The appeal of design books is not just the beauty that they bring into our homes in tidy little packages, it's the inspiration that they unleash. With luck, ideas leap from the page like the most delightful pop-up book.
A couple of weekends ago we were shrouded in relentless gloom. I was reminded of my desire to flee our dreary, rainy Spring weather when I was in college and head south to the consistent sunshine of Texas. Now I do what I did then; I take a book to bed.
Or books. But in this case I snuggled up with Nicky Haslam and read his words and his clippings and slid my finger over the thicker end of the post-it note marking pages. Mr. Haslam likes iron railings. I sometimes like iron railings, like the one in the Musee Rodin. But I very much do not like the iron railing in my house.
Mr. Haslam made me see it in a new way. Another friend had suggested painting it black and all I could think was, "Whatever for? It will still be the swirly, girly nonsense that I cannot stand." But that image, above, with the black and white floor and the pale walls and the much-more-beautiful swirly railing made me think, "Well, maybe...."
You can find Mr. Haslam's book, and maybe an epiphany therein,
here.
Image, top, from Nicky Haslam: A Designer's Life, by Nicholas Haslam, Rizzoli New York, 2015.
(And, get ahold of yourself. I know the lampshade is wrong, but it was handy. We're going to talk about it tomorrow.)
