Your Space, Made Simple: Interior Design That's Approachable, Affordable, and Sustainable

by Ariel Magidson

Create beautiful spaces in your home effortlessly using this book's easy-to-follow interior design "recipes" for a perfect room.

Your Space, Made Simple is an interior design guide for anyone who dreams of a well-designed home but doesn't know where to begin. If you feel stuck when you go shopping for home decor, or confused about how to arrange furniture, this book will give you the inspiration and tools you need to curate a space that fits you and your family's lifestyle and needs in no time. Whether you just moved into a new home or have wanted to redecorate for years, this book will help you find eye-catching and sustainable design solutions that won't break the bank.

Your Space, Made Simple
• Advice for understanding your needs so you can design spaces that make day-to-day living less stressful
• Tips for sourcing well-made, sustainable, and affordable home decor
• "Recipes" for every room in your home that show you what furniture and decor items you’ll need, how to arrange the furniture in the space, and how to work around common interior design issues, like awkward corners or weirdly-placed windows

Author Ariel Magidson is the founder of Ariel Arts, a Bay Area-interior design studio on a mission to make sustainable and affordable design accessible for everyone. Now in her debut book, Ariel shares her years of insights and expertise to help you make interior design feel realistic and within reach.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Interior Design

272 pages, Hardcover

Published April 11, 2023

Reviews

[Caitlin Childs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great book that gives you practical design advice with pictures in MULTIPLE size and layouts. I went though each room and could find an example and advice that worked for each part of my house. Ariel also does a great job teaching the concepts of interior design and the “why” so you can apply them to your unique situation easily. I’m left feeling inspired and excited to make some changes!

[Megan Healy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this one pretty useful. It might have been slightly TOO simple, but overall there were a lot of productive ideas about how to plot out your layout. I would recommend it if you’re really looking to renovate a space and want to wisely purchase things to pack the biggest design punch. She didn’t use many pictures of actual rooms… it was more like having someone walk you through sophisticated design software, plotting out where you might put lighting or art and different arrangements of furniture. I used the book to plot out the zones of an open-plan room before I make major purchases of rugs, couches, and shelving.

[Mircah Foxwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many home design books I’ve looked at simply show you pictures of finished rooms and explain why the design is successful. By contrast, Magidson explains how she approaches design, including principles and room “recipes” that provide the starting point for any room.

The reader is asked to consider what they need their space to do, making notes of daily habits and activities. Instead of slavishly adhering to a style, ask what about that style is so appealing? Consider items already owned, or items that reflect culture, interests and hobbies.

Next, she provides room recipes than suggest placement of furnishings and accessories, with the idea of course that you will use a recipe as a springboard, personalizing to fit your own needs and possessions.

Overall, I would say this is the most practical books on home design I’ve come across. It’s not exhaustive - I do wish she had talked a bit more about working with colour, for example. Nevertheless I really appreciated the generalized theory she presents, that provides a starting place for anyone trying to decide what to do with their own space.

[Panda Incognito · Rating 3 out of 5]

This interior design book offers lots of great advice. The author encourages people to consider what's practical for how they use their space instead of only styling an aesthetic, shares "recipes" for rooms of different sizes to show people can arrange core pieces of furniture and artwork differently, and offers advice related to making sustainable choices and avoiding toxic chemicals when possible. My main critique is that the font throughout the book is painfully small and hard to read, and I also wish that the advice and photos had included suggestions for styling colors, since everything was pretty earth-tone and neutral.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teachable design as to how high to hang a picture or multiple pictures; choosing the right sized rug for the amount of furniture you have plus it's all set up in different sized rooms. Some of it is common sense but for the 1st time decorator there are lots of tips. "How you live your life" then decorate accordingly with your own style is the theme of this book.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated how this book focused on practicality and spatial awareness to help readers work with what they have and their current lifestyles. It wasn't about sticking to a certain style or trying to make an aspirational home that doesn't work for you. I learned some helpful tips and got some ideas for working with our spaces.

[Sinduja Krishna Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a beginner to interior design and want to decorate your own space and also understand basic rules of interior design, this is the best book. It reads like a story and gives everything in a recipe format. A MUST for a beginner who wants to learn the basics of interior design without too much fluff.

[Me · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very approachable book about interior design. The author had me at “Are you mid-century modern or industrial?… Guess what? I don’t care. And that’s the last time you’ll read ‘style’ names in this book.” :-)

[Mary Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for those new to interior design or those tackling a drastically new space to their previous home. The strength of this book is in the advice about furniture placement and floor plans. The photos are of neutral contemporary spaces.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kindle

Not a great format for this book. (Probably obvious, I know.) But the information and ‘recipes’ are interesting.

I’m on hold at the library for a paper copy. Being in the research phase of making some design changes at our house, this will be very useful!

[Elaine Fultz, Teacher Librarian, MLS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for our plans. Sustainable ideas 💡💡

[Marianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The aesthetic doesn’t appeal to me, but this is an excellent primer for anyone just trying to figure out how to furnish a home.

[Christian Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good intro to interior design