It was not exactly smooth sailing to get to where I am now. The seed for what is now Amber Interiors was planted the day I got fired from that assistant job. Around the same time, my daughter, Gwyneth, was born, and my husband’s career as a touring musician was coming to an end. We’d just bought our first house, in LA, and I decided to start a blog documenting our home renovation and DIY projects. Soon I had plunged full steam ahead into my own interior design business. Charlotte Mason was a British educator-reformer who lived during the late 1800s. She set up a training school for equipping governesses and other people working with children by using the principles she established from her years of educating children. Homeschooling offers families more flexibility in the way that children can study and learn. Whereas the traditional picture of schooling makes use of textbooks and workbooks, the Charlotte Mason method is one educational philosophy that uses living books instead. As an interior designer and a lifestyle blogger, I’m asked a lot of questions, and how to translate my style is the one I get asked most. By now, "my look" has become distinct enough that I like to think if you viewed a police lineup of five different homes you’d instantly identify the one I designed. That said, you might not be able to easily sum it up in a few words. Even I struggle with that, because my look isn’t about one thing or the other but rather it’s a specific mix that I’ve spent years developing. In every interior I design, I see different aspects of my own life coming together to form an aesthetic. This began when I was ten years old, the age when a person begins to become aware of their "happy place" in the world. I found mine when my family moved to Malibu, California. Now, I was no spoiled rich kid. Ours was not the stereotypical Malibu of cheesy TV shows. We didn’t drive fancy cars or live in a crazy mansion. On the contrary, my parents were California hippies before that was anointed "California chic," and our version of Malibu was a wonderfully intimate, low-key seaside community—one you rarely hear about these days.

Made for Living by Amber Lewis | Waterstones

A good example of living books would be classic books. Many of these books were originally written for children, but over the years, we have come to think of them as “hard” books that are for adults. In fact, that is why many of these classics have been adapted for younger readers. Please be aware that the delivery time frame may vary according to the area of delivery - the approximate delivery time is usually between 1-2 business days. In the earthy rugs and textiles I source for every project, I see myself in my teens and twenties, beginning to explore the world. Truth: I hated school. I started working at fifteen, and though I stayed in high school till I graduated at seventeen, I had an itch to see more. So the moment I got my driver’s license, at age sixteen, I did what you do when you grow up in LA: I hit the Pacific Coast Highway (a.k.a. the PCH). In California, I’ve always been transfixed by how you can fly an hour in one direction, or drive five hours in another, and find yourself in completely different worlds. I love that I can jump from snowy mountains to forested lakes and rivers to some of the most beautiful beaches on Earth, yet somehow I always know I’m in California. This notion—consistency without uniformity—is the cornerstone of how I approach putting rooms together.Some of the most appealing rooms are her kitchens, baths, and mudrooms. These hard-working areas are beautiful as well. Yes, some of the large expanses of marble seem designed to impress, as are the reclaimed French limestone floors, but they are beautiful. Designing a room with all the vibes comes down to how you layer your décor. The more you can mix the elements of your room—your pillows, objects, patterns, and lighting—the more finished it’ll not too new, not too old, but just right.

MADE FOR LIVING: Collected Interiors for All Sorts of Styles MADE FOR LIVING: Collected Interiors for All Sorts of Styles

This collection of stories of the fantastical origin of everyday things is an entertaining read for young children, and also helps them to build strong language and vocabulary skills. Rudyard Kipling is an expert at creating long, but very engaging, stories that children love listening to or reading. Using Living Books in a Charlotte Mason Homeschool Several of the barstool-height seating stools or chairs at the obligatory kitchen island don't have foot rungs that people could reach while sitting there. It looks awkward and uncomfortable. One of her main principles is that children have minds that are capable of understanding excellently-written literature. This is in contradiction to the popular view that children need their school lessons diluted down from the original language of the classic books. I took this book out of my library 100% due to the title. The title is misleading. Everything seemed one style. Solid white walls, wood floors, and lots of uncomfortable looking furniture. None of the homes looked anywhere near made for living. There was no sign of life in any of the photos (except for a dog, one room with what looked like artwork of an actual human, and one room that had a bowl of fruit). Delivery with Standard Australia Post usually happens within 2-10 business days from time of dispatch. Please be aware that the delivery time frame may vary according to the area of delivery and due to various reasons, the delivery may take longer than the original estimated timeframe.Designing a room with all the vibes comes down to how you layer your décor. The more you can mix the elements of your room—your pillows, objects, patterns, and lighting—the more finished it’ll feel: not too new, not too old, but just right. Twaddle: This is the term that Charlotte Mason coined to refer to books that are dumbed down for children. With this foundation, the Charlotte Mason method uses rich literature, or “living books,” in place of the dry facts found in textbooks, or the “dumbed-down” version of books written down to children. What Is a Living Book? A living book is a book written by a passionate and undisputed expert on a subject. It is usually written in a narrative style, thus engaging the reader’s imagination.

Made for Living by Amber Lewis | Goodreads Made for Living by Amber Lewis | Goodreads

But Charlotte Mason’s emphasis on the child’s capacity means that homeschooling in the CM method includes using unabridged versions of many classic works, as these original writings are considered living books, containing many details that stir up the imagination, which the retellings often lose. Have a ginormous house. 6,000 square feet should be sufficient, as demonstrated by "Bu Round Two." If you can only fit two couches, a coffee table, and a big chair in your living room (as demonstrated in the "small space" that's 3x larger than my living room), you can still make it "comfy." One section is on the different kinds of white: warm or cool, and different finishes that give different aspects. I couldn't tell the difference in the photos in the book. Maybe in person with somebody to tell me the difference I could see it. The book didn't convey it in pictures, though she gives some description that might help. My mother was a stay-at-home mom, always cooking or crafting, organizing our schedules, and keeping us busy learning and creating, pushing us to draw or play outside instead of plopping us in front of screens. My dad is a contractor who prides himself on "putting on his bags" and getting to work—his "bags" being the battered leather tool belt he wore with trashed skate shoes and shorts, no matter the weather. Even though he owns his business, he loves the feeling of tools in his hands, actually doing the work. Manual labor was never beneath him, and that tireless work ethic—and respect for the integrity of craftsmanship—has been ingrained in me. Livability is my true north. I don’t want you to worry about constantly fluffing your pillows. I gravitate toward things that look better with time, pieces that feel like they have stories of their own. I hoard vintage finds because I love a true patina that can’t be re-created in a factory. And the materials I use time and again—linens and leathers, brass fixtures, honed marble, white oak flooring—they all change over time. The way your sofa looks on the day it gets delivered is not the way it will look in a few years. Not only is that okay, that’s a good thing. That’s how you achieve more than a re-creation of what you’ve already seen, or what somebody else has. You can do this, too—I promise.Designing a room with all the vibes comes down to how you layer your décor. The more you can mix the elements of your room-your pillows, objects, patterns, and lighting-the more finished it'll feel: not too new, not too old, but just right. Both the title and subtitle promise more than the contents of the book can fulfill, given her limited vision. Her chapters are: The Power of Color (white); It's All in the Details; Space and Flow; The Art of Styling. I learned again what I already knew: I can't stand acres of white walls or everything white. She calls it neutral; I call it cold and uninspiring, uninviting. Livability is my true north. The materials I use time and again all change with age and wear. Not only is that okay, it's how you achieve more than a re-creation of what you've already seen, or what somebody else has done. You can do this, too-I promise."-from the introduction

Living Books: Definition and Examples - TCK Publishing Living Books: Definition and Examples - TCK Publishing

But what is the Charlotte Mason (CM) method, anyway? In this post, we hope to give you an overview of this philosophy, as well as the term she coined, “living books.” The Charlotte Mason Method She seems to be showcasing a few specific houses that she decorated, but they all look alike. The pictures could come from any one of them. Layer things. Layer layer layer. How do you know what to layer? Just put things on top of each other and if it looks right, that's what you should layer. Because living books contain lots of details to awaken the student’s imagination, it is not uncommon for children educated in this way to remember the scenes months or years after they read a given book. Examples of History and Geography Living Books

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So if you are just looking for some inspiration and some pretty photos to drool over then this is the book for you and I heartily recommend it for that. But if you are looking for some serious learning for your own DIY project, look somewhere else. Starting a business is hard. Starting a business when you are also caring for an eighteen-month-old is really hard. Starting a business when you are caring for an eighteen-month-old, experiencing postpartum depression, and have a husband who is transitioning out of the job that provides your family’s monthly income feels so hard you are convinced you will die of stress-induced injuries. She looks for the perfect vintage object for the space; she does lots and lots of shopping. Do the clients bring nothing to the project but the space itself and the funds for her to decorate it? She seldom mentions working with the client. Apparently she does it all.