Guide To Easier Living

by Russel Wright, Mary Wright

Time is a valued commodity in our modern world, and everyone struggles to make the most of each minute. Russel and Mary Wright recognized decades ago that finding time to organize their lives and homes would become a priority for modern men and women. In their groundbreaking book, Guide to Easier Living, the Wrights offered simple ways to achieve a comfortable, well-designed, and organized living environment in any home for any family.
Originally published in 1950, Gibbs Smith is proud to rerelease Guide to Easier Living, and to reintroduce the Wrights' time-tested and proven methods for maintaining an inviting and efficient home. From ways to make household chores as fast and painless as possible, to how to organize a room for maximum living space, the Wrights pioneered a new informal way of living for a newly suburban American public. The Wrights' ideas revolutionized American living and the way everyday people dealt with the unending job of keeping a home in order. These methods and ideas are just as relevant-if not more so-today as they were a half-century ago.
Russel and Mary Wright were prominent and successful designers who pioneered the fusion of modern design and informal living. Most importantly, they were known for their tabletop designs. The Wrights' most famous tabletop design, American Modern, was the best-selling dinnerware in American history and has just been rereleased by Oneida Ltd.

Genres: Nonfiction, Design

206 pages, Paperback

First published March 6, 2003

Reviews

[Kat]

This was originally published in 1950. As a housekeeping manual, all it really has to say is: housewives don't have servants to help them out anymore, so stop holding yourself to standards developed when they did. Buy furniture that is easy to keep clean, etc. Not so earthshaking an idea now as it may have been in 1950.

What makes the book interesting to me, in 2007, is its basic feminism. The Wrights suggest that men in the family and even male guests at parties should help out with cleanup tasks, gingerly suggesting that it is unfair to leave it up to the women. They present statistics suggesting that while the average American man of the time worked 40 hours a week, the average American housewife put in 60-80 hours a week, and that her labor was just as valid and important as his. In 1950! Betty Friedan was not the first to make these things up.

I ran across this book in the home decorating section of the library (it was right next to the knitting section) and it caught my eye because the title was funny and the spine was yellow. I had no idea what I was getting into, and I was pleased to find it offered some useful perspective on the chronology of middle-class feminism.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is an amazing little view into the 1950s mind and 50s gender roles. while for its time, i am sure it was really progressive, it seems so amazingly outdated now. the authors provide the housewife with both daily and weekly cleaning schedules. the authors' primary concern regarding design and decoration of the house is the ability to clean it to what seems like the level of sterility.
interesting read, but not too useful to anyone that might be looking for a book on home design--it's just too outdated.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A guide to the best of mid-century modern, written right in the midst of the era. Russel Wright and his wife Mary explain the philosophy behind the modernist design of the time, with marvelously practical tips to make your living space more livable (looking cool was strictly secondary...but man, do the living spaces shown look cool!). A must-read for anyone trying to fit their life into a small space and running out of ideas to manage the clutter.

[Angie Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even 60+ years later, this volume has much to inform about efficiently running a home. I do, however, have modern day concerns about the dependence on disposable products and duplication of homekeeping tools and supplies. Paper napkins, cups and plates along with plastic ware may save in the labor of washing, drying and putting away, but are costly in the long run, financially and environmentally. I also don't have multiple storage options to keep cleaning supplies upstairs and downstairs and two of everything else. That's just not practical for us. I bought a shower caddy basket during college back-to-school time when we moved into our house in 2018. It totes almost everything I need for bathroom cleaning in one place and is easy to take up and down stairs. This book did get me thinking about ways to streamline and maintain our home and labors, which is a good thing.

[Megan Close Zavala · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a treat! I bought this in Palm Springs because of the obvious vintage aspects, but found myself really inspired by a lot of the main messages in the book. A lot has clearly changed since 1950, but plenty of the sentiments are still timely. I was actually sad for this book to end, and I’ll definitely be picking it up again in the future.

[Brigadoonmd · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone who has a serious interest in Mid-Century Modern design and/or history.

[Sarah Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dated but delightful. I had purchased this book approx. 10 yrs ago after seeing an exhibit at the NYS museum about the Wrights.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've only skimmed this book, as I think reading it in detail will require me to be ready to redo my house! The book is doubly fascinating, first for its still-excellent principles for simple living, and second as a time capsule of the 1950s. While the essence of the Wrights' philosophy still applies, many of their tangible recommendations are, unsurprisingly, quite dated (39 dishes for a casual dinner for four? And this is the "radically" scaled down version!) -- but this makes them really interesting to read. I'm looking forward to remaking my home with their philosophy in mind... but with plenty of time so I can rethink them to apply to my own contemporary lifestyle!

[Kecia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Long before Martha Stewart there was Russell Wright. As a collector of mid-century modern this book is delight for me to own...I found it for a dollar at an estate sale. While I prefer the deigns of Eva Zeisel and Viktor and Don Schrengost to Russell Wright they never entered into other areas like entertaining or home decor.