The Stuff of Life

Hilary Robertson reveals a multitude of ways to style and display the “stuff of life”—the flotsam and jetsam of possessions, from pictures and ornaments to hats and bicycles, that we accumulate over the course of time. In the first chapter, How to Arrange your Stuff, Hilary identifies and illustrates four different approaches to arrangements—intuitive, narrative, practical, and curatorial—and shows how each one can be achieved. She also considers the variety of display locations available within the home—walls, mantelpieces, windowsills, chests of drawers, tabletops—and suggests how to make the most of them. Next, in Stories Told by Real Homes, Hilary shares insider knowledge drawn from the experience of creating interiors that fall into five different styles—Neatnik, Bohemian, Naturalist, Sculpture Vulture, and Noble Salvage. Some people are magpies—they love stuff; finding, collecting, and displaying it—while their opposite, the minimalists, are on a mission to contain or tame it. The ideas in this book will appeal to magpies, minimalists, and everyone in between.