therealjlow | Reading Lately

Marie Kondo: The Life Changing Magic Of Tidying

David Kirby: Death at Seaworld

Ella Woodward: Deliciously Ella

Abigail Ahern: Colour

Because I know my lovely readers (thats you!) come from all over the world I have linked these to amazon. I don’t get a commission from this so don’t panic but a quick tip is to change the UK to your own area and this will automatically take you to your amazon where you can purchase with your own currency and postage!

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

I don’t really feel the need to say much about this except this, thanks to this book I am looking at all those inspirational Pinterest posts about Ikea hacks in a whole different light. Its really made me think twice about what I keep, what I buy and that tidying solutions often just lead you to more stuff. With our new house we really don’t want to crowd it with things when we could have space instead so it will be interesting to see how in a years time this has changed how we live!

This is a great book for anyone feeling overwhelmed by things or who wants to embark on a more minimalist lifestyle.

(pssttt I made these backgrounds as abstract art for our bedroom. Just four tubes of paint, three canvas’s from tiger (£6 each) and an afternoon of playing. Not my finest work but so much fun! Try it for a cheap and original home update!)

Death at Seaworld

If you’ve not watched Blackfish yet, do so now. I never thought much about Killer whales to be honest, I always liked aquariums as a child but this has completely changed my mind. To see these beautiful creatures literally being held captive in a bathtub is horrendous when you learn about their families in the wild, how they interact how their brains are literally more developed than ours you just sit back and think, what are we doing? We have all this power to make the world better and yet places like Seaworld are not using that power for good so start with Blackfish and follow it up with this incredible account from two people who have worked in and out of the captive industry.

Deliciously Ella

I’ve spoken about this before and I will speak about it again but its this, I have problems with food and some of those problems I believe come from being processed. I have implemented a lot of things to control the symptoms of ibs which I hope to write about in another post but this book has been excellent in opening my eyes to natural and alternative ways to make your food both delicious and healthy. The only way it falls flat for me is because a lot of the ingredients can be hard to find or expensive and thats not always something I can justify, but this is a fantastically inspiring book!

Colour

As you know we have just bought our first home and with that I finally get to decorate! Be prepared for a lot more posts about my adventures (and misadventures) in the next few years even but this book has made me so happy. So happy in fact that it is the only book which wasn’t packed to move. Instead I just carried it to and from the house everyday like it was part of hand luggage.

As a background to me I have always loved colour. It comes down from my family who are always doing something daring in their homes (I see you grandparents in your funky purple leather chairs.) However with the recent scandinavian trend in both our homes and wardrobes I have actually felt as if I have been trying to put myself into a somewhat fashionable box. So much so that I told josh that we should just paint the whole house white and be more minimalist. A 100% not me. Especially when I love our red leather couch, our patterned red storage stool, the more ethnic pieces Josh and his parents have found us from Saudi and India and I can’t overlook that side of me anymore. Our living room will be red, it will be patterned, it will be filled with gold and a little sparkle and yes even an elephant tapestry. It is going to be colourful and this book just allows us to be that way without feeling bound to fashion! One day I might love a white and grey second living room but we need to play with colour first.

So read this to be less afraid of colour and also how to pair colour correctly! Its often all too easy to pair colours wrong and if you weren’t into art or you just don’t pay close enough attention its so easily done and rooms can become oh so easily weird with a strange paint colour but this book is ace. It has really confirmed to me that I was on the right track all along! Now all I have to do is convince Josh that, yes we should of course create a dark wood panelled stairway and landing. The seventies smoking room look is in my friend just you wait and see!