Styled by Emily Henderson: Book Review.

Exciting new monthly feature announcement! Each month I’ll be reviewing a home-related book and whether it’s fit for a shelfie. And yes, I admit this is in part a sneaky little plan to expand my collection of gorgeous interior and home related books. But in the process I can let you know whether the books match up their covers.

Styled by Emily Henderson

This month I’m talking about Styled by Emily Henderson, LA-dwelling interior designer, stylist and Editor in Chief of her award winning blog. As a big fan of Emily’s blog and YouTube videos already, I was fairly certain I would love this book before I read a single page. Here’s what I really thought … 

What’s it about?

The book is divided into three sections:  The Stylist toolkit, Style secrets for every room and the stylist’s notebook. Each section contains lots of big beautiful pictures and easy to read text packed full of tips.

It begins with Emily’s style quiz, which I thought was rather novel. It brought back happy memories of the Mizz magazine quizzes I used to do when I was a teenager, but a more classy, grown up version. (Side note: did you read Mizz magazine? Let me know in the comments.)

I had to use a little creative licence for this, as kindly Emily assumes I’m a fraction cooler than I actually am. I mean, who actually has a hand-turned blond wood candle stick collection? But I channelled my inner hipster, frothy coffee in hand and ploughed on through. I was surprised that the result was actually fairly accurate in terms of my interior style.

This section also includes an explanation of lots of interior terms from vignettes to contrast and a simple 10 step guide of how to style your spaces. Also, the rule of three which I already use for everything. Three is the magic number for sure when it comes to interiors.

The Style secrets section provides room by room inspiration for styling your home, offering lots of easy to follow advice. I really liked the sections where they showed an item of furniture styled in several different ways, it demonstrates how you can apply the advice to suit your own personal style. Also, how you can re-purpose an item as your style evolves.

The final section details Emily’s favourite paint colours (warning: she has expensive taste), tips for shopping at flea markets, which task you should DIY and hire for along side all her favourite reads and places to shop.

What I loved

Of course I enjoyed drooling over the beautifully styled images, but I also learnt some really valuable tips which I’m already putting in to practice. I thought the quiz was a unique way to personalise the reader experience too. I’ve dived back into the book on several occasions, sometimes just to flick though and enjoy the images. Other times for tips and inspiration, so I know it’s a book I’ll keep returning too.

What wasn’t great

The photos throughout are beautiful and inspiring. Although, I will say that they are very much centred around Emily’s signature look. So if you’re not a fan of eclectic, vintage and mid century modern you might not be keen.  

There are lots of photo tips, which are great for me as a blogger because I take photos of my home, but might not be relevant to everyone.

Do I recommend it?

It will come as no surprise, I’m sure, that I would wholeheartedly recommend Styled by Emily Henderson. If you’re a bit of a home accessories hoarder like moi, I can guarantee you will love it too! With over 1000 tips and 75 gorgeously styled images, it really is a must have for any interior lovers bookshelf.

If you want heaps of ideas for styling your home like a pro and a glorious coffee table book that your guests will love flicking through, this is the book!

Do you have Styled by Emily Henderson? What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

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