happy Handmade Home: Painting, Crafting, and Decorating a Cheerful, More Inspiring Space

I'll admit - I had pretty low expectations after reading so many negative reviews - so I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn't expecting earth-shattering interior design ideas - I was just expecting some clever ideas with lots of eye candy, which is what I got. I really enjoyed all of the photos (although, I wish there were more (and larger) d.i.y pictures (balsa wood coffee table)). I also really like the "9 ways to do …" - and again - they weren't out-of-this-world concepts, but they were cute enough to get my own wheels turning on ideas. Lastly - I really like their suggestion on how to decide to decorate your space: to think of other favorite spaces, and makes lists. What a simple way to start something that can seem so overwhelming.

I am A Beautiful Mess junkie. Love their website, love their other photography book, but this book gives me so many terrific ideas. Even if I don't do things exactly as Elsie and Emma have done, their creativeness helps to get my crafting and decorating juices going. Friends I've shared the book with love it too - even one that dismissed it as "that is so hipster" but then proceeded to love just about everything in there. :) We now refer to it as that terrible, yet awesome hipster book.There are a lot of ideas inside, some similar to what's been posted on their blog, but there is new stuff and having a book to flip through is just more satisfying to me.ABM inspires me to embrace the things that I love and not worry too much about what anyone else might think. Hipster, crafty, lame, cute, cool - whatever - if I like it, that's all that counts.

Happy Handmade Home is a fairly thick paperback book that features around 75 home-related craft projects. There's a section for each area of the home: living rooms, kitchens, dining rooms, bedrooms, playrooms, studio spaces, outdoor spaces and small spaces. The projects and interiors shown are bright and cheerful. I love the authors' casual approach that celebrates charming imperfections. However, I think the high number of projects is partly responsible for the low quality of individual pieces. This would have been a better book with half the projects and twice the instruction.A lot of the projects are of that special breed you only find in DIY books. I am not going to nail coffee filters to pallet strips and call it a headboard. Or decorate my china with a Sharpie, or duct tape aztec patterns on my fridge. When I spend the effort making something, I want it to be... well, nice. I was thinking messy along the lines of those tags on Anthropologie stuff that tell you that your silk pillows may have natural variation because they were woven by hermits on some tiny island in Micronesia. Not 'preschoolers decorated my living room' messy.The writing style is encouraging, but I wouldn't call this book beginner-friendly. For example, the Quotable Wall Art project includes directions like 'purchase or cut pieces of thin wood' and 'stain the wood'. It doesn't tell you what tools you'd need or how to go about staining wood if you've never done it before. The Painted Dresser project says to clean and lightly sand the surfaces, prime and paint. That's it: no in-progress photos or tips on making the project successful beyond 'don't stress yourself out about the perfect color.' The Cross Stitch Stool doesn't actually give you a cross stitch pattern, it just says to make your own design. This project did have a supply list – and left off embroidery thread.And does anybody follow the recipe or drink instructions in DIY books? The cover promises 'painting, crafting and decorating'... I wasn't expecting recipes for cookies and martinis, though alcohol may explain the floor lamp 'makeover' on page 143, which features black paint glopped on with a wine cork.Still, this book does have a charming energy to it. There are some nice tips for decorating on a budget, like making random dining room chairs match by painting them a vibrant color. But on the whole, it's one of those vanity blog books that is mainly a snapshot of the authors' lifestyle and interests. They seem like lovely people, but I was hoping for more out of this book.

What a fun read! This book is entertaining and inspirational. You will read it, put it down, and then pick it up again and again. The photographs alone keep you coming back for another look. The book is jam packed with so many unique and interesting ideas to stimulate your senses. It motivated me to complete some of the more artistic projects in my home. I enjoyed this book so much that I also purchased one for my daughter.

I was really looking forward to this book since I've been a long time reader of their blog. I have to say that it left me feeling a bit disappointed. I love the photos and the colorful layout, and the tips for finding interior inspiration were really great like writing down places you love to eat for dining room inspiration. I thought the DIYs would be more in-depth and sophisticated but a lot of them are a bit juvenile or repetitive. At least 3 projects each used the techniques of stamping on fabric or drawing on ceramic with Sharpie marker. I think these could have been combined or edited down. I understand wanting to split up the book into different chapters for each room but the projects were really repetitive. Also, the coffee filter headboard was just bad and should have been left out. We're grown up ladies not little girls or college dorm dwellers! Overall it's a cute book and I do like to support these girls, I was just expecting a lot more from a DIY book.

I've been following their blog for years and I'm so glad their book content is different than their blog DIY's. It's more sophisticated and elegant but on a budget, Emma and Elise have evolved in their designs over the years. The crafts range for either the new DIY'er to the experts. There's even a section that's kid-friendly, I can see this book being gifted to everyone from my mom to my niece.

What a great book! I have it sitting right on my coffee table and always have guests flipping through it and asking about it. I already loved keeping up with Emma and Elsie's blog, but these fun DIY projects are presented colorfully and in a fun way that makes you want to do them all! For the price, I would recommend this book to anyone.

I was hopeing for more craft and things to make also revamp things, there was a lot of emty space on the pages, a lot of the things where very good.

The pictures are beautiful and inspiring! I loved it, felt all the creative juices flowing - for anyone who hasn't bought it and would rather save their money, their blog is more than enough, and much more elaborative. But I did love flipping thru the photos and thinking about what it is I wanted to do next ❤️

I like it! It also makes a beautiful gift!

If you love Beautiful Mess blog, this is a print version of it, or just small extension. But trust me, you can live without it

Present - it is lived