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Good Design Can Change Your Life: Beautiful Rooms, Inspiring Stories
BRING TY PENNINGTON, THE HOST OF "EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION, " INTO YOUR HOME AND MAKE YOUR DESIGN DREAMS BECOME REALITY.
Ty Pennington and the millions of people who watch "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" know that you can not only transform a home in seven days, you can transform someone's life. If he could, Ty would renovate every home in America, but even he doesn't have that much energy So he's written "Good Design Can Change Your Life: Beautiful Rooms, Inspiring Stories" and filled the book with proof that you don't need a bulldozer and a million bucks to realize your dreams.
Focusing on the three most important parts of your home -- sleeping spaces, living spaces, and working spaces -- Ty offers low-cost, high-impact ideas for every budget. You'll learn how to express your personality and your passions in your design and how to get the most out of small spaces and limited time. Whether you want to create a welcoming living room that helps you connect with friends and family, a restful bedroom that lets you face the day energized and optimistic, or a streamlined home office that keeps you productive, Ty has some great ideas to share. From the elegant to the funky, the whimsical to the restful; from walls, floors, and lighting to storage, wallpaper, and fabric -- it's all here, infused with Ty's vitality and great style, along with the emotional stories of the people who changed his life as much as the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" crew changed theirs.
224 pages, Paperback
First published September 9, 2008
5 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Ty Pennington
5 books62 followersDesign television was never the same once we were introduced to the quirky and creative Ty Pennington. The groundbreaking home improvement series Trading Spaces has returned after a 10 year hiatus, giving us a chance to get reacquainted with Ty as a carpenter, and now designer.
Pennington has been recognized as a leader in the field of volunteerism for his work on Extreme Makeover and Ty’s Great British Adventure. He has also served as ambassador for the Sears American Dream campaign.
Ask Ty what makes him tick and he’ll say, “It’s about the joy of doing things for others. what we do is about family, about America and adding in these random acts of kindness can restore your faith in people.”
Pennington has been recognized as a leader in the field of volunteerism for his work on Extreme Makeover and Ty’s Great British Adventure. He has also served as ambassador for the Sears American Dream campaign.
Ask Ty what makes him tick and he’ll say, “It’s about the joy of doing things for others. what we do is about family, about America and adding in these random acts of kindness can restore your faith in people.”
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 6, 2018
Well- this is much better than the other book
Many more pictures and lots of unique ideas mostly promoting a minimalist approach
Not bad
Didn’t really find anything that screamed to me but it was fun to peruse
Many more pictures and lots of unique ideas mostly promoting a minimalist approach
Not bad
Didn’t really find anything that screamed to me but it was fun to peruse
July 31, 2023
Found this in a Little Free Library and plucked it out because I used to watch Pennington on HGTV back in the day. Originally published in 2008, the designs feel dated but the principals still relevant. Back it goes to a different Little Free Library.
January 5, 2023
I found at least 5 good projects in this book.
December 18, 2010
"If you want to inject light, energy, and optimism into your life, making over your own home -- or even just a single room -- is a good place to start." My intuitive belief in this idea id what attracted to me to this book. I also thought it might help me with my own interior design project. The challenge for me was to make enough changes to produce the desired effect but not so many changes as to be permanent since the apartment where I live is really temporary.
Here's some more quotes from the author that caught my eye -- and ear.
"One thing I'm certain of is that a home is so much more than a place where you eat and sleep. It is -- or it should be -- a reflection of all the things that matter to you."
"More than anything, I think, good design artfully brings together practicality and emotion. It allows you to capture a mood -- and that mood could be transcendental calm in, say, a bedroom or maybe wicked crazy fun in an entertainment room -- without losing sight of the room's real purpose."
"And here's a tip: Write down everything. Don't risk letting any of the good idea running through your head get lost in the ether. And make sure you can read your own handwriting. Hieroglyphics are even more confusing."
"Try to do as much as you can in as short a time as possible. There's nothing worse than living with a makeover project in process, but you can get a lot done in a weekend if you power through. Crank up the tunes -- music is a great motivator -- crank up the tools, and crank up the whole enterprise a notch."
"You home shouldn't just have style, it should have YOUR style. All the little things that make you different from other people should be apparent in the design of your home. When it comes to style, stay true to yourself."
"After all, sometimes 'collection' is just a polite term for 'pack rat.'"
The first part is the basic primer on design -- the principles as it were -- while the following parts demonstrate examples of how Pennington has applied those principles of design. These applications always have stories behind them, the stories of the people for whom Pennington was designing. Maybe it's just me, but an unusually high number of these people were survivors of spouses who died in their late twenties.
That changed as the book progressed. Pennington continues to teach principles while demonstrating applications. Lots of good ideas, but the intention is to give seeds to generate good ideas in the reader. After all, Pennington believes that style is very personal and individual.
Pennington's 12-step process would have been nice to have before I started my own project, but it was comforting to see that my own self-produced steps were not too removed from the path the author indicated. After reading his book I immediately sketched out floor plans of each room in my pad and began making plans for what particular attentions each room needed. I then made a list of things to get so that I could complete my plan, and I went to work. The result was fabulous.
For those not familiar with interior design, this book is a great primer (pun intended). And for those who dream design, it's an interesting read to see how each individual design connects with the end user. Pennington doesn't get into the weeds of the process; that subject is better left outside this tome. But the book is a great place to start an interior design project. I recommend this book.
Here's some more quotes from the author that caught my eye -- and ear.
"One thing I'm certain of is that a home is so much more than a place where you eat and sleep. It is -- or it should be -- a reflection of all the things that matter to you."
"More than anything, I think, good design artfully brings together practicality and emotion. It allows you to capture a mood -- and that mood could be transcendental calm in, say, a bedroom or maybe wicked crazy fun in an entertainment room -- without losing sight of the room's real purpose."
"And here's a tip: Write down everything. Don't risk letting any of the good idea running through your head get lost in the ether. And make sure you can read your own handwriting. Hieroglyphics are even more confusing."
"Try to do as much as you can in as short a time as possible. There's nothing worse than living with a makeover project in process, but you can get a lot done in a weekend if you power through. Crank up the tunes -- music is a great motivator -- crank up the tools, and crank up the whole enterprise a notch."
"You home shouldn't just have style, it should have YOUR style. All the little things that make you different from other people should be apparent in the design of your home. When it comes to style, stay true to yourself."
"After all, sometimes 'collection' is just a polite term for 'pack rat.'"
The first part is the basic primer on design -- the principles as it were -- while the following parts demonstrate examples of how Pennington has applied those principles of design. These applications always have stories behind them, the stories of the people for whom Pennington was designing. Maybe it's just me, but an unusually high number of these people were survivors of spouses who died in their late twenties.
That changed as the book progressed. Pennington continues to teach principles while demonstrating applications. Lots of good ideas, but the intention is to give seeds to generate good ideas in the reader. After all, Pennington believes that style is very personal and individual.
Pennington's 12-step process would have been nice to have before I started my own project, but it was comforting to see that my own self-produced steps were not too removed from the path the author indicated. After reading his book I immediately sketched out floor plans of each room in my pad and began making plans for what particular attentions each room needed. I then made a list of things to get so that I could complete my plan, and I went to work. The result was fabulous.
For those not familiar with interior design, this book is a great primer (pun intended). And for those who dream design, it's an interesting read to see how each individual design connects with the end user. Pennington doesn't get into the weeds of the process; that subject is better left outside this tome. But the book is a great place to start an interior design project. I recommend this book.
May 25, 2011
Our existing home came together by leaps and bounds. And just as it finally started looking like something coherent, we put in an offer on another house to expand our living and working space. Having learned our lessons from decorating our first house, we decided not to reinvent the wheel and look for ideas and advice from the professionals. That is not to say that we buried ourselves in piles of home decorating magazines. Rather, we looked for a handful of comprehensive sources that covered a variety of home decorating aspects while not going overboard.
Stop number one – "Good Design Can Change Your Life" by Ty Pennington, the man who could build an entertainment center in under two hours on Trading Spaces and made the phrase “Move that bus!” iconic.
Many of Ty's designs are person-specific and could not be easily adapted for another home. However, his ideas are worth exploring and taking to heart. Building your vision, recognizing that your environment impacts your life, creating a space that reflects who you are rather than blindly follows the latest fad or duplicates that picture you saw in Vogue... All these things are as applicable to life in general as they are to building your living space.
In addition to emphasizing the importance of one's personality in creating one's home, Ty also provides many ideas and sources for recycling, sustainable and environmentally friendly materials as well as using traditional objects in unexpected ways (wicker neck rolls as reading lights, anyone?).
Stop number one – "Good Design Can Change Your Life" by Ty Pennington, the man who could build an entertainment center in under two hours on Trading Spaces and made the phrase “Move that bus!” iconic.
Many of Ty's designs are person-specific and could not be easily adapted for another home. However, his ideas are worth exploring and taking to heart. Building your vision, recognizing that your environment impacts your life, creating a space that reflects who you are rather than blindly follows the latest fad or duplicates that picture you saw in Vogue... All these things are as applicable to life in general as they are to building your living space.
In addition to emphasizing the importance of one's personality in creating one's home, Ty also provides many ideas and sources for recycling, sustainable and environmentally friendly materials as well as using traditional objects in unexpected ways (wicker neck rolls as reading lights, anyone?).
July 21, 2009
Excellent book. Ty has some great ideas about design and he also gives great tips on how to design your own spaces. I like a lot of his think outside the box ideas and also the color combinations he used. Combined with the inspirational stories, it was quite effective. I highly recommend this book.
November 18, 2008
This book was an easy read on decorating. Ty helps you discover your style and how you can easily change a space to reflect your personality.
Read
December 22, 2009Added this by mistake and can't figure out how to delete it from my list
July 12, 2011
Gorgeous pictures. Ty used to be a model. You can tell. (The pictures of the rooms are nice, too.)
January 20, 2011
A few fun ideas such as making your own wall paper from a photograph.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews