Pure Style Living [Hardcover]

"What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?"
~W.H. Davies

Jane Cumberbatch has a vision for a simpler existence that is more balanced and natural. She enjoys making her home more sensual, while also encouraging a practical environment in which you can really live. She is the mother of three children who thinks of her home as the heart of her daily life. To her, it is a place where she can connect with her real self.

The ideas in this book are affordable and there are a few moments of pure inspiration.

The contents include:

Recipes
Sources
Living
Nature
Scents
Texture
Eating
Architecture
Function
Order
Fabrics
Color
Work
Gardening
Playing
Washing
Sleeping
Flooring
Painting

This book is more about living simply than creating complicated projects. This is a book about how to make a home more stylish, sensual and peaceful.

There are useful ideas like how you can grow your own produce, recycle items you would normally throw away or how to use fewer chemicals and maybe even make your own compost heap.

I found the text inspirational and thought provoking in many ways. It is creative and evokes a feeling of crisp ideas, nostalgic memories from childhood and an awakening to the senses. Pictures of hanging clothes on a clothesline or sweeping a porch barefoot almost make you long for simpler times.

The pictures pour themselves over the pages with sheer beauty. This is a book you will want to sit and read while comfortably snuggling on your couch (which you wish looked like the pink one on page 190 where a child is peacefully sleeping) with a down comforter and a cup of tea. The pictures are interspersed with text in the first section. This is a combination of visual and intellectual appeal which I found to be almost unique in its form.

There are cute ideas like a bowl of soup decorated with a heart crouton and herbs which I really thought was delightfully fun. The pictures of making a raspberry fool look absolutely sinfully delicious. You just want to put a spoonful of raspberries in your mouth or enjoy the process of folding berries into cream.

Then there are ideas for scenting your bedlinen with fragrances or protecting your clothes with natural cedarwood blocks. There is a visual directory of ideas. The last section compliments the first as it gives you ideas on the materials needed to achieve the natural atmosphere described in the first section.

There are ideas for building a fire on a damp blustery day or how to bring nature into your home to increase tactile sensations.

While the ideas in "play" are not necessarily that original, you may have forgotten how as a child you carved out potato art to make potato prints. There is a cute way to decorate a tree with heart shaped pastry.

To find the recipes you have to turn to page 393 where you can find "mini" recipes for Chestnut soup, roast chicken with lemon and herb butter, chicken stock, sautéed carrots, mince pies, chocolate truffles, orange and almond cake and heart-shaped biscuits.

After reading this book I had this almost ecstatic feeling of just peaceful oneness with the earth and home. My thought it is due to the combination of visual and intellectual appeal.

A treat for the senses! Highly recommended for new home makers or for anyone who wants to immerse themselves in dreams, thoughts and creative ideas for a few hours. Another idea would be to read this book out in the sun with the breeze blowing through your hair.

A free-flowing book of inspirational ideas. It is brilliant in its simplicity!

~TheRebeccaReview.com

I've been a fan of Jane's since Pure Style and was eagerly awaiting by Amazon delivery of her new Pure Style Living. I was not disappointed. While this may be marketed as a home design text, it is really a philosophy of contemporary living combining gracious style with a remembrance of all those things that make you feel warm, cozy and comfortable. Her approach to living is fresh and her ideas can easily be incorporated into your everyday life - they are simple and affordable and a welcome change to a contemporary world full of just "too much stuff." I'd definitely love to have lunch with Jane!

Liberal use of white space and highlighted key words try to lend weight to the flimsy text of this lifestyle book. Unfortunately there is barely enough content for a series of newspaper columns.

The photos are first rate, but don't rescue the book.

Example: Under SEASONAL PRODUCE, the author says "Buy fresh produce locally and in season for better taste and texture." The illustrations filling most of that page are a series of colorful photos of tomatoes, cabbage, mushrooms, etc.

The interior shots and garden scenes would fit very well in a book on English country homes. These are lovely.

Tacked on at the end is a page with 13 recipes. Another appendix includes 13 pages of address for buying linens, accessories, lighting, etc. Only in a few places in the book are project instructions included (table runner, felt and ribbon bulletin board, comforter cover).

Mostly the text is banal and Martha Stewart has nothing to fear from this author.