Rating: 
Summary: I had expected more inspiration and fun than this
Review: I thought this book would be more inspiring and have more new ideas than than it turned out to have. Its philosophy and its ideas are no different than a lot of the decorating books and magazines I already own. (Do your own thing? Gee, I never heard that one before....) The book is kinda thin too. It's sort of a magazine more than a book and not worth the money.
Rating: 
Summary: not so great
Review: I was expecting more. For some reason I felt like this book would be more exciting and have better information. I was dissappointed. There is a book called Super Suite for teens that I really loved and they were positioned right next to each other in my book store. I opted for the teen book!
Rating: 
Summary: Cute, but...
Review: If you want a good inspiration for making your place ultra swanky, I agree with the other reviewer that "Pad" is the way to go. But this book is really cute and not too outrageous, has some good ideas and a great layout. It makes a good housewarming gifty for single gal friends. Some of the advice is annoying and just makes you go "duh. I knew that". Like the advice for "Get real paint out of your hair" (mentioned above) it is basically a one paragraph inset about shampooing out latex paint. Now, how to remove oil based varnish from a platinum blonde dye job would have been really helpful, but this is pretty basic stuff. Its still a fun read.
Rating: 
Summary: The inspiration you need for a Swell pad
Review: Just like it's mama publication Swell: A Girl's Guide to the Good Life, this isn't a bible--it's for inspiration. CR and IR remind you that your place is a reflection of you--so why not make it just as kooky, fun, crazy, and yep, swell, as you are? You're not going to read this book on the way to Home Depot to pick up exactly what you're going to buy to re-do your bathroom. You're going to read it and be inspired to think up your very own ideas. What could be more swell than that?
Rating:
Summary: A MAJOR RIP-OFF
Review: Not only is this book small in size and number of pages, but it's a rehash of ideas that are NOTHING NEW. Simply putting the (tacky) "swell" label on this is not enough to make it worth the money. I kept looking for a new idea that I hadn't seen in all the decorating magazines and books I buy, but there wasn't a fresh thought in here. A case of trying to market a superficial concept without putting any thought or quality behind it. I'm tired of being ripped off in this way.
Rating:
Summary: cloying and silly
Review: theme rooms. Wow, nobody ever did that before. turn your kitchen into a spa with river stones in the sink! (even the themes they chose for the rooms aren't clever or even funny, they're just silly and childish.) Not only is this repetitive, unoriginal book overpriced, but they're selling a whole line of home items to go with it. As for the reviewer who said a person can get their own ideas by reading this, if you can't come up with better than this simply by recombining ideas from t.v., movies, and other decorating books, then there's no hope for you.
Rating:
Summary: a swell read from the swell gals
Review: These two Swell-villistas definately took their fun loving spirit from "Swell: a girl's guide to the good life" and placed it back into this new "girl's guide" But don't be fooled, it's not just for chicks. My manly-man buds LOVE this book almost as much as I do. This book is FILLED with room ideas that can fit even my budget. Not only that, but their room/decorating/living ideas are NOT ANYTHING LIKE all the other "interior decorating" books out there. It's not about a couch in the living room, bed with a (boring) headboard, bathroom with guest towels book. These wonderful feme fatals take the "rules" of decorating the same way they take on life: SHAKEN AND STIRRED with a healthy dash of humor. anyone who wishes they were a secret agent, rock star, fashionista, or even a rugged outdorsey camper will get what they're looking for in this book. I can't stop reading it (along with the original SWELL). Oh, and it helped me redecorate as well ;-)
Rating:
Summary: a swell read from the swell gals
Review: These two Swell-villistas definately took their fun loving spirit from "Swell: a girl's guide to the good life" and placed it back into this new "girl's guide" But don't be fooled, it's not just for chicks. My manly-man buds LOVE this book almost as much as I do. This book is FILLED with room ideas that can fit even my budget. Not only that, but their room/decorating/living ideas are NOT ANYTHING LIKE all the other "interior decorating" books out there. It's not about a couch in the living room, bed with a (boring) headboard, bathroom with guest towels book. These wonderful feme fatals take the "rules" of decorating the same way they take on life: SHAKEN AND STIRRED with a healthy dash of humor. anyone who wishes they were a secret agent, rock star, fashionista, or even a rugged outdorsey camper will get what they're looking for in this book. I can't stop reading it (along with the original SWELL). Oh, and it helped me redecorate as well ;-)
Rating:
Summary: A ....
Review: This book doesn't contain very many pages. It also doesn't contain very many ideas. The ideas the book does have are old hat. And who are Cynthia Rowly and Irene Rozenweig?
Rating:
Summary: SUPER!
Review: This book has dumb dialogue and so few pictures it's a shame to call it a design oriented book. The swell line is adorable and I believed this book to be something that would play off of that. It did not. It had absurd ideas, bland drawing, boring writing, stupid stories and little reference to anything related to interior design or the swell line. DISAPPOINTING. Don't waste any money or time on this book.
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