BLOG TOUR REVIEW: RESOURCEFUL LIVING - LISA DAWSON

This is a post I've been really looking forward to and it's something a little different for my blog! Interior design and home decor interested me even when I was much younger, I used to collect paint swatches and have planned out the decoration of my future home many times! I knew Resourceful Living by Lisa Dawson would be right up my street so I was excited to read it! A big thank you to Octopus Books, Kyle Books and Anne from Random Things Tours for inviting me to be a part of the blog tour and for my copy of the book.

Description 

It's often thought that restyling your space comes with a hefty price tag and unavoidable waste. But in Resourceful Living, award-winning interiors blogger Lisa Dawson shows how, with a little creativity, you can revamp your home with existing pieces, vintage finds and key purchases. 

The clever ideas in this beautiful book cover: 

- The most important ways we use our homes, from eating to sleeping, living and working. 
- The Basics of steering clear of interiors 'fast fashion', multi-purposing furniture and making the most of what you have. 
- Styling Your Home with simple solutions for re-imagining each room, from gallery walls to home bars, repainted storage to retro accessories. 

Including her top ten key vintage buys and tips for in-store and online thrifting, Lisa's inspiring advice shares the fun of creative sourcing as a more sustainable way to keep your home feeling fresh.

Author Biography

Lisa Dawson is a multi-award-winning interiors blogger, writer, workshop presenter and social media influencer. She writes a popular weekly blog, is a regular contributor to Frank magazine and creates professional social media content for brands such as John Lewis and Loaf Home. She is co-founder of the popular Instagram hashtag #myhomevibe which has over 1.5 million posts and was the first UK-based interiors community hashtag when it was launched in 2016. She lives in York with her husband, three children and a badly behaved Lhasa Apso called Buddy. Lisa shares her home inspiration on her Instagram.

@_lisa_dawson_ | www.lisadawsonstyling.com

My Review

Immediately when first flicking through the book I was impressed by the beautiful images - taken by Photographer, Brent Darby. There is a huge selection of photos for every room and angle which give you so many inspirations for decorating your own home. I'm sure that you could open the book up to any page and you'd probably see something you'd like to try out, whether it's a genius piece of multi-use furniture, paint colour or some textiles that tie the room together!

Along with the wonderful photos, the text is both engaging and educational. Lisa combines her tips and knowledge with personal anecdotes that are relatable and allow you to understand her interior style and choices better. This is not just an informational book, but a friendly conversation in which Lisa shares her passion with the reader. The idea of 'resourceful living' is so relevant to the way we live today, people are constantly becoming more conscious with their decisions to reduce, reuse and recycle and Lisa shares many various ways in which you can do this in your home. The book champions thoughtful and intentional buying and decorating by encouraging creative thinking and opening up the mind to the many possibilities in which you can use what you might already have.

Some particularly useful parts of the book are the various checklists which are a quick roundup of useful tips that you can easily come back to should you need them. These include tips on following trends, thrifting and things to consider when adding new things to your home.

I'm also a big fan of the room moodboards as I'm such a visual person so I really appreciate seeing the inspiration and ideas for furniture, styling and colours together. This is something you can easily re-create yourself for when you'd like to revamp a room of your own, especially if you utilise Pinterest to collect all of your ideas and inspo! Of course, Lisa shares her tips for this, encouraging you to pin anything and everything you love to really find your style! Later in the book, you'll find some case studies which showcase other beautiful homes. These provide further interesting insight into the ways in which you can be resourceful and offer suggestions of styles different to Lisa's.

If you've ever thought an item in your home had no purpose or function anymore then Lisa will definitely change your mind! She shares her fantastically creative ideas for using things in ways you might have never thought of. Nothing has a single function anymore - bar carts can be bedside tables and vintage suitcases can be used as interesting storage... the possibilities are endless and Lisa has definitely opened up my eyes to this!

In September I'll be starting a new university degree and moving into student accommodation so I'm currently looking for ways to create a space that I enjoy living in, as well as a functioning study space! Lisa's suggestions throughout the book are all affordable and can work for any budget - she highlights the benefits of shopping in charity shops and buying second hand, making it a perfect book for anyone looking to transform a space. Resourceful Living is especially useful for those beginning their interior journeys but will also provide helpful tips and tricks to those more experienced too. Also, let's be honest, it's a gorgeous book so would be perfect to display on a coffee table, desk or shelf when you're not flicking through it and admiring the contents inside!

The book is now available to buy and you can find all purchase links on the Kyle Books website here. Also, please do check out the rest of the blog tour to read reviews from the other bloggers - details below!