The designs in this book are NOT serene as promised in the title and introduction. They are perfect if you're interested in examples of throwing together tons of antiques and vintage patterns into busy-looking rooms. Personally I found them garish.

The introduction states that the "very simple formula for creating a serene home" is that it "has to make you feel good," and the book provides barely any more specificity than that.

A couple of the sidebars have relatively practical DIY advice, but nothing you couldn't find by just glancing at Pinterest.

A special thank you to the pets that showed up in some pictures, providing me with a cute distraction from the overwhelming setups.

Also for a journalism graduate with 23 years in publishing, including editing, the author sure did butcher the use of punctuation in this book (and that assessment doesn't even include the lack of Oxford comma). ( )