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Sensual Home
harmony
balance
peace
comfort
texture
space
proportion
energy
spirit
light
shade
sustenance
love
balance
peace
comfort
texture
space
proportion
energy
spirit
light
shade
sustenance
love
144 pages, Paperback
First published December 9, 1997
28 people are currently reading
1777 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
December 3, 2018
I really wanted to like this book, as I am a huge fan of Ilse's work and her latest book. The intention of this book is clear and interesting, but a lot of the content did not stood the test of time or was plainly horoscope-like.
While there are good insights, many of them are sensual opinions and intuition, that are contrary to scientific findings. Let's start with people having much more than 6 senses, as the book and popular belief claims. Here are few medically recognised senses - temperature, muscle power, texture, balance, pressure, position and location, pain, electromagnetic sense, peripheral vision, etc...
Claims on effects of coloured light on human body laid out in the book have little to do with scientific findings on circadian rhythm and light wavelength (not necessarily colour) effects on melatonin suppression (the book says that "yellow stimulates the intellect; orange enhances creativity [...] green induces calm and balance"). For actual science, this could be a starter article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...
While reading it, you might get a feeling that everything that's natural is good and is basically a panacea, while anything synthetic is "bad". Fireplaces while maybe cozy to some, burn out oxygen out of a room and make you dizzy and emit much more CO2 than civilised heating inventions. Candles emit more CO2 than energy saving light bulbs. Natural pigments in paint most of the times used to be poisonous (arsenic for green) and unstable, so modern synthetic pigments are great, sustainable and affordable options, people don't have to source and grind lapis lazuli from smugglers or moth wings to attain pigments.
The book layout is the opposite of being sensually harmonious, with impossibly wide blocks of text and font that was designed to be used for programming computer code, but not a longer read in a book on sensual home.
As this book nowadays retails at 200-300$ on Amazon, I'd first check it at a library before purchasing wether it's really worth the investment.
While there are good insights, many of them are sensual opinions and intuition, that are contrary to scientific findings. Let's start with people having much more than 6 senses, as the book and popular belief claims. Here are few medically recognised senses - temperature, muscle power, texture, balance, pressure, position and location, pain, electromagnetic sense, peripheral vision, etc...
Claims on effects of coloured light on human body laid out in the book have little to do with scientific findings on circadian rhythm and light wavelength (not necessarily colour) effects on melatonin suppression (the book says that "yellow stimulates the intellect; orange enhances creativity [...] green induces calm and balance"). For actual science, this could be a starter article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...
While reading it, you might get a feeling that everything that's natural is good and is basically a panacea, while anything synthetic is "bad". Fireplaces while maybe cozy to some, burn out oxygen out of a room and make you dizzy and emit much more CO2 than civilised heating inventions. Candles emit more CO2 than energy saving light bulbs. Natural pigments in paint most of the times used to be poisonous (arsenic for green) and unstable, so modern synthetic pigments are great, sustainable and affordable options, people don't have to source and grind lapis lazuli from smugglers or moth wings to attain pigments.
The book layout is the opposite of being sensually harmonious, with impossibly wide blocks of text and font that was designed to be used for programming computer code, but not a longer read in a book on sensual home.
As this book nowadays retails at 200-300$ on Amazon, I'd first check it at a library before purchasing wether it's really worth the investment.
November 2, 2018
Ik was erg benieuwd naar het boek “het gevoel van thuis - geniet met al je zintuigen”. Zoals ik ook ergens verwachtte, vindt de auteur net als ik dat een “thuis” zeker in de huidige jachtige maatschappij meer dan welkom is. Het is niet makkelijk in deze wereld waar een overdaad aan prikkels - zélfs met de beste wil niet geheel uit je wereld/leven valt buiten te sluiten - tóch ergens rust te vinden. Maar waar kan je beter rust scheppen/creëren rond en zo ook binnen jezelf - als in je eigen nestje/thuis/cocoon? Daar ben je met je gezin zelf de baas om een eigen knus wereldje te kunnen scheppen, met zaken die je na aan het hart liggen, met momenten voor jezelf, met plekjes waar je jezelf terug kan vinden in een oase van Zen ;-) Tegenwoordig gebruikt men vooral het "zicht" als zintuig, en komen de andere zintuigen er soms nog zelden aan pas; worden die sterk verwaarloosd feitelijk... denk aan het gehoor, de smaak, onze tast- alsook onze reukzin - om maar te zwijgen van het zesde zintuig :p In de hectiek van alledag is een gezellig nestje om ons in terug te trekken en de batterijen opnieuw op te laden met eigenheid des te belangrijker. Dat de mens daarnaar op zoek is, valt af te leiden uit de populariteit van Zen- en relaxhuizen, de mens trekt er graag op uit om weg te zijn van de drukte... maar ergens is dat ook weglopen van jezelf... beter is om het (rust en ontspanning en onthaasten) dichterbij huis/ in je eigen huis en in jezelf te vinden/zoeken dan het te moeten gaan zoeken elders en het nooit echt vast te kunnen grijpen... Verder leer je dus alle verwaarloosde zintuigen weer te kennen/gebruiken, dat je er soms niet van onderuit kan dat het hectisch is buitenshuis maar je jezelf wel kan afsluiten ervan zodra je kan en of de behoefte hebt daartoe, en je het binnenshuis zelf in de hand hebt of je de externe prikkels constant binnenlaat, of je jezelf ervan afschermt ter zelfbescherming. Ook komen natuurlijke kleuren, alsook etherische oliën aan bod - die zijn te verkiezen boven het gemaakte/onnatuurlijke van alledag. Dit boek kan een eyeopener vormen voor velen; of een bevestiging voor anderen die al erg bewust tot zichzelf komen/in zichzelf keren van tijd tot tijd. Uiteraard is iedereen verschillend, en is rust en stilte niet de meest favoriete bezigheid van de doorsnee moderne mens. Maar, ik zou voorstellen: probeer het eens ;-) Het boek had nog dikker en uitgebreider mogen gaan met meer praktische voorbeelden want ik ga er vanuit dat sommige lezers dit wel zouden appreciëren om hen een duwtje in de rug te geven, vandaar een dikke 4 en geen 5. Reeds gelezen en gerecenseerd in april, nu ook online.
May 24, 2017
This lovely book is now out of print. Thank goodness for Link+ library loans.
A delightful primer on our needs as sensual beings to be surrounded, at least in the place we call home, with elements that delight all of our senses. If you already love candle-light, crisp sheets, fresh flowers, and home baked bread, here is validation of the benefits all of these add to your well-being.
An excellent book for occupational therapists, and an inviting reminder to the rest of us who need more simple delights in our most personal spaces.
A delightful primer on our needs as sensual beings to be surrounded, at least in the place we call home, with elements that delight all of our senses. If you already love candle-light, crisp sheets, fresh flowers, and home baked bread, here is validation of the benefits all of these add to your well-being.
An excellent book for occupational therapists, and an inviting reminder to the rest of us who need more simple delights in our most personal spaces.
October 1, 2008
Great book to page through for ideas. Covers the 5 senses and things you can do in the space surrounding you to affect those senses. Lots of emphasis on cleanliness, textures, natural materials and personal connection. The book itself, with its flocked cover, is a lesson in touch.
February 16, 2011
This book brings fills my feminine need to nest. I love a comfortable relaxing home and this book is all about how to make that happen. I even love the cover, it has a soft velvety feel!
January 1, 2019
I love this book. I've owned it for years and it's nice to read whenever I move into a new home.
January 26, 2022
Hmm. I really wanted to like this book - I hunted it down on archive.org after it was mentioned in Ilse Crawford's episode of "Abstract" on Netflix (an absolutely inspirational series - highly recommended if you have even a passing interest in design). Overall, I like her premise - that our homes should be pleasing to all our senses - but this book feels under-researched and definitely under-edited and overall just a bit woolly in its writing.
Some specific issues:
I felt that there was little acknowledgement of people's differing economic situations - for example, she mentions linen sheets several times and waxes lyrical about silk sheets - but cotton sheets are also excellent and vastly more affordable and easier to find than either linen or silk. And then there was the moment where she suggested I "spend more than you can afford" on a special piece of furniture I will love forever. Cos debt's always the right answer to your interior design quandries. Yeeeeeeessss. Um. No.
I felt that much of what she said in the food section felt a bit judgmental in her use of language in places, and sometimes a bit condescending. Phrases like "We judge freshness by the label, and barely touch food as we whisk it into the oven or microwave" feel like she has employed them to try to form a clunky bond with her (presumably completely ignorant of the joys of fresh food) reader. But this feels a misfire to me - if she's as gung-ho on fresh food as she says she is, then she isn't "judging freshness by the label" so it reads as a falsity.
I feel that she hasn't really identified who she's writing for - do the people who can afford linen or silk sheets live entirely off ready-meals? I suspect they don't. And this is a problem not only of writing but more significantly of editing, which should have picked up these anomalies (not to mention the ghastly overspending comment) and helped her to rework them.
Her editor also should have done some fact-checking. Crawford includes a story about John Cage's piece 4'33" - "The piece began with Cage raising the lid of the piano" - except that that piece was first performed by David Tudor and I believe (but do correct me if I'm wrong) was never performed by Cage himself in public. This may seem a small point (and, yes, perhaps disturbingly niche), but it set the stage for my reading of Crawford's text so that with every claim she made about things in my house making me ill, or women having a more acute sense of smell or whatever, had me pining for a nice reference as to where she'd found this morsel of information. When combined with the cavalier writing and unclear audience direction, I found myself craving some reassurance that what I had in front of me was not actually just a first draft of half-remembered snippets of this and that but maybe had some substance to it. I have rarely felt so adrift in a text as to feel that I could not trust the information I was given.
(Reading back what I've just written it might be worth noting that I am currently in the middle of writing my thesis and reading books on academic writing, so my impression is quite possibly coloured by that context, but I do feel that the comment about needing a jolly good edit still stands, and things stated in books as facts should be actual facts otherwise both author and publisher look like sloppy idiots.)
Ah well. Now that all the criticism is out of the way, there are some nice bits about this book (I did, after all, give it 2 stars not 1). Some lovely photography of interesting interiors (as you'd expect), and as I said at the start, I like her premise. There's some nice ideas here and there, and a whole section of 'Database' at the back of the book with more precise and practical information about things like aromatherapy, recipes for natural cleaning products, improving air quality, houseplants and what types of toxins certain plants are best at removing from the air. This part felt a lot more useful that the woolly text which appears in most of the book. Also, it's quite a short read! I skipped a couple of sections (bathing because I don't have a bath and a couple of spreads which were black text on a dark red background I wasn't going to do that to my eyes) but basically read the whole thing in a little over 2 hours.
I'm planning on having a look at her book 'A frame for life' too (also available on archive.org to borrow by the hour for free), so while I'm hoping for better editing on that one, clearly I've not been completely put off...
Some specific issues:
I felt that there was little acknowledgement of people's differing economic situations - for example, she mentions linen sheets several times and waxes lyrical about silk sheets - but cotton sheets are also excellent and vastly more affordable and easier to find than either linen or silk. And then there was the moment where she suggested I "spend more than you can afford" on a special piece of furniture I will love forever. Cos debt's always the right answer to your interior design quandries. Yeeeeeeessss. Um. No.
I felt that much of what she said in the food section felt a bit judgmental in her use of language in places, and sometimes a bit condescending. Phrases like "We judge freshness by the label, and barely touch food as we whisk it into the oven or microwave" feel like she has employed them to try to form a clunky bond with her (presumably completely ignorant of the joys of fresh food) reader. But this feels a misfire to me - if she's as gung-ho on fresh food as she says she is, then she isn't "judging freshness by the label" so it reads as a falsity.
I feel that she hasn't really identified who she's writing for - do the people who can afford linen or silk sheets live entirely off ready-meals? I suspect they don't. And this is a problem not only of writing but more significantly of editing, which should have picked up these anomalies (not to mention the ghastly overspending comment) and helped her to rework them.
Her editor also should have done some fact-checking. Crawford includes a story about John Cage's piece 4'33" - "The piece began with Cage raising the lid of the piano" - except that that piece was first performed by David Tudor and I believe (but do correct me if I'm wrong) was never performed by Cage himself in public. This may seem a small point (and, yes, perhaps disturbingly niche), but it set the stage for my reading of Crawford's text so that with every claim she made about things in my house making me ill, or women having a more acute sense of smell or whatever, had me pining for a nice reference as to where she'd found this morsel of information. When combined with the cavalier writing and unclear audience direction, I found myself craving some reassurance that what I had in front of me was not actually just a first draft of half-remembered snippets of this and that but maybe had some substance to it. I have rarely felt so adrift in a text as to feel that I could not trust the information I was given.
(Reading back what I've just written it might be worth noting that I am currently in the middle of writing my thesis and reading books on academic writing, so my impression is quite possibly coloured by that context, but I do feel that the comment about needing a jolly good edit still stands, and things stated in books as facts should be actual facts otherwise both author and publisher look like sloppy idiots.)
Ah well. Now that all the criticism is out of the way, there are some nice bits about this book (I did, after all, give it 2 stars not 1). Some lovely photography of interesting interiors (as you'd expect), and as I said at the start, I like her premise. There's some nice ideas here and there, and a whole section of 'Database' at the back of the book with more precise and practical information about things like aromatherapy, recipes for natural cleaning products, improving air quality, houseplants and what types of toxins certain plants are best at removing from the air. This part felt a lot more useful that the woolly text which appears in most of the book. Also, it's quite a short read! I skipped a couple of sections (bathing because I don't have a bath and a couple of spreads which were black text on a dark red background I wasn't going to do that to my eyes) but basically read the whole thing in a little over 2 hours.
I'm planning on having a look at her book 'A frame for life' too (also available on archive.org to borrow by the hour for free), so while I'm hoping for better editing on that one, clearly I've not been completely put off...
May 29, 2022
I somehow managed to get a signed copy of this book - very sweet. It has a fabulous velvet cover. As others have said, it's dated, rather obvious (to me) and opinionated. The premise can't be argued though - we need sensual, inviting, cozy, warm, healthy homes. Surfaces matter. Texture matters. Color matters. Details matter. Creativity matters. It's full of beautiful quotes, such as, "In our daydreams, the house is a large cradle," by Gaston Bachelard or, "Moonlight is sculpture, sunlight is painting," by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
July 3, 2022
The title encapsulates the actual feel of the physical object, as well as the unofficial manifesto of how humans connect with our spaces.
I discovered the author through an episode rod ‘Abstract’ on Netflix. I was intrigued by interior design from an aesthetic point of view, & at times from a functional point of view. Ilse, brings these two together harmoniously & delights our other senses by bridging all of our senses.
She makes us think about texture beyond how we see it, & feel it but rather how do we feel with it.
The font choice & parts of the design of the book are out dated. But this was published in 1994.
Strongly recommend for those interested in interior design as a philosophy & way of life. As well as those who are looking to wake up their senses.
I discovered the author through an episode rod ‘Abstract’ on Netflix. I was intrigued by interior design from an aesthetic point of view, & at times from a functional point of view. Ilse, brings these two together harmoniously & delights our other senses by bridging all of our senses.
She makes us think about texture beyond how we see it, & feel it but rather how do we feel with it.
The font choice & parts of the design of the book are out dated. But this was published in 1994.
Strongly recommend for those interested in interior design as a philosophy & way of life. As well as those who are looking to wake up their senses.
Read
December 11, 2023This book is filled with exoticism and misinformation. But I appreciate the attention Isle directs to the experience of homes, especially in a world of quantity over quality. There are nice ideas here.
July 6, 2017
Thought provoking.
Currently reading
June 24, 2019I'm an interior designer and I'm working with the pscology of space and I know that this book would help me a lot with what I'm looking for.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 19, 2020
A bit dated now, but this book is a classic life-style/interior design book.
February 27, 2022
this book is sage and gorgeous, right down to the velvet cover.
April 5, 2026
I loved this book! It captures exactly what I’ve been feeling about coldness in modern spaces and what elements lead to a more comfortable and enriched home and life. There is a calming flow to the book. At first I thought some of the page design was odd but in reading it I was delighted by it. The book cover is a velvet texture— everything about this book from its content to its design reinforces the thoughtful approach to daily life and interior decorating that it promotes. Will read again. And yes it’s slightly dated it’s from the late 90s but the designs it features are timeless and so are the overarching messages.
February 17, 2007
based on the principle that we should use our other four senses, not merely the visual, when thinking about interior design and the way we live.
July 29, 2011
Lovely book with great pictures. creating an ambience of a soothing home
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews