Real Simple: The Organized Home

Rating:
Summary: Long on style, but could use more substance
Review: "The Organized Home" is as beautifully presented as it would like its readers' homes to look. It's lavishly photographed and nicely arranged, room by room, and there is even a ribbon marker attached. It's all very stylish. Where the book falls short is on substance. Some of the photographs could use better captions to help make their statement, and a lot of what is being said is so self-evident as to hardly be worth filling up a book with. One topic that does bear repeating (and is repeated in this book with a vengeance) is the necessity of de-cluttering your space -- go through your closets, drawers, cabinets regularly and toss whatever you haven't used in the last year or so. You'll be surprised at how much junk you've accumulated. There's also a shopping guide at the back, including internet addresses, listing sources.

Speaking of space, this is really the book's weakest point: "The Organized Home" reads like it was written for readers living in suburban McMansions. How many singles living in the city have laundry rooms, family rooms, storage rooms, or even separate dining rooms? There needs to be a lot more in here about how to organize in a limited space. The book talks about displaying all your small appliances if you have a lot of counter space in your kitchen, but what if you live in an apartment where the kitchen is so small that you can spread out your arms and touch walls? Maybe that could be the topic for a separate book. As far as this one is concerned, it's a beautiful volume, but its lack of attention to small spaces has limited its overall usefulness.

Rating:
Summary: Good Ideas, Great Pictures but Worth the Price?
Review: As always, this series of books from the Real Simple Magazine reflect the feel of the magazine and what a simple organized life can be like with gorgeous pictures.

I feel, however, that the book is a bit pricey for the amount of information that it provides. The advise is mostly common sense.

The book is, as you would hope, organized well into the sections of your house. I found they addressed issue w/ modern day living rooms: organizing furniture and how best to organize stereo equipment most efficiently. The kitchen section also had some great solutions (page 82) and I learned some good details for selecting sheets and towels.

The book, however, as it went on it lost its ability to present anything new and I was disappointed that the pictures used did not tell where the items were purchased. There is a guide in the back that noted different providers but not specifically which items came from what store.

This is a good gift item and might be a great one to give a bachelor. There is a lot of the public, however, who would be better served by picking up the magazine and/or going to the stores they list in the appendix to get a good picture of good organization.

Rating:
Summary: Nice pictures....
Review: As in the magazine, the photographs are gorgeous. Actually, I recognize some of the photos from past magazines, so maybe if you've had a Real Simple subscription for a while you might not even get anything out of the visuals. As for information, it's pretty worthless. There is hardly any text at all, as you would see if you could flip through the book. Some of the pictures are of interesting organizing solutions, but many of the photos don't even have captions, so an interesting way to store jewelry, for example, is shown to you but not explained. It would make a nice coffeetable book, but don't buy this if you are actually looking for some serious information.

Rating:
Summary: A Must-have For Anybody
Review: I bought this book and found great ideas for anyone trying to decorate their home without the muss and fuss. Real Simple is a great magazine for those that want to maintain order in their place. The book provides tips and examples of how to maintain a home and each room. This is an excellent resource for anyone in search of their own place.

Rating:
Summary: If you like simple but elegant decor, this is for you
Review: I have to say, I am quite prejudiced in favor of this volume because my own decorating style is pretty much what you find here. I saw more than one room in my house! I use neutral paint in most rooms, a lot of black and white photos, stark lines in the furniture, well, you get the point. This was my cup of tea.

But the ideas for refitting closets could be used by anyone, even if you are the Laura Ashley type rather than Bauhaus-is-our-house. I don't agree with glassed kitchen cabinets though I love the look (I am likely to cram in ten or so souvenir ceramic mugs from ferry boat trips and museums, none of which look delightully chic when showcased in glass and wood.) But for the most part, I enjoyed the ideas and picked up a few good tips for getting the closets to stop regurgitating at me when I open the door. And need I say, this is beautifully photographed? Summary: if you are a fan of "Real Simple" or even Martha Stewart Living, you will probably like this book a great deal.

Rating:
Summary: This Book Saved My Life!
Review: Ok, so I was never on the brink of death - I'm exaggerating a little. But I was/am the consummate slob. When I was a kid I kept a terrible room and as an adult I keep a terrible apartment that has only one closet. Plus I am so busy that my time to spend on housekeeping is fairly limited. The beginning of this book gives solid points in plain talk on how an organized home can save time, positively impact your life on so many levels and how easy it is to maintain if you know how to set things up. The book was very encouraging about the daunting task of getting started on things one step at a time.

The pictures in this book are SO beautiful and the furnishings so high end that it was a bit intimidating at first. But if you actually read the advice given in the book you can find clues on making good use of what you already have. And through the sea of expensive visual art and design you see in the pictures they manage to highlight basic 'must have' items that will really make a difference rather than try to entice you to buy certain products or expensive furnishings. I ended up giving away things that served no practical use except to bang my toes against in the dark.

There are no ads and they never mention or acknowledge in the book what brands are featured or where you can purchase the items you see there. At first I was annoyed by this but it allowed me to shop around for inexpensive items that are within my budget. I spent less than $200, and that's including the book itself.

I have a long way to go as far as retraining myself to form better habits to keep my place from reverting back to it's former cluttered glory. But I credit this book with being a Godsend in getting me out from under the mountain of junk I'd been staring at for so long. It helped me to actually look forward to getting started and how to keep on the lookout for solutions to recurring clutter problems as I go along. If you are really ready to do something about your clutter problems, I would highly recommend this book.

This book might not do anything for you if you already have your act together. But for the rest of us this book makes an organized home finally obtainable. A kiss for the people at 'Real Simple' who put this thing together. Thank you for thinking of me!

Rating:
Summary: Buy the Magazine
Review: The magazine has more detailed information about how to implement great ideas. I bought the book because I love the magazine, but the only thing better about the book is that it doesn't have ads. Although, one could say that the resource section in the back is one big ad, and even it doesn't correspond the company with the tips in the book. There is also no index.

Spend the money, you would have spent on the book on getting and/or renewing your subscription to the magazine, it's superb. The book is only mediocre at best.

Rating:
Summary: NOT FOR A FAMILY WITH KIDS
Review: The photos are beautiful, the designs are just wonderful...but if you have kids this is not real life. This is a magazine lifestyle. You could only do this if you had an unlimited budget, there are no true solutions for real families with real children and real budgets. Sure my home could be organized if I had an open checkbook and could have such fabulous built-ins, and all the baskets I could buy! Stick with the real simple magazine and leave the book for the coffee table.

Rating:
Summary: love it!
Review: This book is one of the best gifts I have ever recieved. I just moved into my first apartment, and was feeling really overwhelmed about getting organized and making the most of a VERY small space. This book has so many great organizational ideas that it actually made me excited to get started. It was a huge project, but thanks largely to this book, I feel really great about my new home and I honestly have never felt more organized--such a great feeling!!! Thank you so much for all of the great ideas and tips!!!




Rating:
Summary: Terrible
Review: This book is terrible. Save your money. There are no new or interesting organizational ideas in this book. If you have a lick of common sense, you don't need it!!!!!