A Beautiful Mess {Book Review}


A Beautiful Mess Happy Handmade Home:
Painting, Crafting, and Decorating a Cheerful, More Inspiring Space
by Elsie Larson and Emma Chapman
About the book:
Step inside the world of Elsie and Emma, the sisters behind the décor blog A Beautiful Mess. With tiny budgets and a crafty, can-do attitude, they overhauled each room in their first homes with DIY projects using family photos, vibrant fabrics, flea-market finds, and affordable furniture. Now, you can learn how to paint, craft, and decorate your way to a happy, bright space with distinct personality. In the same upbeat spirit and modern style found on their blog, you’ll find fresh, all-new projects including: 
• An inspired geometric-pattern coffee table made of balsa wood
• A hand-lettered statement wall featuring your favorite quote
• A quick and easy electrical tape update for your refrigerator
• A set of beautifully designed serving dishes
And more! 
Packed with bonus styling tips from hanging the perfect gallery wall to making mismatched furniture work, Happy Handmade Home is design inspiration for personalizing your own space.
If you knew me during my scrapbooking days, you knew I had one obsession...Elsie!  You can call it girlcrushing or fangirling...nonetheless, I was absolutely obsessive about her.  At one point my friend Tanya even sent me her autograph made out to ME!  And just so y'all know, it's still framed and displayed.  I actually contribute a lot of my personal style to Elsie.  Before I started stalking following her, I didn't realize it was okay to mix patterns and colors.  And with her confidence, I found myself being more confident and not worrying so much what everyone else thought.  That's why when I saw this book up for review, I just KNEW I had to review it.

I've been following Elsie and Emma from the getgo. And I've been reading their blog, A Beautiful Mess, since it began basically. I've loved watching them grow and expand. I love their style and am always super jealous of Elsie's hair. And now, the girls have expanded into writing books.

First of all, I loved the photography in this book. I loved the inside look this gave us into their homes and personalities. While we do see a lot of that on the blog as well, I loved seeing all that pictures and inspiration. I've already gone through and thought about which projects I want to attempt myself. And I've passed it on to my daughter, as I'm sure there are some cool projects in there she'll want to try.

This is the perfect inspiration book. It's more than just a book of how-to's. The girls have infused it with their personalities, and it's also just a lot of fun. I also love that all of the projects are in one place, for easy reference.

WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group provided this book to me for free in exchange for this honest review as part of their Blogging for Books program.

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