Every time I release a new book, my publisher sends me a box of copies – six to be precise – and I treat them like gold. I usually keep a couple for myself and give the others to very close friends and family. However, with Life Unstyled – my third book – so many of my family and friends came to the launch at Anthropologie and bought their own copy that I’m left with a few spares. So rather than leave them on my (messy) bookshelves below to gather dust, I’m giving one away. To you, my lovely readers!
So leave me a comment below and tell me why you need Life Unstyled on your bookshelf. Why do you think it’s the book for you, how will it change your world and inspire you? I’ll choose from the comments and get a copy to the winner in time for Christmas. Good luck!
The winner will be chosen on Wednesday December 7th so get on it people! Don’t forget to tell me where in the world you live!
25 Comments
I need this book signed by you, Emily!! Why? Well, first because I know you personally and had the honour to get my teenie-tiny shoebox styled by you! And second because I am a firm believer of a life unstyled. Everything else is boring and constructed! Here’s to the real and unstyled life!
I would love a copy of your book. I don’t want to live in an immaculate show house with all the latest “must-haves”, too clinical, and unrealistic. I want my house to be the best it can be; a place where I feel cocooned when I open the door, a place where everyone feels welcome and no-one is worried about messing up the books on the coffee table. Instead of hiding my homes imperfections, I would like to embrace them and think that your book is the perfect place to start with achieving my dreams.
Oh wow, I would love a precious copy. I live in Norway, and come from Australia, and I’m very tired of seeing the perfect interiors here. It’s done to a formula and SO boring, though I admit I used to love the look before I moved here. I think your book would give me some new mojo, and I just love your style. I have Bohemian Modern already and love it! It looks like the kind of book I would start to read and then put down to rush off to rearrange my things, time and time again.
I would love to get a copy of this! One it would be the finishing touch to my coffee table collection and look beautiful. Two it would inspire me for work everyday ? Congrats, it looks incredible.
I would love to own a copy of your book. I don’t want to live in a show home, I’m to lazy to keep it tidy as well as too busy making things. I want it to look like me not someone else, with all of the flaws and idiosyncrasies of who I am. I want people to see me in my surroundings and feel welcomed, relaxed, and comfortable. I live in Victoria, B.C., Canada. I am so glad that I discovered your blog, thanks.
Miss Emily, I ran across your book last week at our local bookstore and found it to be the most inspiring, beautiful and original out of every new decorating book they had on the shelf. I am in the process of opening my own shop for the first time after having online businesses for two decades. I was aching to have a space that would make strangers and friends alike smile the moment the walked in the door. It is 521 square feet of Unstyled controlled chaos…modern vintage and found objects married together in a romantic rebellion. I made the leap a few months ago by temporarily moving back to my parents to save money and make a brand new life of a dream I’ve had most of my days. My door will open wide next week and I hope it would do you proud by your amazing taste And ideas which have inspired me along the way. Thank you for dedicating your life to such a gorgeous book! Tiffany at The Girl On Main xoxo
Hi Emily.
I woul love your book because im sure its amazing as you are.
Home is not a place..its a feeling.Home is where our story begins.
Happiness is homemade.Imperfection is beauty Madness is genius 😉
My house is full of stuff, some good but most not so good. Fortunately I’ve never aspired to be a minimalist (I don’t trust them and could never be one). I aspire to mixing things up in a more creative, natural way and to make my home more inviting and basically a nice place to hang out. Your book will help me on this path.
Dear Emily, I have your book already and I adore it! I would love a copy to give to my sister, an avid lover of DIY homedecor and she would no doubt find your book as inspiring as I did.
=) I live in Amsterdam.
I don’t need your book on my groaning bookshelf… I need it wideopen – spine broken – on my kitchen table where I can read it and take inspiration! For the first time ever I am about to live on my own and have a 3 bedroom flat to play around with ideas in before I sell it in the Summer and swap it for a more manageable one bed flat locally and a house further afield. My default taste is drawn to a Life Unstyled but I’ve never before had a chance to make my living space my own and experiment… I’m going to need as much practical inspiration as possible!!
xx
Why do I need your book? Because I need to know its okay to not be perfect. My mom decorates and lives in her house like it’s a model home. Everything is hidden…always has been. When I was a kid if I left my toys out even to run to the bathroom they were picked up and put away by the time I got back…No kidding! Her motto is everything has it’s place and it should be in it! I have two kids and a lot of stuff! I don’t have places for everything. I just feel so horrible all the time because there seems to be stuff everywhere that I just don’t know what to do with. I want my house to be comfortable and welcoming but yet decorated. I go to all the home stores and I just walk around and get frustrated because I just don’t know what to buy or what to do with it. I try looking in magazines but those houses are beautiful with perfect rooms and perfect decorations. I try but I just get so discouraged. I need some good advice and to be told that it’s okay to have a lived in home. Thanks for the chance to win your book! I live in St. Louis, MO.
Well it’s like his Emily…..saw your book advertised in the NZ Sunday Herald today and thought better check this life unstyled business out. Forever trying to make my rented accom a home thinking I have it just right after a few reds but alas all that perfection is just not me, as I find out the next morning. I think a little life unstyled perfection just might work!
Have a fabulous Christmas Emily, keep that unstyled style going.
Cheers, Pauline Hooker, Pauanui Beach, North Island, New Zealand.
As a big fan of your other books & your work, I would love to have your new book Emily because as an emerging designer, but an eternal adorer of beautiful living, I believe that it is where life is unstyled, where living gets a little messy, that the true beauty of life & living lies. Your book would be a magnificent resource for me entering into my next phase of study & to share with my class & design school too. I wish you & yours a perfectly imperfect festive season. Bec Abbey, Melbourne, Australia x
Dear Emily, “A home is never done” resonates with me, and your books have been an inspiration! I just started my first job as a pediatric eye surgeon, and the road here was a long one, dotted with many different “homes”: Student housing in NYC, a corner of a Victorian house in Connecticut, to a concrete loft in Portland, Oregon, all of which had to be on a student-single-mom-budget. During most of my training in medicine, I was a single mother — from the time my son was 2 months old, until just last year — without any family to help. I had no choice but to be at peace with the idea that my little dwellings were lived-in, sometimes sad, sometimes happy examples of home decor. My homes were my havens from the fear of failing and the stress of the outside. In my decor, I’ve tried to bring in my Indian background (i.e. How do I recognize and honor a bittersweet longing with my design?) and create a cozy playground for the present, which includes a husband, bouncing 8 year old boy, and two dog-like cats.
I would adore more inspiration…and validation that homes and lives evolve together in a way that should be enjoyed! — Asheville, North Carolina
The reason I would like a copy of your book is because I love to peak into the lives of people out there. I like to walk in the neighborhood and see how people make a home. I like to go to my friends houses and see what they do to their personal space. It is a part of the person who inhabits the space…. and it gives me an in to the avenue of their soul. the best part of relationships is when you get inside…. so getting inside the unstyled homes of people will be a delight. The pictures already intrigue me…. I must see the rest!!! 🙂
Hello Emily,
I follow you on Istagram and I love looking at all your pictures.
I would love a signed copy of your book, I can only say that your work
touches and warms my heart and soul. I would be so happy to have your book on my coffee
table. Thank you. I live in Washignton state.
Ok, I was about to skip this post because I though that sharing why I need this book it was too personal, but what the hell. I need this book because I’m living in my childhood bedroom, and I need some inspiration . I live with my widowed mom, mostly for financial reasons (I can’t afford to rent a place and help her with money). So I need some inspiration to change the look of this tiny place I’m at the moment. Oh, and I live in Santiago, Chile.
I would love a copy of you book! I love to watch how you unstyle things. I am lucky to have a house full of items, but have trouble putting them together without it looking a mess. I love a lived in collected palette, Bohemian Modern is one of my favorites! I am sure this one would be too. Best wishes from the Midwest, U.S.. Kirsten in Iowa
Hi Emily,
I’m an other Emilie from France and I’m a big fan.
I ‘d like so much a signed copy of your new book because I loved the previous one and I often re open it when inspiration is needed!
I’m totally living in the idea of reusing, creating with second hand objects/fabrics/clothes and I’m very curious to learn how to live unstyled!!
Wish you a wonderfull unstyled christmas!
Hello, Emily, I would love a chance to have your book, as I can relate so much to your pilosophy of creativity over perfection. I am an **extremely** creative person who has always been a perfectionist, until a couple of years ago, while making a quilt from old scraps of fabric I suddenly realized I didn’t feel like measuring, marking, pinning, ironing… the fabrics were so lovely, I realized they could sing for themselves. I suddenly told myself, don’t overthink it, just do it, and the resulting quilt is the loveliest I ever made. I still struggle somewhat with my need for control in my artistic endeavours (quilting, embroidery, building and interior decoration, painting, even gardening) but my don’t-overthink-it-just-do-it mantra has opened a new well of creativity and joy for me.
(I forgot to say, I am Italian, and live in France)
Just today I have seen your book in two shops, after the second browse I was hooked. And now I am desperate to feast my eyes on those lovely creative images of Unstyled lifestyles. So please put me out of my misery and allow me the pleasure of browsing at leisure, thanks.
It’s an exciting piece of news and I’d be happy to add your book to my bookshelf. I need spiritual food. I will visit regularly.
Bonjour, I found your book and borrowed it at the Bibliothèque here in Montreal. I fell in love with it and it gave me confidence to go on with my heteroclite, sorry, disparate upcycled, collected non functional objects. This is what I truly love, but sometime, working in engineering with architects, I feel some kind of insidious pressure to have a more conventional style. And what stops me everytime (going more conventional) is the ecological footprint. None of that anymnore, I will live in an environment that pleases me and be proud of it. Well your book gave me inspiration to make my personal style up a notch. I will go on thrifting, modifying old furniture, painting my own carpets and so on. Would love to own your book.
I’m so happy to hear this Helene! Thank you so much for sharing some of your story. The book give-away has passed, but stay tuned for another one for my new book Be Bold. x