Reading in the Bathroom | Design*Sponge at Home

[responsivevoice_button voice=”UK English Female” buttontext=”Listen to Post”]

The thing about books based on websites is that there will always be a portion of the audience that has never heard of them. The internet is vast, and what you think is cool on your end of the internet may be completely new to someone else. And when you do discover something awesome, you feel like the nerd not knowing what the cool kids are into. Having no idea this book was based on a website, I came to this book with an open mind.

This could be dismissed as design porn for its own sake. But both the website and the book offer real DIY solutions, tips, and understands principles and elements of design. The editor, Grace Bonney, does an excellent job explaining, say, why a workspace painted grey is effective with an unexpected pop of color like an Orange Sherbet. Or she explains how different textures in a monochromatic home create visual variety.

I love this book. It reminds me of the books my grandmother used to give me the now-likely out-of-print Best Kid’s Party Book Ever, or The Rainy Day Kid Book. This may have been a crucial moment in my love of art and design. Those large, full-scale samples, and clear illustrations; feeling somewhat empowered. You can simply craft your way into a fantastic life!  When I feel like getting some sense of control over my space, I like to crack open Design*Sponge at Home on a breezy afternoon, “ooh and ahh” over the well-lit, professionally-cleaned homes and have no shame about indulging in that fantasy.

”

This is once again a reminder that who gets to be considered a smart designer matters just as much as what gets to be smart design.

However, this book takes on a different perspective after attending MICA’s Social Design Exchange. Diamond’s presentation made me more aware of how the messages we market about a beautiful home also reach those who live in public housing. And since anyone — regardless of income — can design, it can be disheartening reading the pages of Design* Sponge at Home and getting the sense these people have incredible amounts of time, money, resources, and access.

Many entrants (which include graphic designers, art directors, architects, and Molly Sims) live in large lofts and multi-level homes in Brooklyn, San Francisco, and London — likely afforded by decades of intergenerational wealth, informal gifts, housing discrimination, and displacement of low-to-middle- income residents of color.

Plus, Design*Sponge at Home posits that anyone reading this book can afford to avoid less-quality furniture. An illustration suggests avoiding any dressers that have cardboard backs. The side dresser this book is placed on (photo above) has a cardboard back. That’s not because I didn’t know better. It’s because I was 25, had no furniture in my home, and I got two of them at a steal for $16 each. But in another breath, the book expresses the virtues of redesigning a piece from IKEA as though it was a tenet of a new religion. So, which is it? Are we being smart when we retool something the editors like, or being chintzy when we retool something they don’t? These are the kinds of mixed messages that often make me feel like the sad, poor girl who showed up to the party in a dress she made herself.

And of the entrants who were photographed (or was available to be photographed), all were either white or Asian. This is not an interrogation of the editors at Design* Sponge or a diminishment of the really great entries. This is once again a reminder that who gets to be considered a smart designer matters just as much as what gets to be smart design.

Home Again: An Art Director Mixes Past and Present in Her Native D.C.

As I said, I love this book. But I find myself loving this book the way a minion loves Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl. You can spend time with her, want to be like her, be as well-dressed as her; you can even make as much money as her. But you’ll never be the center of attention.

Reading in the Bathroom is a book review series by IDSL. Reading is obviously not done in the bathroom exclusively. Sometimes it’s at a park bench, outdoor cafe, or on the train. But the best reading is done in the bathroom.