Nest Building: A Guide To Finding Your Inner Interior Designer
Kate Bridger
Redfern House Publishing
2011
In this very engaging, often humorous interior design book, Kate Bridger delves into how to "create a space where your spirit can put its feet up."
This is not a book about choosing colour swatches or how to create an interior design to impress your friends. It is about examining your past and present and deciding what your own unique style is—and then accepting and embracing that style.
Throughout Nest Building, Bridger has created exercises to help you understand your concept of home, how various colours and design styles make you feel, your basic needs in a home, as well as exercises to help you build confidence that you can be your own interior designer.
In the chapter Home as Sanctuary, Bridger discusses our needs as humans to create a safe place where we can drop our public persona and be just us. She also discusses how the sanctuary isn't always going to be the equivalent of a Zen mediation room. "Home as sanctuary isn’t all peace and harmony either. Home provides the safest arena in which to squabble, test out feelings, release anger, work through sadness and whatever else crops up on the complete and unpredictable spectrum of human needs and emotions."
When it comes to design fads, Bridger suggests making sure you are aware of the influence of design trends and that your design decisions are conscious. "At the end of the day, if following fashion is an intrinsic part of your sense of belonging and makes you happy—go for it! If not, celebrate your chosen options without reservation. Most of us will likely opt for a bit of both."
The book also covers designing on a budget and how to make the most of what you currently have. She suggests many ways that paint—a relatively cheap design element—can be used creatively in a home design.
Although the book is mostly about creating a design that feels like home to you, sprinkled almost imperceptibly throughout these discussions and exercises are some basic design rules. Things like how mixing and matching styles in a sparsely decorated room can feel jarring but how dancing through the design genres and styles in a busily decorated room can actually work. How a large brightly coloured couch backed by a bare white wall can look lost and alone but how the same couch can live in harmony with a colour-drenched wall. But then Bridger clearly wants you to see that rules are made to be broken and that ultimately only you can decide what your home design rules are.
This book is an excellent guide for anytime in your home design journey, even if you currently aren't consciously designing.
Susan Noppe
Editor, The House Plans Guide
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"This book is well written, readable and entertaining.
Whether you are building a new house, moving or renovating I would recommend that you read this book first.
I have recently moved after 30 years in the same house and I found the information useful the relevant. Kate uses an abundance of humour and wisdom as she walks you through the steps and exercises in each chapter. You will analyze your needs, preferences and feelings in order to create a unique and personal space that will satisfy you and your family.
Her approach is refreshingly simple and reassuring. You don’t need someone else to tell you what to do or how you SHOULD do things. All you need is help in analyzing your own likes, dislikes and needs in order to design and build your perfect ‘nest'.
Have fun doing it!"
Veronica Pellerine, Homeowner
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"Kate’s book, Nest Building imparts a simple message, naturally coaxing our inner interior designer out.
Kate does this in such a fun and approachable way that becoming the designer within feels like second nature."
Marnie Christoffersen, Artist & Designer
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