Guest Author - Jill Florio

In Better Homes and Gardens: Everyday Comforts, the people we have come to associate with home and garden decor have designed a safe, tepid handbook to modern design ideas.

The subtitle is decorating ideas for making your home a haven. It's a nice enough book, with large restful pictures and pretty vignettes, but I get the sense this is all stuff I've read and seen before. To the design maven, their decluttering ideas are nothing new (they promote using the baskets and pegs we all take for granted by now), the repurposing ideas are no longer original, and the relaxation/rejuvation techniques (light a candle, take a bath) are been there, done that.

Martha Stewart and Rachel Aswell have much better books on the subject. The difference is Stewart and Aswell live the lifestyle, and practically created the luxurious relaxed look, while B&G is just tapping into the current decorating trend.

I am probably being too harsh on this book. The B&G Everyday Comforts book wouuld make a very nice gift for someone new to the idea of "making your home a haven". I would also recommend this book as a "round-up" type of textbook for getting up to date on the current relaxed decorating trends; learning how to use vintage items, display collections, dress up your home with found items; and learn a few decorating crafts while you're at it.