Make Yourself at Home: Design Your Space to Discover Your True Self

by Moorea Seal

Discover how to style your home for a deeper sense of comfort, with guidance from the creator of the 52 Lists journal series

Fans of Moorea Seal know the style influencer and online curator for her beautiful 52 Lists journals and planners, and they love her rustic luxe inspired boho loveliness, dashes of inspiration, plus a twist of the adventuresome spirit of the Northwest.

Now Moorea has created a home design book that’s equal parts self-help guide, memoir, and décor inspiration! She’ll   help you explore what it means to create a relaxed, comfortable home, and you’ll find which expression feels most authentic to you through color palates, interior design modes, conversation prompts, essays, approachable DIY projects and more.

Focusing in turn on one room at a time, various chapters will help you take on the living room, the dining room, bedrooms, and of course, the kitchen. Included for each

·       A personal essay penned by Moorea herself
·       An exclusive look into Moorea’s own spaces with tips for inspired, mindful living
·       Two beginner-friendly DIY projects to personalize and decorate your home on a budget
·       Intimate looks into the homes of a diverse set of female style curators, who share their best tips and tricks for comfortable, imaginative decor

You don't need lots of money or the perfect life in order to infuse your space with your signature spark.

Genres: Nonfiction, Design, Interior Design, Crafts, How To, Reference, Journal

224 pages, Hardcover

Published September 26, 2017

About the author

Moorea Seal is an author, designer, and entrepreneur based out of Seattle, WA. She is the founder and namesake of the women's retail website mooreaseal.com and store front in downtown Seattle which features over 160 handmade designers from across the U.S. and donates 7% of all proceeds to non-profits. Through "The 52 Lists Project" "52 Lists for Happiness" and new latest book "Make Yourself at Home", she seeks to write journals and books that inspire and encourage people from all walks of life, to harness their inner wisdom, strength and self love through list making.

With a degree in Illustration, graduating college in 2009, Moorea was faced with the harsh realities of the job market, or lack there of, during the economic recession. Seeing no straight forward path in a career in the arts, and still unsure of how to mix her passions of art, music, philanthropic work, writing, and fashion into one avenue, she decided to start her blog moorea-seal.com. While juggling 2 full time nanny jobs and a part time job as an artist's assistant to a sculptor, she was blogging everyday to motivate herself to keep creating. She was also singing in a band, teaching herself HTML, and doing freelance Illustration and Design work on the side. Inspired by her work as an artist's assistant, she decided to teach herself how to make jewelry and with $10, two hand me down jewelry pliers from an old lady in her childhood community, and some junk jewelry from a thrift store, she started her first business in Etsy.

By 2010, she began to focus all of her energy on creative pursuits through jewelry design, graphic design, illustration, blog design, and blogging. By 2012, she became a featured persona on Pinterest along side 29 other major brands such as Martha Stewart, Dr Oz, Anthropologie and the U.S. Army in "Pinterest's 30 Days of Pinspiration."

Today you can find her juggling many hats, from being the CEO of the Moorea Seal brand, to writing books, volunteering, motivational speaking, designing new lines of jewelry and accessories, and much more.

Reviews

[Brindi Michele · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this quite disappointing. I wanted more styling tips, maybe suggestions for different personality types in the decor of the same room. maybe pop in a quiz for those who have no idea what their style is.... this was all very vague, and I don't think someone making their space their own for the first time will get much from this.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interior decorating does not rank high on my list of skill-sets. When my sister lived with me, we clashed the most about decorating. She kept wanting to sort my books by color and stack them in artistic ways that inevitably left the one I wanted to read at the bottom. And she really hated my green floral couch. But it was so comfy!
In short, I would never bother to hang a painting in my office if peer-pressure didn’t require it and my current plan for my living room involves hiding all wall space with bookshelves.
But I guess you can’t do that so, making the best of it, I decided to do what I do best and read a book about it in hopes of inspiring greatness.
Unfortunately, this book was not a great place to start. While I'm glad Moorea Seal likes her house and it works with her husband's vibe or whatever, um, it is basically a how-to for her style and I don't like her style. I don't understand her obsession with cacti.
But more generally, I think the problem is this book is oriented around trying to help people figure out "what they like." It is not about putting those things you like together. I know what I like. I just don't understand how it is all supposed to go together and look...artistic. (Hence my plan to just fill my apartment with bookshelves.)
Not a super helpful read. Probably not even worth a flip-through unless you happen to know you like Seal's style.

[Kris (My Novelesque Life) · Rating 2 out of 5]

RATING: 2 STARS
(Review Not on Blog)

A pretty book, but does not seem practical, at least in my life. Reminds me of Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop, it is geared towards a small group.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Solid Stars!

I really liked this book. It's a bit different from the usual home design books and I liked that. I feel that a lot of home design books have the same design concepts and ideas as many in the same category. This book is different in that respect as it offers not only design tips, but also has DIY projects that I am actually planning on doing. This is not just about your home space, but also your workplace space (particularly for people who may own their own place of work or work from home in a creative capacity). This book also gives a lesson on color theory and how to use the color wheel properly when designing your space with complimentary colors.

Beautiful pictures and easy to follow DIY projects. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a creative type that needs to find some zen in their setup.

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was some interesting information, but overall it felt like the book was inspiring a new form of consumption, replacing items with new things that are curated to reflect one's identity. It felt like there was an over reliance on possessions to create or reinforce an individual's identity. By the end of the book I struggled to identify the main point and fail to see significant practical use to the information.

[Trina · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book on design tips, it wasn't as inspiring as I had hoped. It even felt a little dated but maybe that was due to the designers/bloggers repurposing efforts. The photos were just okay. *I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Ginni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Make Yourself at Home is the love-child of a Pinterest board and a lifestyle blog. Stuffed with interviews and glimpses of different homes, crafting projects, and brainstorming prompts, it's a good launch pad for developing a sense of personal decorating style. (It also gave me a bit of whiplash after just reading Fumio Sasaki's Goodbye Things. I don't think he and Moorea Seal would get along.)

The photos are by far the highlight of this book. Diverse and beautiful, they serve as an inspiration board--letting you see what's possible so that you can take what you like, ignore what you don't, and translate it into your own space.

That principle is probably why I found the step-by-step crafting directions so unhelpful. Sprinkled throughout the book, they explain how to make a handful of different decoration pieces (a clay wall hanging, a necklace display, a mouse pad, etc.). Wouldn't it have been more useful to just show the crafts and let the crafty people figure out how to make their own version?
The lengthy chunks of memoir also didn't do anything for me, but given the size of Seal's devoted blog following, her story clearly resonates with other people.

Overall, good as an inspiration springboard, meh as a crafting guide.

(I received this book for free through a Goodreads giveaway.)

[Jas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice book to go through but I’m not sure who the intended audience is. It seems like it’s for beginners because it’s encouraging you to find your style, and in true Moorea Seal fashion there are great prompts to get you thinking about what you want and can do, as well as blank note pages in the back for you to get creative. The DIY ideas in each suggestion are also cute. But then you see words like mid century modern throughout the book and as someone who doesn’t know anything technical about interior design I had no idea what that meant. It isn’t until the end of the book that you get into what each design style actually means. I think that would have been more helpful either in the beginning or throughout so that as you’re seeing examples you know what to look for. The way different bloggers were highlighted was nice too but I felt a lot of them either had similar looks/stories or none of their styles resonated with me. & content warning, one of the bloggers’ personally stories mentions the loss of a child. Super heartbreak and not something I expected when I picked this up. Overall I think the order of the information could have been better depending on the intended audience.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in digital format on a B&W Kindle. I am sure the images in color with better definition would be more appreciated. Bringing together the examples and experiences of seven female bloggers, this is an enjoyable read about adding your own personality to your home decor. Included are many easy to follow projects to inspire readers. Sitting with this book is as comfortable and relaxing as browsing favorite design blogs.
I also appreciated the stories of strength and perseverance in their backgrounds.

More than just a lovely escape, this book inspires using what you already have and love to create environments which set moods and allow you to get the best use of your space, while continuing to add pieces with thought and purpose.
The book is also about examining your vales and the statement you want your space to make.

[Psusan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What drew me to Make Yourself at Home by Moorea Seal was her book, The 52 Lists Project which I had purchased back in the summer. I had hoped that this would be the same type of book which would have activities that would help me decide my personal style. It is something entirely different.

I enjoyed the seeing the how-to of projects, the quotes along with the examples of Moorea Seal and others’ stories of style, especially how they expressed it into their homes. From that viewpoint it is much like any other interior design book. What I had hoped for was questions or quizzes to help me find my own style. It is certainly a book full of ideas that any reader can pick and chose from if they know their personal style.

The publisher through Net Galley provided a copy.

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Room by room she discusses what people might want in that space and how to achieve it. This includes the office, either in-home or external. Each also references a particular designer and at least one craft (north star mirror, herb drying rack, gold-patterned glassware) for each. The designer Diana la Counte featured Pink Everything. She also brings nature into the home with plants, photographs, shells, pinecones, etc. She covers color theory for the home, and different vintage eras of the 20th century (Art Nouveau, art deco, Bauhaus, utilitarian, midcentury modern, mod, bohemian). Somehow little of this really spoke to me, especially the idea of going out to get more stuff to reflect your personality, rather than working with what you have.
I'm glad I got this from the library.

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's hard not to give this book a higher rating because I truly like the author as a person after reading her autobiography (and this book does seem as much like an autobiography as a design book). That said, I got very little out of the book to help me "transform my space."

Seal pretty much shares her life story and all of her vulnerabilities in this book, along with short bios of many of her online blogging friends whose rooms she shows. Some of the rooms are cool, but none of them are my aesthetic at all and they all seem to be the same type of general style. I didn't "discover my style" at all -- more like hers and her friends again and again.

* I received a digital ARC for review purposes.

[Sam (Hissing Potatoes) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed how personalized the author made this book. She felt very real, and her presentation of herself and her history made me want to listen to what she had to say even more. The organization of this book is great with 6 different spotlights on other women to get different perspectives, and with actual useful, realistic DIY projects. The back of the book includes helpful primers on color and plants. I appreciated the author's genuine interest in helping uplift women entrepreneurs, an interest she's woven into how she does business herself. The book isn't just about interior design, but it also acts almost as a motivational self-help book without feeling trite. Definitely recommend.

[Elizabeth Judd Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a visually pretty book, and I liked the extras at the end about color theory and styles through history. However, the main part of the book read a lot like a blog, with guest entries from other bloggers. It was OK, but I wanted a bit more about organising the rooms (I did like the section that gave questions to ask yourself about each space). A nice book, then, but not amazing.

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

The photography focuses more on shelf vignettes, and not so much on the overall layout / composition of rooms. The text focuses more on the personalities and histories of the people whose homes are pictured, not so much on how they approached their design challenges.

I really hope Ms. Seal puts a quarter in a jar every time she uses the phrase "pop of color".

[Leah Good · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite thing about this book was the end-of-chapter questions to ask yourself about each room in your house. Favorite memories, desirer mood, etc.

[Ashley Rothberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to rethink my ratings of books. This is NOT a bad book. It's just that it's not a GOOD book either. It was a very easy read and something nice to indulge in before I went to bed. My husband and I recently moved into our new home where we plan to spend the next 10+ years of our live and we are trying to figure out how to decorate what is in all honesty a cookie cutter new build home. I found this book because I thought it would help me figure out what to do with some of our spaces.
What I realized is I was already doing most of this. I had finished painting the bedroom by the time I read this and I had intuitively thought about what I wanted to feel when I went into our bedroom. I did an Ombre wall of a dark blue ceiling fading into light blue walls fading into an orange bottom third and then finally fading into white to go into the baseboards to emulate a beach scene to create a relaxing vibe. I do not feel I learned anything life changing in here. I did enjoy asking myself some of the prompted questions she has for the rooms I have not yet finished but unless you have a style similar to hers there were not a lot of practical tips or ways to apply these items into one's home. I will not go out of my way to read any more of her style books but this one from the library was an ok use of my time.

[Classic Bhaer · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I received this book through netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

What I Liked

First off I have to say this is a beautiful book, inside and out. I very happy that a book about decorating your home and making it your own space visually is something you would display or have on your coffee table. You can tell serious thought has been put in.

What I enjoyed about this book the most was the fact that it had sections dedicated to particular rooms in your house or apartment. Then it focuses on how you can take your own style and apply it. Not only does it give you inspiration, but it also give you a DIY for each of your rooms. I love this idea because you have a part it making the room. For me I love to see things I have made with my own two hands, it gives me a sense of pride to see something I made being displayed and not falling apart. I also liked that you hear from not just the author, but also many others. It is nice to get inspiration and tips from all over because not everyone has the same style. I approached that this book does not take the cutter cookie philosophy to design.

Another great thing about this book is that at the end it does delve into design a bit. It talks about colors that can be used and which ones work well together. This is very helpful to those who are new to decorating and I think will help people take a few more color risks.

What I Didn’t Like

One thing I did not like about this book is that it is perfect for a home or an apartment, but it is not ideal for people who still live at home with their parents or are away at Uni and are living in a dorm room. While some of the information can be useful, it is best suited for those who own or rent a place of their own. I also would have liked to see more style tips and examples of how to apply the ideas in this book. I am someone who loves visual and I would have loved to see more of the beautiful photographs that are already inside.

Overall Thoughts

I will admit I am a long time fan of Moorea Seal’s books and this one did not disappoint me. This is a lovely book; it is a great to pick up if you are in need for some home inspiration. If you are someone who is new to interior design or decorating, just moved, or looking to refresh your space I think this is very useful. Like I said previously, this book is not a cookie cutter home decoration book. It helps you decide what you like most and how to incorporate that into your space. It is all about making your space a place that makes you happy. That is something I really enjoyed about this book and I think others would enjoy as well. I highly suggest that you look into it.

[Gaby F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decorating your home as a reflection of yourself:
In Make Yourself at Home Moorea Seal shares the different ways she and a couple of her friends have decorated their homes and work spaces. By gaining insight into the experiences that have shaped their individual lives, it soon becomes clear that each of the friends has developed a very unique style. The goal for the readers is not to simply copy one of these styles but to find out which decorating aspects they like and ultimately to define their own style. Moorea challenges me to ask myself which meaning the different rooms of my home have for me. She reminds me that I have to take my time and gradually invite the right items into my home to truly reflect who I am. Also, with a little creativity, not everything needs to be new or expensive to make my home more inviting for my familiy and my friends. Good examples for that are Moorea's easy to make home decorating projects. My favorites are the blanket ladder and the Ikea desk hack. Overall, this books inspires me to continue honing my own decorating style. Thank you, Moorea, for sharing your very personal decorating story.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Make Yourself at Home is a home run! I love this book for so many reasons. Let’s start with how gorgeous this book is inside and out! I would proudly display this book on any shelf or coffee table in my home. The way Moorea breaks down each space in your home to help you understand your wants and needs from the space is so engaging and simple. I love how she has brought in many different people with different styles to share their space and how it fits them, there is something for everyone here. I do have to say my favorite part of the book are all of the DIY projects that are so simple and gorgeous. I am so inspired after reading this book and will definitely be referring back to it often. This is the perfect book whether you want to add to your collection or need a Christmas, birthday or housewarming gift. Five stars across the board!

[Brianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly, I loved it.

It's got a lot of personal touches - Moorea is interesting and while I've never read her blog I've greatly enjoyed getting to know her through her personal stories in this book, all of which related back to her sense of style and ideas about home decor.

What I REALLY loved: if there was any use of the term "spirit animal", I never saw it. Probably because Moorea herself is mixed Native and has some connection with that part of her heritage (as well as featuring another woman who is biracial Native as well). I'm o v e r books about home decor or lifestyle by white ladies who whip out this concept like it has no meaning beyond what they ascribe to it. So for that bit of sensitivity, I was grateful.

[Labibliotecaria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Besides looking lovely on your shelf or coffee table, this title affords looks into the real homes of real people who have worked really hard to create homes they love. Do I like all of the design choices? No. But it is deeply apparent that the people who live there do, and that's the important thing. So the reader gets treated to a variety of home styles, plus practical tips and detailed instructions for projects that will help you achieve the looks for yourself. Most importantly, Make Yourself at Home teaches you ways to evaluate how YOU will use the space and how it can reflect your unique style. If the aim of this book is indeed to help you Make Yourself at Home, it has succeeded.

[Kim C. Dickerson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Net Galley for providing me with a free digital copy of this book.

PROS:
The author writes in a personable, down to Earth style. I enjoyed the projects in the books as well as the detailed instructions.
I liked reading the backstories of the people featured in the book as well as why they were featured.
The author includes prompts to help you think about your own style.

CONS:
I felt like the author only skimmed the concept of inspired living. She could have included more examples, more details, and more how-tos.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

* I received this book from NetGalley in return for a honest review*

This book was such a joy to read. I loved designing spaces in my head while looking at the beautiful pictures and learning about how to make a home out a house. I haven't had the opportunity to really design a space for myself yet and this book made me very excited to be able to do just that. I loved the addition of projects to make as well as all the guests to show different spaces and homes.

[Bridgette Guerzon Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a typical interior design book which is why I think
I liked it. More of a soulful look at each room of the house. Did I actually get ideas for my house...mmm, not really. But I actually read the whole book rather than just look at the photos which is what I tend to do with most interior design books. I did like the design aesthetic displayed in the book, photos are really nice, and I enjoyed the interviews.

[roxi Net · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a lovely book and a great reminder of being happy in your space. I was happy to see the "five ways to escape technology" and cool DIY ideas that can be easily made in an apartment (floral ice cubes, copper ladder, etc.) and even dinner party success tips. I didn't know what to expect, but I that may have helped me like the book even more!

[Nicole Strand · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the photography and embellishments of this book. They were absolutely breathtaking. The author helps you delve into what your style is and what it says about you, laying down the foundations to create a space suited for you, even down to the candles. Theres even some adorable DIY activities in there.

[Sanah]

As the daughter of an Interior designer, I was excited to see what the book had to say, instead, it felt like a journal and a little bit like a memoir through the house. I didn't find good tips or exciting examples, instead, there was a story of how a house 'should' feel and that felt strangely out of place in an advice book.
I got the book from NetGalley and hoped it would be a fun read.

[Ally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed Make Yourself at Home and the tips and advice it gives to make your house more of a home. They were a mix of fun and practical and came at such a good time for me as we had just moved house and I found the tips really helpful. Would recommend buying the book for others when moving house and in need of a gift.

[Lovely Winters · Rating 2 out of 5]

After getting several of the 52 List books I had high hopes for this book. I will say if you have a more rustic, natural style you will like her tips. I’m more contemporary so this book didn’t speak to me. If your a decorator who likes a let’s and twigs on your walls I would advise picking this up. If you prefer modern and simple this is probably not going to help you.