What do you think?
Rate this book
How to Make a House a Home: Creating a Purposeful, Personal Space
More than just a stylish design The founder of Parachute Home teaches you how to design a home that’s not only beautiful but mindful, functional, and uniquely you. A house is a structure that provides shelter. A home tells the story of who you are. How to Make a House a Home guides your discovery of what is most important to you in achieving warmth and comfort as well as a functional space. Explore the possibilities of creating an environment that is uniquely yours—one that welcomes, nurtures, and inspires. Parachute founder Ariel Kaye meets you wherever you are, with actionable tips and advice on how to match purpose with style. Here is everything you need to bring mindful choices into your home to make it completely you, from color palettes to organization, house plants to furniture. Whether you want to update your bedding, redo your living room, or take on the whole house, enjoy the remarkable journey of making your house your home.
- GenresNonfictionSelf Help
217 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 14, 2020
38 people are currently reading
307 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 23, 2021
3.75 stars
It begins by talking about the flow of a house and why that is important (and essential) to create a welcoming atmosphere.
From there, it goes into color choice and lighting options (both of which are absolutely essential).
The book also covers texture, accents and space and rounds itself out with how to add those touches of warmth to a room.
As someone who is a somewhat new home-buyer, I enjoyed reading this book and picking out what I could do to change up my house.
The illustrations were wonderful and definitely kept my attention.
The advice was helpful for the most part... but as someone who isn't in the design world, I did feel lost at times.
I think it is because author is speaking from a perspective of "understanding" - for example:
She does go in a bit more detail about slim vs wide profiles are good - but again, I felt like I needed more guidance.
Overall though, this did feel like a lovely little book and it was a fun, quick read!
With thanks to Clarkson Potter for sending this one my way
YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads
This sweet and short guide focuses on how to make your home the homiest-home on the block!
If there is an overarching story for a home, there's also a narrative for each room.
It begins by talking about the flow of a house and why that is important (and essential) to create a welcoming atmosphere.
From there, it goes into color choice and lighting options (both of which are absolutely essential).
The book also covers texture, accents and space and rounds itself out with how to add those touches of warmth to a room.
As someone who is a somewhat new home-buyer, I enjoyed reading this book and picking out what I could do to change up my house.
The illustrations were wonderful and definitely kept my attention.
The advice was helpful for the most part... but as someone who isn't in the design world, I did feel lost at times.
I think it is because author is speaking from a perspective of "understanding" - for example:
When I think of scale and proportion, I consider how the furniture or art pieces fit in the particular room, how they relate to one another, and how I feel in the spaces.This moment (and others) felt very brief to me - I just wasn't sure what it meant by thinking about how I feel and relating it to furniture proportions.
She does go in a bit more detail about slim vs wide profiles are good - but again, I felt like I needed more guidance.
Overall though, this did feel like a lovely little book and it was a fun, quick read!
With thanks to Clarkson Potter for sending this one my way
YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads
September 11, 2020
Light component-by-component guide for those of us who never learned to decorate. Good housewarming or bridal shower gift for younger people or folks like me that just never made it a priority.
March 18, 2021
3.5 stars. This was a super cute book that got me excited about continuing to decorate my new house! I gained some good ideas and will disregard some of the things that don’t make sense for me.
A few suggestions felt silly or superficial to me, but I think different things work for different people. I appreciated the variety of topics covered in the book; some of these were not things I had considered much before reading this book.
A few suggestions felt silly or superficial to me, but I think different things work for different people. I appreciated the variety of topics covered in the book; some of these were not things I had considered much before reading this book.
March 7, 2021
I don't think I learned anything particularly new, but I did enjoy this quick read and it helped me focus on what I want as I renovate and redecorate my house.
May 25, 2021
Grabbed this at the library.
It is illustrated and not photography, so somehow that made it seem very dreamy, but less realistic.
It is well organized and thoughtfully written, but I didn't feel inspired to make changes.
May connect better with someone just moving into their home.
It is illustrated and not photography, so somehow that made it seem very dreamy, but less realistic.
It is well organized and thoughtfully written, but I didn't feel inspired to make changes.
May connect better with someone just moving into their home.
September 6, 2020
Nothing I didn’t already know
Great advice but nothing new. Suitable for someone who is moving into their first place. Really disappointed there were only illustrations and no actual photos of different spaces.
Great advice but nothing new. Suitable for someone who is moving into their first place. Really disappointed there were only illustrations and no actual photos of different spaces.
December 13, 2020
Lovely approach to envisioning what a home looks and feels like, including suggestions for cultivating daily habits of self care. Will be referring back to it for ideas. Emphasis on creating the feeling of “home”, even when traveling.
February 24, 2021
Fluff, fluff, fluff
August 17, 2021
(2.5 stars) I felt like this book suffered a bit from being an aesthetically pleasing publication but not having a lot of real content. If this is your first foray into the home design and lifestyle genre then perhaps it has some helpful tidbits but the whole thing seemed to present a lot of very basic content.
As I tend to lean more toward intentionalism/minimalism then maximalism/over-consumption, I was a little put off when it seemed like the author would suggest buying ‘stuff’ just because. It felt like I was being told, at times, that every space was a perfect home for yet another thing and every surface was just waiting for the right ‘stuff’ to be stuck on it. At one point the author advised buying things you loved even if you had no use for them at the moment, because you could find a place for them another time. I’m not a fan of stuff for the sake of stuff, so this sort of thing rubs me the wrong way. To each his own though, what works for me isn’t right for everyone, it’s just right for me.
However…I will always be a little annoyed when someone suggests using books strictly as decor. Buying thrift store books based on colour alone to use simply as a decor object, a stack of books stacked on the floor to serve as nothing more than a makeshift table et cetera. I swear it makes me die a bit inside any time I hear someone suggest that some books are great as pretty decor pieces and only pretty decor pieces.
This book sort of read like a rambling blog post with a just a little bit of really basic content. You know when you read a post from a food blogger and you have to wade through a bunch of fluffy backstory about blueberries vs strawberries and what spoon was used at holiday dinner before you get to the recipe? At times this book felt like a lot of fluffy filler before getting to any sort of recipe.
As I tend to lean more toward intentionalism/minimalism then maximalism/over-consumption, I was a little put off when it seemed like the author would suggest buying ‘stuff’ just because. It felt like I was being told, at times, that every space was a perfect home for yet another thing and every surface was just waiting for the right ‘stuff’ to be stuck on it. At one point the author advised buying things you loved even if you had no use for them at the moment, because you could find a place for them another time. I’m not a fan of stuff for the sake of stuff, so this sort of thing rubs me the wrong way. To each his own though, what works for me isn’t right for everyone, it’s just right for me.
However…I will always be a little annoyed when someone suggests using books strictly as decor. Buying thrift store books based on colour alone to use simply as a decor object, a stack of books stacked on the floor to serve as nothing more than a makeshift table et cetera. I swear it makes me die a bit inside any time I hear someone suggest that some books are great as pretty decor pieces and only pretty decor pieces.
This book sort of read like a rambling blog post with a just a little bit of really basic content. You know when you read a post from a food blogger and you have to wade through a bunch of fluffy backstory about blueberries vs strawberries and what spoon was used at holiday dinner before you get to the recipe? At times this book felt like a lot of fluffy filler before getting to any sort of recipe.
December 27, 2021
I read through the first part of this and skimmed through the rest.
I liked the book, especially the few concrete suggestions of scents for certain moods, music to play for certain parts of a party, etc.
Most of the advice is pretty basic stuff, but it is a very pretty little book that isn't too prescriptive. She talks about considering the flow of your home and styling around what you like to do and how you live your life, which is generally excellent, timeless advice.
I liked the book, especially the few concrete suggestions of scents for certain moods, music to play for certain parts of a party, etc.
Most of the advice is pretty basic stuff, but it is a very pretty little book that isn't too prescriptive. She talks about considering the flow of your home and styling around what you like to do and how you live your life, which is generally excellent, timeless advice.
August 10, 2021
Wish I had noticed at the library that this was by the founder of Parachute, since it did at times feel like I opened my mind to some not-so-subtle advertising and self-promotion by picking this up. That said, the book was very approachable and gave me some helpful frameworks for setting up my space.
April 22, 2024
I’ve never seen a book about interior design without photos. The drawings are so simple they don’t offer any inspiration. The lengthy explanations about bedding, pillows and towels are so boring.
There are lots of odd tips like putting a mirror above the stove, and turning a pile of books into a table. The book was super boring! This author sounds like a beige mom. The book was super boring!
There are lots of odd tips like putting a mirror above the stove, and turning a pile of books into a table. The book was super boring! This author sounds like a beige mom. The book was super boring!
July 11, 2025
A visually pleasant read with many little ideas to provoke thought about daily life in your own home. While you could use this to do a major remake and spend a fortune, it was also useful for somebody like me who is definitely not in that life space.
February 3, 2021
Light and lovely read with wonderful illustrations. Not necessarily a serious home design book, but nice and enjoyable. Would definitely recommend.
February 3, 2021
Got my creative juices flowing with some inspirational ideas.
July 26, 2021
Not familiar with the blog but enjoyed the exercises and suggestions to enjoy & appreciate your space
November 2, 2021
Information - fine, average.
Illustrations - lovely, inspirational
Definitely do the physical copy vs audiobook for this one.
Illustrations - lovely, inspirational
Definitely do the physical copy vs audiobook for this one.
Read
November 30, 2021A particular design ethos in book form. Lovely illustrations.
skimmed
January 19, 2022Great book to use if you're moving and planning on decorating your new home! :)
August 1, 2021
The pictures are beautiful; however, the review saying it felt like reading a long blog post was spot on… it got to be a little much
December 19, 2020
Started off fairly strong but lost momentum. It felt like the last third of the book was added in an attempt to make it longer. Unfortunately, I felt that stretch was the least relatable. I quickly lost interest and ended up finishing as fast as I could.
July 12, 2020
3.5 stars. Light and enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews