The Interior Design Handbook: Furnish, Decorate, and Style Your Space

The Interior Design Handbook: Furnish, Decorate, and Style Your Space is a standout resource for both design enthusiasts and aspiring professionals. It strikes the perfect balance between inspiration and practical advice. Highlights: Clear, actionable guidance: From space planning and lighting to materials and color, each concept is explained with clarity and illustrated with helpful visuals. Beautiful styling: The photography, layouts, and typographic choices make reading a pleasure — the designs themselves feel current, aspirational, and achievable. Depth & balance: It doesn’t just show “pretty rooms” — the author discusses budget constraints, ergonomics, and how to make design that’s both aesthetic and livable. Broad appeal: Whether you’re redoing one room or designing a full home, this book offers valuable insights at all levels. If you care about shaping your home thoughtfully — not just decorating — this is a go-to handbook. Five stars for marrying artistry and functionality.

As someone with absolutely no experience in design, this book was extremely helpful. It doesn't exactly tell you what specific items to pick for a specific look you are trying to achieve, but it explains the "why" behind interior design choices. I found that information so much more valuable. I also already had an idea of the theme for our home though, so this definitely helped to narrow down which items within that theme would also be esthetically pleasing according to interior designer standards. The only downside that I can think of is that, because there are so many concepts in the book, I had to sometimes read sections in small increments to fully digest all the information. However, this isn't really a "con." 10/10 would recommend this book to everyone!

I love both the content and the physical feel/presence of this book. The information is presented so succinctly and it is easy to understand as someone who has no experience in interior design. My favorite part is that the book doesn't just give you 100 pages of tacky Pinterest farmhouse chic pictures. Instead, it explains design fundamentals and encourages you to make your own decisions on style. That's hard to find in a sea of full-color full-page picture books on design. The book itself is also very nice and feels very high quality.

Excellent educational tool if you want to learn (rather than copy others' ideas). If you just want to copy looks that other people came up with, this is NOT the book for you. There are no glossy photos to "inspire" you (if you want ideas of looks, just go online). What's great about this book is that it actually teaches you how to think like a designer, so that you can come up with the right looks for your own specific space. The problem with so many design books is that you get seduced by all these gorgeous looks in other people's homes, but if you try to replicate it in your own home, it looks awful (either due to differences in sunlight, room spaces, etc.). Yes, the material is dense (and at times boring), but that's a good thing -- it means you're actually learning and becoming a better designer yourself. And then once you figure out the tools of the trade, you'll realize you don't need to pay a professional a ton of money!

This book is well-written and organized, easy to understand, covers virtually all the 'basics' of interior design - I found it quite useful, I think most anyone would benefit from the information. The book does NOT contain any photographs of home interiors/rooms- the illustrations that accompany the text are quality sketches (the book is printed in monochrome, not color). I think there are certain concepts that would more readily be explained by the diligent use of real room photos - this would help explain concepts such as 'negative space', anchoring and focal point. For a person like myself who has no formal training in home decorating this book is a great place to start; the principles laid out in the book apply to any decorating 'style', be it 'Traditional', 'Contemporary', Scandinavian, etc., etc. Overall a worthwhile purchase/ good value - 2 thumbs up!

Been interested in design and when we moved into our new house I purchased it to help and I love it so much! It’s been such a help with great tips and tricks!

Nice reference guide, fun to flip through. Got a few tips

I bought this book after returning the top-ranked so-called “interior design” book on Amazon (which turned out to be very repetitive design porn from an influencer - nothing instructional or helpful). If you want glossy pics of what’s trendy (and expensive) or what a particular designer/influencer uses repeatedly, this book from Frida Ramstedt is not a good choice. I had know idea who she is and I really don’t care (though the book mentions she has a popular blog and I suspect she’s well known in Scandinavia). Unlike the aforementioned book, Ms. Ramstedt’s book isn’t about her preferences and favorite projects. It’s not even particularly focused on Scandinavian design (though there is a section where Scandinavian architecture is illustrated with line drawings). It is an actually useful guidebook with general rules and advice for anyone who wants to design their own interior or better understand how an interior designer (versus an influencer) approaches a project. I just finishing skimming the book and I know I will come back to it for guidance on everything from paint colors to furniture buying and placement to creating still lifes with items I already own. Ms. Ramstedt isn’t trying to sell her “brand,” she’s actually providing an instructional handbook (it even includes an index for quickly finding answers to your specific design questions). Very glad I replaced my early purchase with this!

I bought this book because I wanted to make my home look better without spending money on new furniture or doing any renovations, I just wanted to work with what I already had. And honestly? It worked. What makes this book different is that it's not about telling you what to buy or what's trendy. Instead, it teaches you why things look good and how to arrange what you already own in a more intentional way. That approach is exactly what I needed. The explanations are straightforward and practical. Frida doesn't waste time with fluff, she gets right to the principles that actually matter. The illustrations throughout the book are super helpful for understanding the concepts. When she's explaining something like the golden ratio or proper furniture spacing, you can actually see what she means with clear diagrams. Here's a practical example that helped me: The book explains the right proportions for furniture placement, like how far your coffee table should be from your sofa, or the optimal height for hanging artwork and lighting. I realized I had my living room coffee table way too far away, and my wall art was hung too high. Just repositioning these things (literally zero dollars spent) made the room feel so much more balanced and intentional. It's wild how much of a difference these small adjustments make. What I really appreciate is how the book makes you understand the "why" behind good design. Once you grasp these basic principles, you start seeing your space differently. You notice what's off and understand how to fix it without needing to hire a designer or buy all new stuff. The content works regardless of your personal style. Whether you like minimalist, traditional, eclectic, or whatever, the fundamental principles of proportion, balance, and spacing apply to everything. What I liked: Gets straight to practical, usable advice Clear illustrations that actually help Teaches principles, not just trends Helped me improve my space with zero budget Makes you think differently about your home Applicable to any design style Minor note: It's more about spatial relationships and proportions than color theory or decor shopping My take: If you want to understand why some spaces just "feel right" and learn how to make your own home feel that way, this book delivers. Really glad I picked this up.

おしゃれ！

This book was exactly what I needed. I'm someone who learns best through visual examples, and the author does a fantastic job of explaining design concepts in a way that is easy to understand, even if you have no background in design at all. The illustrations and sketches are one of the book's biggest strengths. They show exactly what is being discussed, so you can often understand both the problem and the solution at a glance. Before reading this, interior design always felt like a mystery to me. I assumed designers had some special talent that couldn't really be taught. This book completely changed that perception. It breaks design down into practical principles and explains not only what works, but why it works. One example that really stood out to me was the section on flowers and vases. I had never understood how to display flowers properly in my home. In just a couple of pages, the book explained which types of vases suit different bouquets and how to arrange flowers so they look their best in a room. It sounds simple, but it was genuinely useful, and I've already put the advice into practice. The same approach is used throughout the book. Whether it's kitchen design, room layouts, lighting, mixing styles, wallpaper, or hanging artwork, everything is explained clearly and logically. I especially loved the explanation of the kitchen work triangle. It's a concept I'd heard about before, but this was the first time it truly made sense. The section on creating a gallery wall was another highlight. Using the ideas from the book, I finally created a gallery display in my home that actually looks good. I'd tried before and was never happy with the results, but by following the book's guidance, everything came together naturally. What I appreciate most is that the book teaches you how to recognise why a room feels "off" and how to improve it. Many of the suggestions don't require spending money on expensive furniture or renovations. Instead, you learn the design principles, proportions, geometry, balance, and visual relationships that make a space work. By the end of the book, design no longer felt mysterious. The rules were explained so clearly that I finally understood them, and once you understand them, it's much easier to create a home that looks and feels right. This is one of the most practical and useful design books I've read.

A good handbook for interior designer

É um livro com a capa bem bonita, além de ótimo conteúdo, bem elucidativo e prático.